Did She Set The Record Straight?

On Sunday night a 90 minute documentary about Britney Spears and her come back was featured titled "For The Record."
"So much has gone on over the last couple of years and there's a lot that people don't know about me that I want them to know," Spears told MTV News in a statement about the special. "I wanted to make this film because I started to feel like I wasn't being seen in the light that I wanted to be seen in. This is an opportunity to set the record straight and talk about what I've been through and where I'm headed."
The Documentary followed Britney around during her preparation for the MTV music awards performance and she tells all about her hardships and everything that has gone on with her over the past few years.
Not only do I think that the world, especially all of her fans, deserved to see this, but I also think that this was really good for Britney Spears image. Even though she didn't go into great detail about what really went on with her, she was able to clear the air and show the world and her fans that she is doing well, working hard and is on the road to recovery.
I think Britney Spears will always have support and an amazing fan base. She was the target of the media for so long, being labelled the worst things possible, but yet shes back on top!
Britney has survived the worst example of media scrutiny and is dealing with it and moving on.

Product Placement

Today in class we were discussing product placement. Television advertising is in a tough place with the new technologies being offered. For example, with TiVo you can record all of your favorite TV shows allowing you to skip through all commercials, which means, no ads are being viewed.
Product placement is another way that product brands can be put on display for millions of viewers to see. The new James Bond Movie Quantum of Solice houses many examples of product placement. In this Article I found it goes on to explain all the product brands that are featured in the movie.
The Quantum of Solice is a major action picture, meaning it was very expensive to produce. Product placement is a way in which high priced movies such as the Quantum of Solice can be funded.
Is product placement enough to advertise brands? Or will the lack of ads being viewed on television via TV commercials going to really affect the advertising industry?
I think due to this the advertising industry is in trouble and those working within the industry need to think outside of the box. I feel advertising needs to go above and beyond product placement in order for the industry to survive.

Oprah Tops Celebrity Philanthropy A List

Oprah Winfrey, love her or hate her, tops the list of the thirty largest public donations made in 2007 in the US. She donated $58.3 million to Oprah's Angel Network, which is focused around encouraging people around the world to make a difference in the lives of others. This Article provides further detail about Oprah and her donation.
Many A-list celebrities have charitable foundations. To name a few, the Barbara Streisand foundation and the Tiger Woods foundation. A large part of being celebrity is taking on the responsibility of giving back to those who are less fortunate. When celebrities put their name on a foundation people trust that it is a good cause.
With all the negative press that is associated with celebrities, it is also important for them to be recognized for their positive contributions.

Thoughts on crisis week..

Last week we spent the week dealing with crisis communications. I could not help but compare crisis week with the work of some celebrity publicists. Some of them (depending on who they represent) deal with crisis situations day in and out. Talk about working 24hrs a day! If your client gets a DUI at 3am on a Saturday night guess who is called and immediately goes into damage control mode? Thats right, the publicist!
This type of crisis is of course not on the same level as natural disasters or crisis happening around the world, but the process in which you handle a crisis is quite similar.

Celebrities gone good!

Charlize Theron was named the United Nations Messenger of Peace. Her focus will be ending violence against women. She will be responsible for promoting the United Nations activities and goals through the media. Now this is what we like to hear! This is a great exmaple of a celebrity using their fame and the media in a great way.

Scandal Sells

Today we had a guest speaker in our class, Retired Constable Ian Stock. He talked about dealing with the media in crisis situations. He made a point about how scandal sells and then went on to talk about Sara Palin and the way she was handled by the media this pas presidential campaign.

Sara Palin has been a treat for the media as she has been linked to scandals and has publicly embarrassed herself. Headlines like, 'Sara Palin goes on crazy shopping spree's', 'Sara Palin did not know Africa was a continent and that Canada was part of North America' were spread throughout the news.

In this Article I found on the fox news website, Sara Palin reacts to the rumors and defends herself. I wanted to give an example of how she reacted to the media and how she handled herself.

The media are always all over celebrities, it's interesting to see how different public figures deal with this.

Political airtime, is it effective?

With the November 4th Presidential election right around the corner, I wanted to take the time and talk about the airtime the candidates have received and if they are using it effectively. Lately, they have been using their airtime to bash the other party. It is not just seen in the United States, but also here in Canada and other countries around the world. Political leaders are spending their time saying how wrong the other party is when they could be using their time more wisely talking about what they are going to do for the country and goals that they have.
In the following article I found, Obama is talking about how McCain is directing his airtime around bashing Obama. Obama feels its easier for McCain to stand up and talk about what Obama is doing wrong rather than giving the country answers.

More specifically, talk about airtime and whether it is used effectively should be centered around tv commercials. Millions of viewers on a daily basis are subjected to political campaign commercials. During this time they have the undivided attention of their viewers and they should be using this time explicitly to tell America what they are going to do if elected. Rather, These commercials are full of negativity and political jargon, letting the viewers know everything bad about the other party but at the same time, nothing good about them. Could this be an example of the negative publicity I have been talking about? Is any publicity is good publicity?