The Frey Fray….
Can Bad Publicity Be Good For You?
Part One of Two
The media explosion surrounding the recent James Frey controversy has inspired an onslaught of questions to ReadersRoom.com, asking my opinion about the adage “There is no such thing as bad publicity.”
Whether we’ve read his work or not, without a doubt Frey has become a leading topic of water cooler and cocktail-hour discussions, entrenching many in heated debates about what constitutes a memoir and the extent to which creative liberties can be taken to recreate a personal history in a published work in a manner which is both “truthful” and engaging to the reader.
Bad press covers a gamut of situations and ramifications for a targeted individual or company. What defines bad press or publicity? Press which exposes something negative about an individual or corporation? Can the bad publicity be used to someone’s advantage? What about inadvertent bad press – meaning a situation in which one is attached without having direct or causative involvement?
Even a building or place can get bad publicity – as in the cases of horrifying murders or crimes, which can cause property to either accrue or decline in value, depending on the nature of the event. In most cases, when a home in which such an event occurred is resold, the new owner goes to extensive lengths to alter the appearance of the structure so as to erase visual reminders of the crime while maintaining enough of the original structure to keep it “recognizable”. A few owners have gone so far as to alter the actual address of the property. In some cases this is virtually impossible (think the Amityville horror property or Marilyn Monroe’s home) as the external structure is so iconic that it disrupts daily life for the inhabitants. The building carries a great story and fame with it, but would it be worth the hassle of living in it, with tour buses and curiosity seekers at
During my tenure as an Account Executive for a private public relations firm handling clients with major name recognition, we had specialized training to handle crisis management for our accounts. As with all agencies, we had an emergency protocol manual which was followed to control the release of information following a questionable or catastrophic incident. The basic protocol in such situations is to streamline the facts and control the release of information. As an example, a colleague of mine was called out in the middle of the night to a four-star beach resort where a guest had hanged themselves from an upper-floor balcony railing. My colleague’s job was to create a sense of calm within the hotel management, issue a formal statement about what happened, and streamline the information released to the press so as not to cause permanent damage to the resort’s reputation as well as maintain respect for the deceased. In a case like this, publicity about the suicide at the hotel could have negative financial consequences for the resort, not to mention bring to the spotlight painful emotions for the suicide victim’s survivors.
Press control for public figures or those in the entertainment industry is a little trickier. There are entire shows on the E! Channel and other television networks devoted to celebrity mishaps, usually involving drugs, alcohol, violence, arrests and marital problems. Many argue that because celebrities have chosen to be such public figures, they should expect their lives to be an open book. Because we see them everyday on television, film and in print, it can be easy not to associate them as being flesh and blood individuals, with feelings, emotions and problems like everyone else. Most of us will never see a celebrity face-to-face, or if we do, it is the glossed-up public persona. The candid shots of what these people look like doing every-day tasks such as grocery shopping (and looking pretty much like the average person) is fuel for the rag publications. If a celebrity behaves badly and it is caught on camera, the facts are right there for everyone to see and judge, often on the evening news (especially if one lives in Los Angeles). If they behave like a jerk one to many times, their box-office numbers can go down.
More than a few celebrities have had their personal demons documented very publicly – Robert Downey Jr., for example. His struggles with drug addiction have been closely scrutinized by the media. Repeat jail-time, rehab, and relapses - many people identified closely with his situation, as there are so many who struggle with addictions of their own or know people who are or have in the past. Downey revealed a very private side of himself which endeared him to many in a pivotal moment when he described addiction as being like “I’ve got a shotgun in my mouth, with my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of gunmetal…” For awhile he couldn’t get work because he was uninsurable. While Downey was fodder for publicity, many people closely followed his plight and rooted for him and his recovery. He has obviously gained back some level of trust along the way, for he has experienced several career rebirths during his struggles.
There is another saying - “Don’t believe everything you read.” We’ve come to believe that if it is written, it must be true. We implicitly trust every article in an encyclopedia, what if a scholar’s facts are off? We’ve also taken at face value that if it is written in the newspaper, it is factual. A good newspaper always prints retractions and corrections. Journalists like Jason Blair violated our trust of the written word when it was revealed that he never even went to some of the places he wrote about (not only that, he billed his employer for the “travel” expenses.). Would or should we ever believe anything he writes again?
What harm does a memoir which is revealed to be not factually accurate do to the genre in general? With what degree of certitude does a reader approach a memoir? Certainly some will be very disappointed if a level of expectation is not realized. If a reader responded very emotionally to a specific, strong event and later found it to be exaggerated, would that reader feel they had wastefully invested their emotions? I had an acquaintance who claimed the love of her life had died. Great sympathy was extended over the years, until the day we got a call from the dead boyfriend. Nobody emotionally trusted her again in the same way. Death is very different from breakup.
Certainly Frey’s work has engaged the public on some level, for he has sold more than 28,500 copies of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES in the past week alone and over 2 million copies total. Whether people read it for inspiration or to compare the facts of the controversy, Frey isn’t suffering financially. What does this do for the poor writer or artist who plays it straight?
To Be Continued…
Part One of Two
The media explosion surrounding the recent James Frey controversy has inspired an onslaught of questions to ReadersRoom.com, asking my opinion about the adage “There is no such thing as bad publicity.”
Whether we’ve read his work or not, without a doubt Frey has become a leading topic of water cooler and cocktail-hour discussions, entrenching many in heated debates about what constitutes a memoir and the extent to which creative liberties can be taken to recreate a personal history in a published work in a manner which is both “truthful” and engaging to the reader.
Bad press covers a gamut of situations and ramifications for a targeted individual or company. What defines bad press or publicity? Press which exposes something negative about an individual or corporation? Can the bad publicity be used to someone’s advantage? What about inadvertent bad press – meaning a situation in which one is attached without having direct or causative involvement?
Even a building or place can get bad publicity – as in the cases of horrifying murders or crimes, which can cause property to either accrue or decline in value, depending on the nature of the event. In most cases, when a home in which such an event occurred is resold, the new owner goes to extensive lengths to alter the appearance of the structure so as to erase visual reminders of the crime while maintaining enough of the original structure to keep it “recognizable”. A few owners have gone so far as to alter the actual address of the property. In some cases this is virtually impossible (think the Amityville horror property or Marilyn Monroe’s home) as the external structure is so iconic that it disrupts daily life for the inhabitants. The building carries a great story and fame with it, but would it be worth the hassle of living in it, with tour buses and curiosity seekers at
During my tenure as an Account Executive for a private public relations firm handling clients with major name recognition, we had specialized training to handle crisis management for our accounts. As with all agencies, we had an emergency protocol manual which was followed to control the release of information following a questionable or catastrophic incident. The basic protocol in such situations is to streamline the facts and control the release of information. As an example, a colleague of mine was called out in the middle of the night to a four-star beach resort where a guest had hanged themselves from an upper-floor balcony railing. My colleague’s job was to create a sense of calm within the hotel management, issue a formal statement about what happened, and streamline the information released to the press so as not to cause permanent damage to the resort’s reputation as well as maintain respect for the deceased. In a case like this, publicity about the suicide at the hotel could have negative financial consequences for the resort, not to mention bring to the spotlight painful emotions for the suicide victim’s survivors.
Press control for public figures or those in the entertainment industry is a little trickier. There are entire shows on the E! Channel and other television networks devoted to celebrity mishaps, usually involving drugs, alcohol, violence, arrests and marital problems. Many argue that because celebrities have chosen to be such public figures, they should expect their lives to be an open book. Because we see them everyday on television, film and in print, it can be easy not to associate them as being flesh and blood individuals, with feelings, emotions and problems like everyone else. Most of us will never see a celebrity face-to-face, or if we do, it is the glossed-up public persona. The candid shots of what these people look like doing every-day tasks such as grocery shopping (and looking pretty much like the average person) is fuel for the rag publications. If a celebrity behaves badly and it is caught on camera, the facts are right there for everyone to see and judge, often on the evening news (especially if one lives in Los Angeles). If they behave like a jerk one to many times, their box-office numbers can go down.
More than a few celebrities have had their personal demons documented very publicly – Robert Downey Jr., for example. His struggles with drug addiction have been closely scrutinized by the media. Repeat jail-time, rehab, and relapses - many people identified closely with his situation, as there are so many who struggle with addictions of their own or know people who are or have in the past. Downey revealed a very private side of himself which endeared him to many in a pivotal moment when he described addiction as being like “I’ve got a shotgun in my mouth, with my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of gunmetal…” For awhile he couldn’t get work because he was uninsurable. While Downey was fodder for publicity, many people closely followed his plight and rooted for him and his recovery. He has obviously gained back some level of trust along the way, for he has experienced several career rebirths during his struggles.
There is another saying - “Don’t believe everything you read.” We’ve come to believe that if it is written, it must be true. We implicitly trust every article in an encyclopedia, what if a scholar’s facts are off? We’ve also taken at face value that if it is written in the newspaper, it is factual. A good newspaper always prints retractions and corrections. Journalists like Jason Blair violated our trust of the written word when it was revealed that he never even went to some of the places he wrote about (not only that, he billed his employer for the “travel” expenses.). Would or should we ever believe anything he writes again?
What harm does a memoir which is revealed to be not factually accurate do to the genre in general? With what degree of certitude does a reader approach a memoir? Certainly some will be very disappointed if a level of expectation is not realized. If a reader responded very emotionally to a specific, strong event and later found it to be exaggerated, would that reader feel they had wastefully invested their emotions? I had an acquaintance who claimed the love of her life had died. Great sympathy was extended over the years, until the day we got a call from the dead boyfriend. Nobody emotionally trusted her again in the same way. Death is very different from breakup.
Certainly Frey’s work has engaged the public on some level, for he has sold more than 28,500 copies of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES in the past week alone and over 2 million copies total. Whether people read it for inspiration or to compare the facts of the controversy, Frey isn’t suffering financially. What does this do for the poor writer or artist who plays it straight?
To Be Continued…
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