I’ve had an epiphany, I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about propaganda and persuasion from an introspective point of view, ‘as a PR professional am I ethical or propagandist?’ However by thinking of it in this way I think I may have glossed over the most obvious form of socially acceptable propaganda…celebrity promotion!
Hailing from a digital background I’ve been very aware of the whispers surrounding the online use of celebrities; especially on Twitter. It never really dawned on me that actually they are being used as a vessel for changing the public opinion of a product or service, ‘If Katie Price uses that fake tan then in MUST be good!’ Basic psychology can tell you that if someone you idolise says something is good then you are far more inclined to agree with them. It didn’t take long for public relations to twig that this could be used to their advantage, the latest game changing campaign coming from Snickers.
Famous faces like Katie Price, Cher Lloyd and Rio Ferdinand were used as part of the ‘you’re not you when you’re hungry’ campaign. Where the celebrity was paid to send a few out of character tweets such as Katie Price pondering the meaning of life, only to reveal that it was all part of a grand PR plug.
This was only one of many celebrities that have been paid to plug products on Twitter, there was Joey Essex and his sudden obsession with Marmite on toast or Lauren Pope and her new-found love of MAC make up. These instances let to a new guideline being set on Twitter, all promo tweets must now end with #spon. It was this conclusion that let me to want to know more, as if it was only harmless promotion why was there a need for Twitter to intervene?
It would appear that the public were being purposefully misled in order to change their natural opinion on a product, now doesn’t that sound familiar, fans of a certain Mr. Bernays may think that sounds suspiciously like his Freudian methods of mass public manipulation; as these days there is no better way to communicate to the a large percentage of the world than posting it on Twitter.
Sounds rather counter productive doesn’t it? Old habits manifesting themselves in new technologies. But surely this 360 degree spin shows that actually Bernays was on to something because there are no two ways about it, his methods work and with all ethical agendas aside it makes for bloody effective public relations. Isn’t that the point? If you are a PR professional that is your agenda, to portray your client in a positive light and if that means hiring the right face for your product then surely that’s just a good utilisation of available resources?
My personal agenda is such that I do see promotion as an acceptable form of propaganda, but it’s important to remember that I’ve had a lot of exposure to these kind of campaigns so see very little wrong with them, especially with the new guidelines in place. But that’s not to say they haven’t effected me in some way, my experience with promotion has made me very cynical to celebrity endorsements as I know what goes on behind the scenes. Therefore my shopping habits are somewhat warped compared with someone with no connection to the PR industry and maybe that makes me the wrong person to comment on this topic, so over to you.
What do you think?
Are you more likely to buy a product if your favourite celebrity says they like it?
Do you feel misled if a celebrity has been paid to say good things about a product?
The PR Crowd 
I think you’re right. We’re just as gullible as ever and social media makes it even easier to spread rumour, misinformation, propaganda and lies.
Ethics and education may provide some help, but the best inoculation is probably a robust, independent, sceptical media. Odd to write that post-Leveson, but it needs saying.
Good, thoughtful blog posts.
Thank you for your comment Richard, always nice to meet a fellow promotions skeptic! I do sometimes think there is a degree of ‘nanny state’ creation when it comes to celebrity endorsement of any kind. Would it be so bad if we let the public come to their own conclusions about the validity of a promotional plug? Really is it going to cause much undue harm to anyone by paying Cheryl Cole to say she prefers our hairspray over yours?…I think not! But that’s not to say the introduction of #spon was in vein, as Twitter was reaching saturation point with all the plugging, even I found it difficult to wade through the rubbish.
Love the post, but what if celebrities actually love the products? I remember Liz Hurley getting in trouble for plugging Estee Lauder (having starred in many of their commercials) but she responded to the criticism saying that she actually DOES love the products, and why shouldn’t she recommend them to her followers! I guess there’s a fine line between totally unrelated celebrity endorsements (through social media or not) like the Snickers celebrities, and then true ambassadors who are passionate about brands and make a great partnership with them!
100% Bethany! It’s a shame that the twittersphere has become so crowded with blatant plugs from celebs. I’m a complete sucker for peer reviews so if my favourite celeb were to say that she/he likes something, it would influence my purchasing choices. However now I think I’m too much of a cynic and simply assume that they are being paid to say the things they say. I think now that many companies are feeling the same way and are moving onto to blogger’s as the new form of peer recommendation, I must say I’m still a sucker for a good blogger review!