Outrageous. Shocking. Provocative.
Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and, of course, Charlie Sheen.
They prance, prod and provoke. Is it “just them,†or is it planned and premeditated?
An old saying in PR is pretty solid: There’s no such thing as bad publicity. It’s got to be true, right? After all, we wouldn’t have spent the week reading about the “disgusting†Cyrus performance at the MTV awards had she not one-upped the entire cast that evening.
And we say to Lady Gaga, move over and make way for the new star of lewd, Hannah Montana. Miley’s choreographed lunges and gyrations were meant to upstage many, upset most and upsell Disney’s former star. She, like Bieber, is attempting to shed the good girl/boy image and create a new persona. Yes, and we all love a good bar fight and tattoos and foam fingers. Well, maybe not.
Intentionally being outspoken, outrageous and over-the-top is the way of Hollywood. After all, it’s entertainment and you must rise above the daily buzz to get your message heard, your song played and build a box office following. It’s a time-proven PR tactic. Only when you rise to the embarrassing level of Lindsay Lohan do you start hurting your pocketbook. Oh wait, Lindsay has a new movie, several notable guest appearances (not all in front of a judge) and is the buzz on OMG.
So, maybe there’s no such thing as bad publicity, just bad people.