Saving a reputation- Beth Howard

Celebrities get into PR trouble all the time, but it is very rare that this trouble causes them to lose their entire career. Sometimes celebrities get into trouble with the public and need help from their PR adviser to save their reputation.

Take Nick Clegg for example; when he campaigned to become prime minister in the 2010 election, he proposed to reduce student tuition fees. But when he became deputy prime minister, he couldn’t uphold his pledge. He promised to lower tuition fees, but failed to do so and has now had to apologise. The Telegraph published an article on 19th September 2012, with the apology video: (see article here). His reputation before the apology may have been terrible and he must have had discussions with his PR adviser pre apology. For Nick Clegg to formally apologise, he is admitting he has done wrong, and this is a small step to saving his reputation as a political leader or deputy prime minister.

Public relations is deemed as a way of creating a relationship with the public as obvious as that it sounds, but that is what PR does for an organisation or celebrity. Jacquie L’Etang (2008) a public relations theorist said, ‘much of the PR role in celebrity circles is focused on promotion, publicity and media relations,’ which explains a bit about what PR actually does it terms of celebrity status. PR aims to raise the profile of a celebrity by promotion and publicity in the media. We cannot expect PR to fully save a celebrity’s reputation, but we can understand that public relations will help to maintain and uphold a reputation as much as it can. 

Let’s look at BP 3 years ago in terms of PR saving a reputation. Deana Goodrich wrote about the crisis BP was in and how bad their reputation was. She said no PR, no matter how good, could save this organisation anymore. (see article here). 
So she wrote a list of what PR can and cannot do, which we can relate to in terms of celebrity reputations:

PR Can:
• Create impressions
• Reinforce brand/shape reputation
• Educate and inform
• Support sales and marketing
• Heighten visibility

PR Can’t:
• Hide the truth
• Mask reality
• Deliver products
• Solve credibility problems
• Fix product, service or support issues

Public relations can create a reputation for an organisation. Public relations can support a company. PR even can maintain a reputation for a celebrity status in the world, but they can’t do magic. Public relations can’t stop a celebrity making a mistake. Michael Jackson is rated the top celebrity that ruined their reputation by saying the wrong thing.( see article here). He said on national television that he shared a bed with young boys that visited him. He already had been arrested for molestation charges (which have been dropped), but that was a big mistake. That doesn’t mean PR is always successful, but it does mean that PR practitioners are capable of trying.

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