There is noting real on Reality TV shows

Go Go Luckey Productions, producers of everyone's favorite teen drama queen show Laguna Beach, are looking for the next reality TV star -- an aspiring Fashion Assistant.

Fashion PR Gets a Second Chance at Reality TV

Yes. MTV’s earlier foray into Fashion PR in 2005, the Lizzie Grubman fronted “PoweR Gril,” sent the greater public relations industry a ranting, by playing into every awful stereotype every conceived about a Fashion PR Girl. That show was really a “Nightmare.” However, I would not call the show “PR Nightmare” because that show has not represented PR at all. That show was the same reality show as earlier ones with PR firm look-like television sets.

There are some particular industries that look like very fancy and glamourous, such as television, music, fashion, public relations, and advertising. However, just like fashion shows backstage, it can be seen as fancy work from the outside while there is more to it when you actually penetrate the whole industry.

For example, there are so many reality shows on TV, and most of these shows look like these cannot be done by “normal people.” If you think about “Flavor of love,” “Cheaters,” and “Sweet Sixteen,” it is not hard to believe that there are people who really need to be segregated from others and get some mental therapy.

However, the motivations of these people are obvious. This is a TV show and no one will pay attention to normal, average, and everyday nice people. They need drama to make their show viewable. Even though we call these shows “reality”, we all know they are acting. There is direct and indirect pressure on those participants to make extreme events. Besides, a program director only chooses exciting scenes for broadcasting and gets rid of other, less exciting cuts.

People who have the real potential and ability to work as PR professionals, they definitely penetrate what is underneath the surface. Even though “PoweR Girl” makes PR seem shallow and appearance-based, in the real world there are thousands of people who work in tiny offices writing hundreds of press releases every day. They always smile at the rude and disdainful people in order to get the job done. There is no such a thing as a fancy job in the real world and there is nothing that is exactly same as reality on the TV screen. The target audiences of these reality TV shows are people who just want to have fun. Again, the general concept of all reality shows are same, and only the participants and the television sets (hip-hop style mention, college dorm, PR firm) are changing.

That is why there is nothing we can do about the inaccurate conception of PR on TV and also why we have nothing to worry about.

(“The Devil wears Prada”-We also know that an assistant of the fashion magazine editor cannot afford those fancy designer out-fits.)

The Power of Words

The Power of Words - By Paull Young

Words these days still can be as meaningful as the words of ancient Egyptians even though the words are more accessible to the masses these days. The different thing is that not all of the words these days are meaningful, while all of the Ancient Egyptians’ are meaningful.

We do not have to think far back. If we recall 20 years ago, writing was a very formal, effort-needed, and time-consuming action. Even for a personal letter, people put some amount of time into finishing one decent piece of writing. (I’m sure they read it more than twice after they finished writing.) People do not usually write on a daily basis and there was a very specific, either professional or personal, purpose and occasion to write.

Since communication tools have evolved especially after the Internet was invented, writing has become a very casual and everyday action just like talking. Writing e-mails, blogging, and even posting a short comment on the Internet are just casual extensions of talking. Even though the format is writing, it is just like having a small talk with your friends or family. It does not have to be one logical concept, a grammatically perfect paragraph, or even a complete sentence.

However, that does not mean that those words are not meaningful. It is just harder than before to select trust-worthy words since there are massive amounts of words on the Internet. Moreover, the Internet has become an open place of evolving public opinion.
Maybe single words themselves are not very meaningful these days, but those words are pieces of public opinion. We can figure out the big picture by collecting these little pieces. Single words may be less valuable than the words of ancient Egyptians, but they are still worth looking at because these words represent what the public thinks about a certain topic at a certain time.

Some may argue that the words from the general public are not as important as the words from people who have social and political power. However, in my opinion, what the public says and thinks is equally important. For example, all elected officials are supposed to work for their citizens and citizens are the ones who can truly affect them. Besides, of course, people exist before a nation or government does, not the other way around.

Imagine that you have a tape recorder that record what many of the ancient Egyptians said. Do you think that tape is not meaningful because the words come from mere citizens? Do you think the words from their mouth are insignificant because they are presented as casual talk rather than sophisticated writing?

Don’t you think those words could be a raw but precious form of evidence for public opinion?

Getting a job in the PR field

Advice for Young PR Pros from Richard Toth

If you introduce yourself as a young PR professional, some might still ask you what you actually do except lie. Some want to explain PR work as maintaining a long-term, positive relationship with important publics, but it sounds vague and not persuasive. To persuade others and to make them understand, we need more concrete and tangible evidence that we can actually show.

Similarly, in terms of getting jobs, we need substantial abilities which can be proven as well as creativity. These abilities that PR students needs are not limited to communication skills but including other knowledge and techniques for the PR world.

Even though most of the PR major is in the Journalism or Communication department, in my opinion, students should take a few business courses and media technique classes to learn photography, filming, Web design, and publication. Students also should be equipped with strong research ability as well as communication skills. Analyzing data is as important as collecting data, and for this job, students should have statistic knowledge as well.

There is no doubt that creative thought and different perspectives are important for PR work. However, these above abilities are fundamentals which are required of everyone while creativity is not. If you think about getting a job practically which is the main concern of most students, these cannot be overlooked for them. In the beginning, people who only have these abilities but lack creativity would get a job because ability can be written in their resume. However, people who have no knowledge and ability but only creative thought and different perspectives would have difficulty getting a job in the first place.

Tim Hardaway-What should a PR representative do for him?

Hardaway's new legacy a hateful one

If there is a PR representative for Tim Hardaway, was he or she surprised by his speech? Did the PR representative suffer while cleaning up the mess Tim Hardaway just made?

First of all, a PR representative has to anticipate what the client might say in front of the public. A PR representative also should have a prepared plan for dealing with these possible situations.
Second of all, the factor that really matters is not the “statement” itself but the circumstance and context: the speaker, the business and industry involved, and their main audiences—sports fans.

Before acting, a PR advisor should define who the client is and what the client’s character is. A PR representative’s role is not to make a socially acceptable or likable person. All clients have different images and social expectations.

If this “statement” was made from a governor or teacher, almost everyone would level criticism at the person, and the person would be ostracized from society. People requires stricter moral standard for them.
However, in this case, because this statement was made by a sports player, the issue would be one of speech right rather than morality.

People want sport stars to be tough and brave enough to do something that others cannot do without considering others’ views. Main public of sports business is not the gay community but sports fans who are usually more masculine.

Furthermore, it is also a PR representative’s job to make these statements less problematic by focusing on other aspects of the situation behind the case. The focus could be the human right of sexual minorities, the right to voice personal opinion, or even race issues. They should find an appropriate issue to lessen the damage to the reputation.

In this case, the reactions around the blogosphere has been divided into two; one is praising his bold speaking out regardless of politically correctness, and another is blaming him for using word “hate” to refer other human beings. A PR representative would emphasize the former opinion as the dominant one and lessen the homophobic part by pin-pointing his bold speech.

The Turner Broadcasting 'bomb scare' in Boston

In terms of achieving the promotion goal, which is getting as much awareness as possible, the Turner Broadcasting 'bomb scare' case in Boston would be judged as a successful case. It only cost $2,500 to bail out the two men who authorities say placed electroic advertising around teh city, and Turner got their new cartoon show and character published all over the states.

I'd rather call it a PR success story than PR disaster.

All business people are dying to find a way to promoting their business. Almost every space which people can see is covered with commercials. It is so hard to get the attention of people who are sick of PR and advertising. People refuse to remember or even see the information by treating it as a junk.

Normally, this extreme promotion is not a good strategy for the leading companies, becuase they are more concerned their reputation or long-term relationship with their publics. However, for the rising company, which just wants to earn awareness, this is a very efficient promotion. Even though Turner is a big company, this scheme was conducted to market the new cartoon show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", which is supposed to be funny and silly. This fit their concept.

Berdovsky, one of the men who authorities say placed electronic advertising around the city, talked about 70's haircut to reporter and television cameras to launch into a nonsensical discussion.

The cartoon show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", the funny but extreme (showing the finger) character, insane "bomb scare" happening, and 70's haircut, all fit with their larger concept of the show which is funny and silly. I would call this cohesive campaign.

Even though the marketing sponsors, Interference, have already made statement of apology, they might have laughed and thanked the police in Boston that caused this panic by assuming the light-covered characters were bombs. Usually bombs are hidden rather than place in full view and give people the finger, but these policemen were doing their job really carefully and made the issue a media pitch without any extra charge. "What a sweet new friend of us~ Thank you~"