Celebrities
of all ages have their own brand. Sometimes these celebs make mistakes creating
their image to suffer. Some deal with the drama in positive ways by spinning
the story or going to rehab. Others deal with the issue but have just gone too
far off the deep end. Lets not forget the few who do not even try to manage the
crumbling image of their life. When it comes to celebrity crisis management,
there are good and bad ways to solve their problems. I am going to discuss a few
popular celebs, their mistakes/meltdowns, and how they deal with it.
For
those of you who did not hear about the Paula Deen controversy, she quickly
grew unpopular after she admitted use of racially controversial language.
Because of this incident, she lost her endorsements and high profile on the
Food Network and many other things. Najafi Cos is now endorsing her. “Naijafi
and Nanula said Ms. Deen has managed to build her social-media presence and to
hold on to relationships with other major companies, including cookware
distributor Meyer Foods, furniture manufacturer Universal Furniture and poultry
producer Springer Mountain Chickens. Springer Mountain said sales of Ms. Deen’s
products have grown by 35% in the past two quarters”(Hawkins). Paula Deen’s
career had a big hit. She decided to reach out to her dedicated fan base
through social media keeping her career alive while under construction. As she
received more investments and has done in-store appearances, her fan base has
more than doubled and her products like her magazine has risen.
An
even bigger scandal that no one will ever forget is when Chris Brown decided to
try domestic violence during his career. Let’s just say, although no one will
ever think of him the same, his career is not completely gone. “Chris Brown’s
2009 campaign and original song ‘Forever’ with Wrigley’s Doublemint gum was
suspended after the singer was arrested for his post-Grammy Awards assault of
Rihanna…although Brown has yet to link a major endorsement deal following his felony
assault conviction, he has performed at virtually every major music awards show
in recent years and seen two different albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard
200-asign that careers can rebound relatively quickly after scandal”(Hampp). Although
Chris has gotten lucky he is not doing himself any favors by recently getting
kicked out of anger management. This entire scandal not only hurts Chris but
look at how people view Rihanna now for being back with him. I guess some
celebrities just think that their career will always bounce back; good luck
this time Chris.
Other
artists decide to go to rehab to better their mistakes and to also show their
followers that they are trying to fix their issues. A few celebrities just off
of the top of my head that have recently been to rehab and came out refreshed
and with their images back in tact are, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Amanda
Bynes. “Selena Gomez spent two weeks at Arizona’s the Meadows rehab center in
January – but not for substance abuse, her rep insisted February 5. Rather, the
singer needed help to rid herself of on-off boyfriend Justin Bieber” (Berlin).
Selena Gomez never has acted out as bad as Amanda Bynes or Britney Spears, but
she showed her fans that it is ok to get help. Amanda Bynes was sent away, not
by choice, but after all of the commotion she was recently seen in her parents
custody living a healthier life. Demi not only went away to rehab but also has
been extremely open about her issues to her fans. She did many interviews, one
of which was with Katie Couric. She went to rehab for an eating disorder and
bipolar disorder. “Demi continues to speak out for young girls who struggle
with their image. ‘I want girls to know that it’s OK when they grow up and
their body changes. I want them to be aware that certain things they might do
to lose weight can be dangerous – life-threatening, even” (Larrabee). This
singer along with Britney Spears broke back into the spotlight when joining the
show X Factor as celebrity judges. This show really brought both of their
careers back on track and was good for their latest albums. Britney is now even
performing in Vegas.
Now
lets take a look at Lindsey Lohan, we can’t forget about her. After in and out
of rehab and the courtroom, she is 36 days sober and premiered on Opera’s show
OWN. She exposes her struggles with sobriety and all of her issues. She
appeared to look clean and wants to share the truth. “Filmed four days after
Lohan left her sixth rehab, the interview kicked off Winfrey’s OWN network’s
Lohan programming, which will also include a reality docu-series about Lohan’s
attempt to get her life back on track” (France). When I think about Lindsey I
cannot remember anything successful about her since The Parent Trap and Mean
Girls. She has tried to come back with random no name movies and her attempt at
playing Elizabeth Taylor but has failed miserably. It makes me think, even
though she is getting her act together and this Opera stunt may be good for
her, is it the drugs that hurt her career? I think that maybe Lindsey was just
a child star who turned back and lost all talent simple as that. As a final
thought I want you to think about Shia LaBeouf’s new mental breakdown. He has
shown up to events with a paper bag over his head, had a wacky art show, and is
all out of sorts in the Twittersphere. After tweeting “I AM NOT FAMOUS
ANYMORE,” he has even gone to the extreme as to skywriting. (Twitter). What
should his strategy be? What do you think about how these celebrities deal with
their dilemmas? Are they being genuine or are they just going to far where it
is becoming pathetic. *cough cough Lindsey Lohan
Berlin,
Erika, Sarah Grossbart, and Jennifer O'Neill. "SELENA GOMEZ: From Bieber
to
Rehab." Us Weekly.993
(2014): 8. ProQuest. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
France,
Lisa Respers. "7 Things We Learned from Lindsay Lohan's Sit down with
Oprah
Winfrey." CNN. Cable
News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Hampp,
Andrew. "Beating the Rap." Billboard 125.16 (2013): 15. ProQuest.
Web. 27
Mar. 2014.
Hawkins, Lee. "Paula Deen Is Ready to Come Back,
Y'all." Wall Street Journal 11 Feb.
2014. Web.
Shia
LaBeouf, thecampaignbook. “I AM NOT FAMOUR ANYMORE.”Twitter.com.9 Feb. 2014. Web. 27 March 2014.
Larrabee,
Dory. "Demi Lovato’s Revealing New Interview About Eating Disorders,
Self-Harming & Bipolar." Hollywood Life. N.p., 17 July 2012.
Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteYour post was very interesting to read, since it seems like these last few years it’s been impossible to escape from a celebrity scandal. Right when one thing happens and finally blows over, another seems to pop right up. Even though one of our other classmates focused specifically on teen stars gone bad, it is really hard not to point out Justin Bieber as a celeb who is in constant need of crisis management.
According to the “Biebs Behaving Badly” article, this kid has done more inappropriate things than I can even count. While I don’t see where taking over the Staples Center for a date is as horrible an act as the article makes it out to be, having a paternity claim at the age of 17 and smoking so much weed on a plane that the crew had to wear oxygen masks is ridiculous. What makes it worse is that he has over 50 million followers on twitter. (https://twitter.com/justinbieber) so all of these people see what he posts, and many most likely follow his actions on other media outlets as well. By announcing he was “retiring” (Shewfelt), it attracted more attention to him, it also created bad press, since nobody was sure whether or not he was serious about his statements.
What is also interesting in the article is that some celebrities such as Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus were listed as both ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. While Miley has been behaving badly, in a similar manner as Bieber, having Barbara Walters name her as one of the “Most Fascinating People of the Year” is a way to improve your image for sure, as well as have piqued public interest. Shewfelt also mentions how Bangerz has performed relatively well. I remember watching the Miley documentary on MTV last semester with some friends, and from what I could tell, Miley has an onstage personality where she twerks and acts out, as well as an offstage personality where she seems to be relatively normal and serious about her work. As for Robin Thicke, he had one of the biggest, if not the biggest, hit in 2013, he faced a lawsuit that he actually provoked, as well as had the bad publicity from the MTV VMAs where Miley twerked on him. (Shewfelt) Sometimes one can’t help but wonder if a person’s bad behavior is what gets media attention. Maybe some of these celebrities intentionally act out and make poor choices so they know the media will follow them.
The Shewfelt article has so many great examples, including Kris Jenner. She co-produces “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”, which is still on the air and is doing well, but her own talk show flopped, not to mention she is separating from Bruce Jenner after 22 years of marriage. I have admittedly seen a few episodes of “Keeping Up,” and I don’t think the separation should come as a shock. Kris had mistreated Bruce in multiple episodes and is the textbook definition of a ‘Mom-ager” to all of her daughters. Interestingly, her behavior is very rarely exposed or criticized to the extent of the rest of her family.
It’s interesting that you bring up Chris Brown, since he was arrested recently, and will be serving time in jail. Even after hitting his at the time girlfriend Rihanna 2009 and, as you stated, lost his promotional deals, he still has a loyal fan following. I read an article on Fox News’ website saying he was cooperative when he was arrested, which was surprising, yet upon reflection, Brown has had so much trouble with the law, he probably knows the procedure by now. (Chris Brown) While Brown does not even have half of the amount of followers as Justin Bieber on twitter – Brown only has a bit over 13 million (https://twitter.com/chrisbrown), that is still significant for a man who was charged for beating a woman. I remember when the reports first came out and girls were even saying on social media “I’d let Chris Brown beat me” and the like. While Buzzfeed is not the best source, this page has a lot of great screenshots of some tweets posted by women: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/horrible-reactions-to-chris-brown-at-the-grammys
DeleteAt my sorority formal on Saturday night, at least 3 Chris Brown songs released in the last year were played, and almost all of my sisters danced to them. As for me, I went on a rant to my male date about how it’s disgusting that Brown still has a successful career, and is still popular with women, after his domestic violence problems arose. My date was actually surprised how strongly I felt towards Brown. I understand that personal life does not affect a person’s talent, but I believe as a woman, consuming the media products put out there by a man who has shown violence against women is in a way condoning his behavior and showing that it is “ok to hit women as long as people perceive you as handsome and think you’re talented and/or are rich”. Twerking, copyright infringement, and drug issues are all problematic in their own right, but supporting the career of a man who has shown violent behavior repeatedly can be worse as media can be reflective of the society we live in.
Finally, I’ll leave the post on this note – American media is very popular around the world, and by our celebrities acting out in the ways they are, gives foreigners a view that all Americans act this way. This reflects poorly on our culture as a society in the world view, not just on these people as individuals. I can’t help talk about my experience when I was abroad, since I feel as though many Koreans judged me based upon the expectations of Americans they see in media. While I was never thought to have bad behavior, many did ask if I was rich, and expected me to like partying much more than I truly do. While it is not up to us to control the actions of a celebrities, the media should be responsible for showing that the behavior is not reflective of American society as a whole.
-Christine
Works Cited:
"Biebs Behaving Badly." Entertainment Weekly 21 Feb. 2014: 14.
"Chris Brown Arrested on Warrant, Authorities Say." Fox News. FOX News Network, 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
Shewfelt, Raechal Leone. "Celeb Winners and Losers of 2013." OMG! 27 Dec. 2013. Web.