Being Raised on PR Disasters

Growing up a music lover and with an interest in the entertainment industry, I have watched many of my favorite music groups and celebrities fall victim to bad PR. It often made me wonder if their teams responded (or stayed silent) the way they did on purpose to make them look terrible.

In middle school, I often watched my favorite boy band at the time constantly get into various scandals. A majority of these scandals had to do with their unconfirmed girlfriends. Although it wasn’t the boys themselves saying or doing anything, the things their supposed girlfriends were doing was putting a bad reputation on them. Fans constantly demanded that their team put out a statement to clear the water, but would that have helped? Their PR team always stayed silent, never releasing a single statement from what I could remember, but in my opinion, it made things worse. At the same time, this was an example of where I think it was best they stayed silent, but not every fan understood why. If their team were to release a statement, they could say something along the lines of, “Their personal lives have nothing to do with the fans' personal interest.” Since there was often a lack of good PR, many fans left the fandom over the years, not wanting to deal with the toxic environment it created within the fandom itself.

As I began getting into K-POP, I imagined that PR would be a lot better in that industry. These companies held some of the biggest K-POP groups in the world, so they must be good at PR, right? I was slightly wrong. It was just as bad as the western industry. The only good PR within this industry is when they announce a member is sick and will miss a schedule, their hiatus, or departure from the group. Many of these statements are quick and to the point, providing as much detail as possible without providing too much personal information. 

This industry has its days where the PR is flat out terrible. There have been instances where idols are in unbelievable scandals and it makes you wonder how the company is going to respond to it. Most of the time, they ignore it. Other times they will claim they are looking into the issue and then later deny it claiming what is being said is “untrue”. While I don’t think this is necessarily bad PR, it still is not the best. If they want to up their game, they could provide a bit of proof as to why the claims are untrue. 

So, why exactly do public figures need good PR? With the lack of professionalism from certain companies, it could cause these public figures to lose their fans and credibility. Some of these people could be seen as untrustworthy and nobody wants to be a fan of someone like that. Most statements will not be perfect, but it is better than remaining silent most of the time.

Bio: Hello, I am Julianna Macfarlane and I am a double major in Public Relations and Creative Writing. My main goal is to work in the entertainment industry, but I have also gained interest in the sports industry in the last year. After graduating, I plan on returning to CSUN to get my masters in Mass Communication.