Taylor Swift Just Ruined Her Year of Good PR
The pop star reversed years of bad press to become the biggest female pop star since Madonna. She’s giving an interview again, though, and it’s blowing up in her face.
Americans once divided over Taylor Swift. Liberals hated her for staying mum about Trump, while southern Sorority girls rushed to her defense. Thanks to a feud with Scooter Braun, nostalgia-bait re-recordings of her old albums, and the Eras Tour, she reversed her negative PR, becoming the biggest female pop star since Madonna. This week, Swift ruined her good press–and it’s all because she stopped singing and started speaking again.
After her run-ins with the Kardashian-West family and her round of political PR problems in 2016, Swift went silent, mostly only appearing in self-controlled press like her Miss Americana documentary. The silence allowed audiences to think about her music instead of her lousy personality, bizarre personal beefs, and tendency to have it both ways with her personal politics: Swift seemed to want to look woke to the media without alienating her southern base.
Now, she’s on the cover of Time magazine, giving quotes about her re-recordings like, “I’m collecting horcruxes. I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.”
The quote went viral for all the wrong reasons, with the Daily Mail calling it baffling. Swift also resurrected her age-old feud with the Kardashian-West clan, saying she had to flee America because of Kim and Kanye. That feud is so old Kim and Kanye are now divorced. To quote Kourtney Kardashian, “People are starving.” Move on!
The interview reminded the public of Swift’s vendettas, cringe-worthy self-perception, and other negative qualities. Becoming Person of the Year sounded like a coup for Swift, but it backfired because she’s so unlikeable in interviews. Swift should have recognized that now that she’s built her image so tall, she’s begging the public to tear her down. Staying silent would have been a better PR strategy.
The end of Swift mania has begun, all because she couldn’t resist the urge to talk. Sometimes you just need to shut up!
Bob Iger Needs to Realize a 2013 Communications Playbook Will Fail Him in 2023
Swift isn’t the only one who needs a muzzle. Disney CEO Bob Iger swore he would keep politics away from the company. So far, he’s announced a plan to de-wokeify content, but then he embroiled Disney in another mess involving Elon Musk.
It’s a long story, but a few weeks ago, Elon Musk tweeted vile conspiratorial comments about Israel. Like many CEOs, Iger opposed Musk’s comments and killed his Twitter ad spend. While other CEOs pulled their Twitter marketing budget and said nothing, Iger publicly criticized Elon Musk. In 2012, this would have made sense. It would have looked like Iger was making clear his company stayed away from conspiratorial politics, like Musk’s gross conspiracy tweets. But it’s not 2012. It’s 2023, and it was apparent this would turn into a culture war brawl.
At the DealBook conference, Musk struck back, telling Iger to “fuck” himself; the media sided with Iger. What Musk said about Israel was awful, after all. Nobody was going to defend Musk. (I opposed what Musk said but was happy to see him travel to Israel and educate himself. More people should learn from mistakes in public.)
Every journalist insisted Iger would win. (“He’s Bob Iger! Elon is nuts!” they said.) But I had a bad feeling this could blow up in Iger’s face. He was basically begging Musk for a fight. I was unsure Iger knew how to fight in 2023. He’s a man who is used to smiling in public and having PR people get vicious and defend him in private. In other words, he’s very 2013.
I was right. This morning, Musk tweeted out a story about how Facebook- and Instagram-owner Meta allegedly directed children to pedophiles. Then Musk and his fanboys insinuated Disney supported pedophiles because they were advertising on Meta.
Right now, nobody is tweeting about Musk’s weeks-old conspiratorial tweets. They’re just tweeting about how Iger supports pedophilia.
I’m watching the controversy impact Disney in real-time. Currently, I am writing this on a train to Orlando, where I’m meeting with an editor, and a mother on the train, headed to Disney World, is reading the tweets on her computer. Iger has gotten himself in serious trouble.
Being associated with pedophiles is unacceptable for any company, let alone a company like Disney. Now, Iger finds himself in a much more giant shitshow than he did a few weeks ago.
The lesson: CEOs don’t need to speak out on every company issue in 2023. Make no mistake, CEOs needed to oppose Elon’s conspiracy theories. But you don’t always need to make public critiques of other CEOs. Stop doing business with the bad actor, have your press people release a statement credited to a company representative if asked, and move on. Actions speak louder than words, anyway.
CEOs need to be careful when they speak out against others–especially if they’re talking about Musk, who knows how to weaponize the culture wars and has an army of Tweeters ready to follow his command. Don't enter the culture wars if you’re a suit used to having a PR woman speak for you. You’re just going to end up hurt.
What I’m Listening to, Reading, and Watching
As a publicist, I listen to, read, and watch as much content as possible. It’s the best way to generate ideas and figure out who to pitch. You're just pitching into a vacuum if you’re not reading the news. (I am probably the only person in America to subscribe to Jacobin and Daily Wire+, and I find it gross when publicists refuse to subscribe to the news outlets we pitch. Support the media!)
I’m reading David Mamet’s new book, Everywhere an Oink Oink, this week. It’s a hilarious encapsulation of all the insanity in Hollywood. I enjoyed the new New York magazine issue, although I find Fran Drescher annoying. Lastly, I’m listening to as much Christmas music as possible as I write my pitches. It’s the best music for writing!