Guess Who’s Back Together?

This week, I found out that Rihanna is probably dating Chris Brown again. This is probably old news to some people, so excuse the delayed reaction. I’m trying to get rid of one of my guilty pleasures (gossip magazines) so I’m not really up-to-date on today’s gossip.  However, I have to say that I’m not surprised to hear this at all at all. In fact, I think that this was a very smart PR move.

Rihanna and Chris Brown are first and foremost celebrities, and therefore they are in the public eye 24/7.  When Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna, there was no way that they could continue to be a couple. Now, I’m not saying that they broke up because he hurt her. I’m saying that, if they hadn’t broken up, Rihanna’s career probably would have been ruined. Her fan base would have been very disappointed in her if she stayed together with Chris and it would have probably given her a negative perception in the public.

At that point in time, breaking up was the smartest choice for Rihanna’s career. At the same time, I think that that they were unable to emotionally resolve the situation between themselves because the public got in the way. Obviously, I don’t know these two celebrities. I can’t say I know how they felt, and everything I do know comes from interviews.

On the plus side of this horrible situation, this ordeal helped Rihanna release her new edgy CD that helped her keep rising up the charts as an artist. Chris Brown basically disappeared from the public. It was a smart move. His previous good boy image was destroyed and he had to rebuild himself as an artist if he wanted to reach commercial success again.

Obviously, Chris Brown has achieved that. He has a completely different public persona now. I’m not saying that he’s viewed more positively, but people know what to expect from him now. He’s been successful, and a lot of time has passed since the incident. Personally, I always thought they would get back together. Due to the severity of the incident, there was never going to be a perfect time to get together. Yet, now that Chris’ career is back on track and enough time has passed, they probably decided it was a good time for them to pursue a relationship.

Again, I don’t know anything about their situation or their thoughts and feelings. These are two consenting adults who are allowed to make their own decisions. However, in my opinion, their PR team handled their break up and getting back together in the best way possible. I don’t know them so I’m not going to say what I think they should do with their lives, but you have to admit the timing -and Rihanna’s PR team- is pretty good.

I Really Like TV, Okay?

 

            American Horror Story, Community, Once Upon a Time, 30 Rock and New Girl complete me. Every fall season, I look forward to new episodes of my favorite show to waste my time in the most enjoyable way possible. This week, while watching 30 Rock (if you aren’t watching this show then I’m 100 percent sure you’re wasting your life), I realized that Tracy Jordan (a character on the show) was actually amazing at PR.

          

  Through the show’s history, Tracy demonstrates that he’s slightly crazy with an occasional intelligent and witty outlook on life. He’s very successful, but not just because of his talent. He’s successful because he knows what his public wants and expects from him.

            For a while, the show’s audience was led to believe the Tracy was an unfaithful husband to his wife of 17 years, Angie.  It wasn’t hard to believe, because he frequently went out to clubs with his posse to flirt and get with girls. However, we later found out that Tracy had been completely faithful to his wife, and he promoted this adulterous image because he knew that his image was what made him money. Tracy, for all intents and purposes, knew what his public wanted and he wasn’t afraid to live up (or down) to their expectations.

            In an interesting story arc, Tracy decided to completely change his image so that he could win an Oscar. He had to stop doing comedic movies and create deep and inspirational stories. Tracy is nothing if not stubborn, so he eventually reached his goal, but then he realized that, since he had changed his whole image to get to that point, he had to stop his crazy actions and behave appropriately for his new audience. He realized he couldn’t connect to his original public and that he had to please a new group of people. At that point, he decided that being a true star was too much for him and he decided to just be himself and why not? It was definitely working.

            Obviously, this post is just me showing my love for 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan, and the show’s writing. I could write long essays describing the pure genius that is 30 Rock. However, I’ll keep it brief and just say that I find it completely hilarious that Tracy—one of the craziest characters on the show—is one of the best at marketing himself and knowing what his public wants. Honestly, if I could be completely weird and earn a lot of money, I would not hesitate to do so. Maybe those crazy, rampaging stars and starlets really know what they’re doing! 

 

 

My Party is Full of Racists

Money, God and Politics. These are three topics that shouldn’t be discussed at a dinner party. The subject of politics, however, is on everyone’s mind. With the election coming up (go vote everyone!), politics are getting a lot more coverage, and some politicians (that shouldn’t) have decided to give their opinions on certain topics.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and stances. I completely understand that a cumulation of life experiences and a person’s location can influence their political leanings. I’m a Democrat, but I can’t hate Republicans as a whole. I like to think that each political party wants the best for our nation, and their decisions are based on that and that alone.

Of course, I know that the world isn’t quite so innocent and ideal. Deciding on a party should be a difficult decision, or a least a thoroughly informed one. However, I don’t really think people join parties based on that. I think that most of the time, it’s based on your general area’s perception. Sometimes, it’s based on things.

Colin Powell, a Republic, didn’t follow Republican convention when he endorsed Obama for President this election season. This video talked a bit about a Republican’s comment about Colin’s motivations behind this endorsement and how his comment hinted at an innate racism within the Republican party.

Obviously, racism is a bad word. We’re taught that racists are bad people – or at least my generation was taught that.  A few people in a party shouldn’t make me dislike it. I know nothing’s perfect. Republicans don’t have a great image. In my area, even their news source- Fox News- is regularly criticized. I know that each Republican senator or congressman has to have a person who tells them what to say and not what to say to their civilians. If they don’t have one, then I really suggest they get a PR team.

At this point, I’m not even surprised to hear comments like these and that’s disappointing in general. I shouldn’t want to mock people who represent us in the United States. Not everyone’s going to agree with me on issues, but that doesn’t mean that I take it upon myself to speak out and try to change people’s opinions. I really think that a lot of these congressmen and senators aren’t thinking about what their public wants. When you don’t connect with your public, you won’t get re-elected and I really think that a person in power should consider that at all times and not just when it’s election time.

#PJ4Prez

November 12 through 15 are election voting days!!!! Or at least, those are the Student Association’s voting days for 2012.

Syracuse’s Student Association’s (SA) mission statement is (for those of you who are unaware),

“Student Association is the official student governing body of Syracuse University and SUNY ESF undergraduate students. We serve to represent students in all facets of University life. Through our committees and overall initiatives and goals, Student Association strives to meet its core mission: to represent and be the defender of the students.”

Personally, I’ve been aware that they worked on campus and that they’ve helped some of my organizations out, but for the most part I haven’t really cared about them. However, after this weekend, I have to change my mind.

One presidential hopeful has somehow managed to create a PR campaign that I care about! Officially, it all started when PJ Alampi, presidential hopeful, announced his intent to run for president. It wasn’t a dry event involving a stadium and suits. No. It was a flash mob. If there’s on thing that I love and appreciate, it’s a flash mob.

Then, I began to see PJ for president t-shirts I saw around campus.

 

Then, there were postcards with his face and hashtag (#PJ4Prez) everywhere.

Considering random people were talking about his campaign, I figured that his promotional team was pretty great, but then I saw this.

Then, I saw this.

In regards to promotion, I have to say that PJ is definitely winning. He appeared on ESPN after all! The flash mob makes him seem like he’s fun to the people that attended. Even if you’re unaware of the SA election, you’re probably aware of his face and name. He’s putting himself out there, and that’s a lot more than I can say for any other candidate.

Now, I know PJ, but that doesn’t mean I have to be excited for his campaign. However, after all of this, put me on board! Anyone with such a motivated team (here’s to Adrianna-the girl with the glitter on her face and PJ’s big head poster) definitely deserves some attention. Now, let’s see how he promotes his plans for the school! Maybe he can hash tag it using #PJ4Prez? I’m looking forward to his creative ideas!

Memos Gone Wrong

In an ideal world, every corporation would aim to please its publics. However, we don’t live in an ideal world and, after reading a story from the Huffington Post, that’s become clearer to me.

This is David Siegel. David Siegel, the CEO of a giant timeshare, sent an email to his employees with a vaguely threating message. Siegel insinuated to his workers that, if Obama was re-elected as the President of the United States, he would be forced to lay off workers. He’s not the only CEO to try to influence his employee’s political opinion. The same article in the Huffington Post mentioned that Richard Lacks, CEO of Lacks Enterprises, is urging his employees to vote for Mitt Romney for somewhat similar reasons.

It’s frustrating that companies are actively attempting to control its employee’s decisions to such an extent. There are always going to be repercussions when a new president is elected. Everyone’s entitled to his or her own opinion, but it would have been nice if Siegel had stated the flip side of that situation. What would happen if Romney became president, and how it would affect his employees? It seems to me that these CEOs and leaders are pushing their opinions on their employees. Granted it’s from the outside looking in, but it looks like his employees aren’t really valued.

Hearing this makes me wonder if Siegel’s employees are unhappy and if, in turn, it’s adversely affecting their work. I understand that the elections are coming up, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ok to push people to vote the same thing as you. Personally, it looks seems like a lack of respect on the CEO’s part, and that probably mean his employees dislike him. Either way, I can’t see a Public Relations team endorsing Siegel’s email, or at least, accepting the way he wrote it.

I hope the Siegel understands that his actions don’t just affect his employees. His investors and possible customers may not be pleased with him right now. Everyone has an opinion, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be thrown into someone’s face. In the end, I’m disappointed and I hope that Siegel understands that, whatever his intentions were, his email will have repercussions, whether he notices it or not.

Parent’s Weekend

As a resident advisor, I communicate with my publics on a daily basis. More specifically, I interact with most of my residents and bosses daily. However, this weekend was Parent’s Weekend. Parents came from all around the country-no, really, they told me-to see their children. I had to interact with a public that I’m not used to seeing. The first time I met the parents was on move-in day, when they were emotional about their children leaving, and this weekend was about the same for some parents. Other parents, however, were clearly excited to see the Syracuse football game.

Meanwhile, in my residence hall, I was giving away t-shirts to families and trying to convince them to take pictures in front of a football background. A lot more people were interested in the t-shirts than the picture, but the main point was to make families feel connect to the school and its activities. I don’t think that there isn’t really much for the parent’s to do within the University during the weekend, except for touring, so it was our role to make sure that they could get to know us and have some fun in the process.

I think that Parent’s Weekend is a great way for Syracuse University to reach out to one of its main publics. As a representative of the school, I have to make sure that I let parents know that they’re appreciated and, while it is not a public that I have to deal with everyday, it is definitely one that the school deals with on a daily basis. It’s smart for the school to give itself a face (or faces) that parents can identify with.

Now, Parent Weekend has ended pretty well. The school does it well, and I thought it was interesting to be part of a public that also serves the public.

Guilty Pleasure

Everyone, I have a confession – I used to be addicted to Cosmo.

Ok, maybe my addiction isn’t that big of a deal. After all, Cosmo -or Cosmopolitan- has a huge following. It’s following consists of mainly females -it’s tagline is “For the Fun Fearless Female”-, but I’m not going to say only females read it because that’s just not true. If you don’t believe me, you can go on their website and see a tab that’s for men. Cosmopolitan prides itself on sexy ideas and relationship advice for its readers so of course some men would be interested in it. Actually, a lot of different people are interested in it.

Personally, I don’t remember the first time I started reading Cosmo. However, I do remember the first time I saw one of the magazines. The cover was bright yellow, the words were in Spanish, and  an adult took it away from me the moment I touched it. I couldn’t read the magazine – that was when I decided to learn how to read Spanish because those adults were obviously trying to hide something from me- but I knew that it was something that adults read. Of course my interest was piqued.

I no longer read Cosmo for various reasons, but I recognize it’s appeal. Sex, designer brands and beauty tips are things that people want to know about and Cosmo offers its. By reading the magazine, you’re finding out how to be a better you. You’re given the secret on how to please your partners – you don’t even want to get me started on that- and know what a community of women are thinking and wearing. Of course, I disagree with a lot of those previous statements, but I have to admit that Cosmo knows what its doing! I don’t agree with a lot of the images promoted by Cosmo, but I certainly have to agree that they have a good business sense.

Cosmo has a very wide public that ranges through different age groups to different genders and different countries worldwide. It’s a worldwide guilty pleasure. I still got judged by a lot of my male friends for reading it, but at the end of the day guess who wanted to read it too? Of course, they were critical of it, but it was an entertaining read and that’s what were were looking for.

Cosmo has a large public and it interacts with them in a fun way. It’s like that older sister that has all these tips for you and that you listen to with rapt attention. Of course, their advice isn’t always correct and can be a bit degrading. My goal in life is not to please a suitor, which is what a large part of the magazine is dedicated to. I’m never going to be like the girls featured in Cosmo, but that’s what a lot of people are aiming for. I decided not to read Cosmo when I realized that they were filling my head with ideas that weren’t true at all. However, that’s just me and I’ll always remember the thrill I got when I read it with my friends. I will say though, think about the ideas that Cosmo is giving you about what women should be, do and look like. Is this all around  “perfect” being even possible?

Finally, on a brighter note, I will concede that despite Cosmo’s faults the Cosmo Confessions are hilarious! I definitely still open up  o that section when my friends have the magazine lying around. This leads me to another revelation. My second guilty pleasure is reading about other people’s embarrassing and awkward moments.

You Can’t Please Everyone

The Dalai Lama is coming to town! He will be a part of Syracuse University’s One World Concert. It’s a cool event that’s not only bringing the Dalai Lama and several musicians to the university, but it’s also part of a larger event that promotes peace.  The larger event is called “A Common Ground for Peace” and obviously peace is cool. Who doesn’t peace in their lives? Unfortunately, this event is causing a group of students anxiety. It’s not that these students have a problem with peace, it’s more like they have a problem with the Dalai Lama coming to campus. No, it’s not because they hate the Dalai Lama, but because of their government – more specifically, the Chinese government.

It’s no secret that China has some serious problems with the Dalai Lama. In fact, when Canada invited the Dalai Lama to their homeland, China was very displeased. Then, when the Dalai Lama then proceeded to speak at a Canadian university, China decided to retaliate. In a surprising turn of events, the Chinese government refused to recognize the diplomas that came from that university. This obviously affected the university’s students who were planning on using their diploma to get a job in China. So, when Syracuse University declared that the Dalai Lama would be coming to the university for an event, many Chinese students feared that the same situation would occur.

You can’t expect to please everyone, but it’s difficult to imagine that Syracuse University would intentionally create such a difficult situation for a large part of their public. As a school, it must be difficult  to cater to all of your publics. Syracuse University always has to keep their staff, students and parents in mind whenever they make a decision. So, personally, I doubt that Syracuse University was aware of this issue when they decided to bring the Dalai Lama.

Of course, the school began to work on the situation as soon as they were notified about the problem, but for a few weeks some students feared that of all their work was going to go unrecognized. So, that made me think. What do you do when, as an organization, some of your events clash with a part of your public? I obviously can’t answer this, but I do think that it isn’t possible to please everyone at once, but if your public doesn’t agree with what you’re doing then should they really be the people you’re targeting? Just some food for thought.

Who Doesn’t Love Your Body?

Victoria Secrets doesn’t love your body. Or at least, that’s what we can assume from their campaign that’s ironically called “I Love My Body”.

This campaign tagline seemingly supports the idea of self love, and that Victoria’s Secret helps you love your body. However, the picture in the advertisement above doesn’t help me love my body. I can’t relate to them at all. Victoria’s Secret models usually have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18, but that’s probably only because anything lower has been banned by The Council of Fashion Designers of America. To put that number into context, a person of “normal weight” (which is a term that I really disagree with) has a BMI ranging from 18.5 to 24.9. Anything under a BMI of 18.5 is severely underweight. Someone could argue that a model’s BMI is fine as long as they are healthy (by the way, working out is not synonymous with health, like anything else it can be taken to an extreme), or that perhaps the Victoria’s Secret models are naturally thin. However, these models often go through an extreme diet to achieve their goal weight.

Looking at these models does not make me love myself. Actually, they all look the same to me. Sure, there’s the difference of skin color and lingerie items, but that’s about it. Two-thirds of Americans would agree with me. That’s a large audience that Victoria’s Secret is isolating. In fact, it looks like Victoria’s Secret is aiming this add to a thin public with curves. Even if you don’t have curves, Victoria’s Secret makes you look like you do, which is almost the point. Either way, this advertisement has a seemingly great message with a picture that doesn’t really match. Victoria’s Secret definitely has a larger group of shoppers, but they’re only reaching out to one type of public and ostracizing the rest.

In contrast, Dove has a campaign with a similar tagline. In fact, it’s a social mission to them. They want to find real beauty.

This picture is completely different from Victoria’s Secret’s picture. These women are completely different. They are thin, curvy and thick (there’s a difference between curvy, thick and fat by the way). I’m not going to say that their campaign is perfect. But, it’s obvious that they’re reaching a larger public by including completely different types of people in their advertisement.

In the end, it’s really about who you want to reach as an organization. Dove seems to be for everyday people, while Victoria’s Secret’s advertisement seems to be for a person that wants to look “extraordinary”. Each ad has a different perception of beauty, which is fine because I do too and I know which one I am more likely to relate to. I suppose that, for me, regardless of Victoria’s Secret’s message, their advertisement did not have the intended effect of helping me love myself and did not reach me as a part of their public. But it’s ok, because I love myself anyways and I don’t need a brand to help me love myself.

Public or Private? A Post About Education

The other day I listened to Bill Clinton’s speech during the Democratic National Convention. Bill Clinton is a skilled orator and that showed during his presentation. His speech was interesting and presented a lot of reasons why Obama should be re-elected as the President of the United States. However, during his speech, his comments about how Romney would affect our education stuck with me. It made me think about education in the United States in this present day and age.

When you enter school, you’re quickly inundated with certain ideas. Let’s disregard a large amount of social ideas that are perpetuated in and by schools (that would be a whole other post), and talk about the idea of intelligence. For an overwhelming amount of people, we’re taught that grades have a direct correlation with intelligence. If you consistently get As, you’re called smart. However, there’s different types of intelligence, and everyone deserves the best opportunities possible to hone their particular skill sets. That doesn’t mean that they receive it.

Most people who are able to afford a decent education send their children to private school. They are a lot of reasons that they do it, but it all revolves around the idea of helping their children reach their maximum potential. Personally, I’ve been very fortunate in regards to my education. I was sent to a great school in a good area, but what even defines a great school? In my experience, some people say that a great school is a school that produces good grades. There are also other factors, of course, like the location of the school, the student to staff ratio, athletic opportunities etc. However, this also demonstrates a stigma against schools. After all, who would want to send their children to a school that was bad?

Schools are such a great example of public relations. They have a diverse involved public that will always remember their experiences with their organization (in this instance the school). “Great” schools know this and work to create an environment parents (and hopefully students) can love. However, not all schools are able to meet the extensive demands needed to create such a school. In the end, it all comes down to whether a student can afford the education they so badly deserve.

Public schools usually have limited resources, and it shows. There are so many students in some public schools that teachers often don’t have the time to give attention to each student.  Understaffed and badly paid, teachers in some public schools often find themselves with the daunting task of being trying to be a helpful part of a student’s life despite the lack of resources at hand. These situations helped create a bad image for public schools in my neighborhood.

Of course, this is what I’ve heard from some of my friends and what I’ve seen. I know that there are some good public schools in the United States. However, listening to Clinton’s speech, the fact that funding for teachers and schools might go down due to another President or law was a scary prospect. These are people that desperately need funds in order to give students the best education possible, but it seems that with the economy the situation could only get worse.

In the end, these days, it seems that the best way to assure a proper education is to pay to go to a private or charter school. It’s sad because it means that some people with lower-middle class and middle class backgrounds aren’t truly able to achieve their potential. This lack of proper education hinders us as a country and it hinder us as people. I hope that whoever takes office recognizes the potential repercussions of constraining our educational system.