People who work in media constantly shake their heads over the antics a Hollywood figure will go to get his or her name in the news. It started with mega stars in the studio
system of the '30s and catapulted into Elizabeth Taylor's desperate quest for an Oscar in the '60s. She decided to portray herself as someone so sick that voters inevitably felt
sorry enough to toss her one.
As a New Yorker entrenched in L.A., I've had a chance to represent producer types who cater to star demands. Still, I keep a firm foot in the real life world of, say, health
care communications. One of our clients in the former is a film superpower and he chortled at my having a meeting with a pharmaceutical bigwig. I looked him in earnest: "I love
them. They are real."
No matter how outrageous the gimmick or how much they anger the masses with divorces and fake support for rainforests, there has always been a sense that Americans must have
objects to worship. And celebrities are the new opiate for the masses.
These larger-than-life figures provide a service. Love them, hate them, chuckle over them, despise them for their riches, but we always plunk down for their next offering.
Well, we used to.
Thanks to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, people in media and the so-called unwashed masses have decidedly had enough of fake puffery (no pun intended). The Bennifer Show has
made people rebel vociferously in the last few months as these events have transpired:
- Lopez and Affleck "ate it" with their flick "Gigli"
- Lopez has seen her newest CD delayed until sometime next year
- Affleck has lost a film with the cancellation of the aptly titled "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"
- The two (individually) were missing from both the Photo Issue of Entertainment Weekly and the Music Issue of Vanity Fair
For corporate PR types this is a lesson to learn well: We know that if our clients were as phony as "Jenny From The Block" was, it would mean media backlash in droves. J.Lo was
already waning in respect to her media savviness pre-Affleck, so it was somehow decided that the matching of her with the boy from Dorchester would be the ticket to becoming the
ultimate household name. In turn, what it did was make the machinery stop: Most good marketing people know, if you push enough buttons on any machine it is simply going to fall
apart, if not explode.
The Jen-Ben story began 12 months ago, when they fell in love. Not with each other but with media attention. They figured that if they put butts in seats as a solo act together
they could double their power. They neglected the fact that they are products and their expiration date was in sight.
Though both have had shining moments (Lopez in "Out Of Sight" and Affleck nabbing an Oscar for the screenplay of "Good Will Hunting") the seams soon started to show. Namely,
Lopez released rehashes of her music and Affleck started headlining with co-stars who outshined him by miles. Unlike a Barbra Streisand, who attempts to integrate her product
with current cultural trends, Af-Lo's partnership became a failed business merger not unlike AOL Time Warner: a great idea in theory, but woeful in practice.
Hollywood teaches corporate America there are two risks at play with any product release: first, that choices of material will not suit the actress or CEO; second, that words
the performer or corporate head say will simply turn folks off. In the case of Lopez and Affleck, this has occurred for both. Their stock has plummeted.
See, in the beginning watching Lopez swing from husband to husband while playing disco diva was sort of fun. The very minute she turned serious (watching J.Lo act is like
watching paint dry) she was suddenly silly seeming. As for Affleck, the gig was up during one telling interview while dating the flavor of the '90s, Gwyneth Paltrow, when he
explained to a reporter the only way he would " make it" was to be romantically linked to a giant star.
Flashback: When Jenny released her first album people said, yeah, nice record, kind of like Tiffany only older. The timing could not have been better. Thanks to a dearth of
anything playing on dance floors, those vapid songs flew up the charts. There was also an opening for a Latin sultry singer - the female Ricky Martin.
Just when they both were on a roll, all went haywire. The PR messages by the duo's "people" were chosen, then disregarded haphazardly. No matter if you're celebrity or serious
business, all media representatives have to develop their stories with verve, gusto and reality.
Their film "Gigli", while a shameful product, was not the worst for these stars (script-free "Angel Eyes" and the abominable "Forces of Nature").
Greed by PR folks delayed the movie by months, feeling that gads of press exposure would raise the film to must-see status. Yet if these pros had stopped Ben and Jen from
making the world sick of them, admirers would have gone to see "Gigli," like diehard Bette Midler fans saw "Drowning Mona."
My favorite PR lesson from the Jen-Ben camp is to be careful who you think is your friend. Their people, and the couple, really saw the press as a collective chum who'd wink
back at anything they put out. Yet, try not to forget: media are not automatons. When Jen-Ben angered the fourth estate with their antics, the ink-stained wretches gave up the
goose. Gee, Benni-press said after their "nuptials" were called off, are they really "dating" again? Didn't they call it quits over some Ben-at-strip-joint moment? Doesn't his
mother hate Jen? Isn't one of them dating Ashton?
This poor handling of media also relates to non-glitzy positions. (To paraphrase Joe Cocker: everything is glamorous in its own way.) Say you handled a CEO who felt that he
or she was a star. He tells you that they know how to manage the press and their image, "like a Stradivarius," he says as you roll your eyes.
The job of the PR professional is to tell people in power that friends do not let friends make pitch calls. While he may be familiar with people in hot media seats,
acquaintances that report don't owe your CEO a darn thing.
At our firm we always got chuckles from the Jennifer Chronicles. After all, how many stars give it that fluidly: One day she moans about abusive childhood memories for a role
as an abused wife; the next she's seriously someone who hails from the Bronx for the tall tale "Maid In Manhattan," and then she is, aw shucks, half of a down-home Pillsbury-
baking couple for a film debut with Ben. This is what corporate CEOs do if, heaven forbid, they believe their press status to be infallible.
People who think they are gods are brought down the slow and hard way: one rung at a time.
One positive note in so much negativity: Lopez was scheduled to be third kisser in the desperate Britney/Madonna lip-lock on MTV but bowed out claiming retouches on a film. But
she did not need to be the butt (sorry) of another bad national joke.
Overexposure has killed many a career in every trade. For example, look at the current status of 2001's biggest hit and candidate for Trivial Pursuit 2004. Carefully open the
current Vanity Fair cover, replete with music stars. On the lower right-hand you read this blurb: "Bonus. No Britney Spears interview."
Contact: Richard Laermer is the CEO of RLM PR and author of "Full Frontal PR How to Get People Talking About You, Your Business or Your Product (Bloomberg, 2003) ( http://www.FullFrontalPR.com ) He can be reached at 310.207.9200; [email protected]