(This week, PR News editors Phil Hall and Aaron Jenkins ponder a certain celebrity heiress whose PR strategy contradicts the basic tenets of reputation
management.)
PHIL: I adore Paris Hilton - at least from a PR perspective! Paris faces the most embarrassing and ridiculous PR gaffes (the bootlegged sex video, last year's
disastrous "House of Wax" podcast, "losing" her Chihuahua Tinkerbelle, publicly feuding with Nicole Richie), and still she commands glowing press attention. The other week, she
goofed up the name of "her" new videogame at a tech show - but nonetheless, fans came out in droves to see her. How can Paris continually and successfully break the rules of
reputation management?
AARON: Interestingly, any ill publicity Paris sustains she is able to turn it around in her favor. Publicity in general - positive or negative - benefits her image as
long as she is attracting attention. One possible explanation for this is that Paris entered the public eye only a few years ago. In PR years, she is a relative baby. A sex
tape and short-lived engagement later, we have embraced an "Oh, that Paris!" mindset that precludes her from reputation damage. Heck, it's her damaged reputation that's her bread
and butter!
PHIL: There is no shortage of people who are under the impression that all publicity is good publicity. And that's not just limited to show biz. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld creates more chaos than calm in his media appearances. Ford Motor chairman William Ford Jr. never generates confidence in his supposedly bold corporate
statements.
AARON: The exceptional case of Paris' PR amnesty can only exist in the entertainment industry (and thank the PR gods for that). When influential decision-makers like
Rumsfeld and Ford garner bad press, they have no choice to clear their throats and face the music. But not doing so may be the best decision. In the early phase of the Iraq War,
Rumsfeld was looked upon as a media darling with his jovial daily war briefings, but as the war waged on, Mr. Secretary soon went MIA.
PHIL: Bad PR can hurt the Hollywood set (Russell Crowe lost the Best Actor Oscar for "A Dangerous Mind" due to his well-publicized boorish behavior and Tom
Cruise's on- and off-screen cred plummeted in the past year). Rumsfeld and Ford have tin ears when it comes to hearing that music they're facing - they still think they're right
and the rest of the world is out of step, and their respective organizations are suffering because of that. No, I think Paris Hilton is the proverbial exception to the PR rules -
although I think her media coverage should come with a "Don't Try This at Home" warning.