Alex King

In a TV advertisement, Cheryl Cole will tell you she’s “found an answer to our hair prayers” and that L’Oréal products are the solution to all of our dull, lifeless hair problems.

She obviously fails to mention that she is being paid to say all of this.

Using celebrities as spokespeople for products is hardly a new concept.

Enlisting an A-Lister as an ambassador for a brand has now become a mainstream promotional tactic.

With the rise of the web and social media, more and more people are researching products online before they buy. And when your favourite celebrity endorses something, does it influence you?

While many of us are now more media aware and have caught on that what celebrities say about certain products might not be sincere and genuine, celebrity endorsement has now become more devious with the social media boom.

What are the benefits of using a celebrity to endorse your products?

Beauty and glamour

The world of celebrity goes hand in hand with beauty and glamour, and your customers will start to associate this with your brand. Celebrities attract attention and this helps build recognition and trust with an audience. Many will be guided by their favourite celebrities and try and model themselves after them, making it easier to persuade them to buy your product purely by using Cheryl Cole in your ad.

Sex and drugs

While it can be beneficial for a brand, it can also be disastrous, particularly when a scandal is involved.  After all, we all remember what happened with Tiger Woods (sex) and Kate Moss (drugs). Numerous brands will soon cut ties with celebrities who can damage their reputations, particularly those brands seeking a family-friendly image.

These days, companies are starting to recognise Twitter as a powerful PR tool. If you want Kim Kardashian to tweet about loving your brand or products, her over 11 million followers will see it. While some of those will recognise the tweet as a marketing ploy and ignore it, many others will research the product, and a fair few will go on to buy it. While Twitter has been dubbed as ‘Free PR’ certain celebrities can charge you over $10,000 per tweet about your brand. So this option is immediately ruled out for small brands with limited budgets.

So is this fair?

Legal, decent, honest, truthful – and disclosed

This has led to calls for independent watchdogs and tighter regulation. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has started cracking down on Twitter users and bloggers. They recently reached a decision following an investigation into social media firm Handpicked Media which operates a commercial blogging network – insisting that it must clearly state its relationship with the brand, including whether or not promotional comments have been paid for. Perhaps this will put an end to some of the dishonesty but it can never be completely stopped.

In the culture we live in, celebrities are always in demand and celebrity endorsements will always be big business. While it can be a very effective tactic, many of us media cynics see it as a way of deceiving the naïve and misleading the public. While it can’t be stopped, perhaps more regulation and control is in order as the lines can often be somewhat hazy.

What are your thoughts? Is it acceptable for PR professionals to consider celebrities to endorse their products, particularly via Twitter? Or do you think there should be more regulation by independent watchdogs?

Jessica Johnson

Only a few years ago PR was deemed to be one of the most important sectors of the business world. During the economic recession, it became one of the worst hit by job cuts.

PR was predominantly used by organisations to communicate corporate messages to publics, stakeholders and shareholders. More recently organisations, businessmen and celebrities now use social media to communicate directly with the public, communicating a more personal and usually effective message across.

It has become a popular two way communication tool with many celebrities holding question and answer periods on Twitter in their free time. Twitter users can directly contact the stars and ask any questions they may have about any topic.

Some of the most famous UK Tweeters are Rio Ferdinand, Sir Alan Sugar, Piers Morgan, Wayne Rooney, Lady Gaga and most recently Cheryl Cole, who had over 300,000 followers without even tweeting. The use of social media is also increasing within the sporting industry with numerous sports people using Twitter, such as Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Michael Vaughn, Joey Barton and Jessica Ennis.

Wayne Rooney took the public and media by storm by posting the first picture of his hair transplant on Twitter in June earlier this year. The support Rooney received was phenomenal and quickly lead to numerous young men admitting they were embarrassed by their lack of hair and stating they too would consider having a transplant. Clinics are worried however as the men are not considering the risks that are involved in the procedure. Who needs a PR when you have the world at your fingertips?

Twitter can however magnify problems to the media. Jason Manford found this out when it was exposed he had been having what was described as, ‘steamy chats to 12 girls on Twitter and video calls on Skype’. Vernon Kay and Ashley Cole have also suffered from Twitter after flirting with girls via the social media site.

Wayne Rooney has also been into trouble after he received abuse from a user calling him, “a “fat whore” and threatened to “smash ya head in with a pitchin wedge.” Rooney retaliated by replying to the user saying, “I’ll put u asleep within 10 seconds u little girl. Don’t say stuff and not follow up on it. I’ll be waiting”. The Manchester United and England footballer later claimed it was all banter and that he never intended to fight the Twitter user.

Earlier this season West Ham defender Danny Gabbidon was fined £6,000 by the FA for improper conduct after leaving Twitter with the message: “U know what, f*** the lot of you, u will never get another tweet from me again, you just don’t get it do you. Bye bye. While former Liverpool player Ryan Babel was fined £10,000 for improper conduct, after posting a picture of Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt following Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

Social media isn’t all bad however as it helps people keep in touch with friends, keep up to date with issues, listen to celebrities opinions and their version of the truth behind the headlines, but when used improperly can cause quite a stir in the media.

Due to the increasing popularity and increase in use of social media sites, not only by celebrities but also by sportsmen, businessmen and businesses people are now able to manage their own PR, whether helping or hindering, by posting their own opinions and stories online.

Wayne Rooney’s hair transplant for example received little bad press and was accepted and acknowledged by the media, other celebrities and helped young men facing the same issue to step forward and begin asking for help. Whether this has helped the procedure become more “fashionable” is a worry but either way, it has become widely accepted through the use of social media.

Twitter sees the discussions of some of the most controversial topics which pose threats not only for the user but also for their manager, whether it is their PR or their football manager. Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t shy about his thoughts regarding Twitter, and openly admits the site is a waste of time. After the Wayne Rooney incident earlier this year, it was rumoured that Alex Ferguson was thinking of banning all Manchester United players from using the site.

This would include Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, who combined have over three million followers. It would also see Louis Nani and Michael Owen banned from the site. There is no confirmation this would solve the problem and could damage the reputation of the club and the players after seeing the success Twitter can have when handled correctly, such as Wayne Rooney’s hair transplant. As they say, no PR is bad PR right?

Numerous celebrities also let their management and PR team post on their Twitter accounts such as JLS, Pixie Lott and Matt Cardle which means they are then able to monitor what the artists are saying or delete quickly if need be.

As a solution, PR’s could be more involved with the site on behalf of the user but this could create more problems after the public has been so used to hearing the views and opinions of the stars, not what the PR’s want them to hear. Personally if PR’s were to get involved, the whole purpose of Twitter would be spoiled and it would be full of promotional tweets instead.

PR practitioners know more than most people how important reputation is, and I believe it should be a priority for the sake of trust and credibility. This bad reputation has been around since the very beginning of the industry’s existence and you could argue that the blame is to be shared by the industry itself as well as the media.

Fiction isn’t fact

With news media using negative connotations such as ‘spin’ and ‘PR ploy’ the public will naturally be affected accordingly. If your closest link to PR is what you read in the news then why would you trust the so called ‘spin doctors’ that do PR for international dictators, publish fake blogs in favour of superstores, cover up corporate gaffes, and spin political messages? And since fictional and non-fictional TV entertainment such as ‘AbFab’ and ‘The Spin Crowd’ present PR practitioners as rather unprofessional and slightly hysterical the portrayal of the industry is highly unfortunate.

I know, and people working in PR know, that there is so much more to public relations than what is being shown through popular culture, but does the general public know that? I am not so sure.

I think the reason why people may doubt our career choice is because of the fact that they might not be entirely sure of what we do. I have encountered this doubt numerous times, even within my own family with my mum being rather sceptical.

The devil’s work

Tove Nordstrom

A Swedish copywriter who is an old friend of my (slightly aggressively) left-wing and feminist mum finds my choice of career highly amusing and couldn’t help asking me at his house-warming party a few months back: “Does your mother know you work for the devil?” Now, he works himself in the communications industry and he absolutely loves provoking my mum so it was meant to be a joke, but you see my point.

I usually manage to somewhat change people’s perceptions by explaining the good uses of PR and highlighting the importance of communication within democratic societies, but the twisted perception amongst the general public is worrying.

Mainly in relation to the industry’s credibility in terms of public influence and organisational decision-making, but also in regards to recruitment and performance since episodes of ‘The Spin Crowd’ might put distorted views of professionalism in the minds of potential recruits. Mark Borkowski writes in his blog how The Spin Crowd represents ‘the old cliché of what PR is supposed to be about’ so there are certainly some unfair portrayals coming through via popular culture.

I do realise I am starting to sound rather pessimistic. This is not my intention, because I am actually optimistic about the industry’s future as well as mine. Graduation is approaching rapidly for all third year PR students and it is high time to consider possibilities, but also to contemplate aspirations.

Why did I want to pursue a career in public relations in the first place? What type of PR practitioner do I want to be? What organisation or agency would I really like to work for? I believe that questions like these are truly important in order to establish a sense of professionalism but also to develop a passion.

A passion for a brand, for storytelling, for digital media, or perhaps for a good cause in need of communication strategies. Genuine passion for what you do shines through and it could be an essential quality when communicating a message in order to make the receivers trust, value, and be encouraged of what you have to say.

Twestival goes local

An inspiring and topical example is Twestival which is happening for the fourth time on March 24^th 2011 worldwide when it will be delivering local organising fundraising events for local charities. A simple and experimental initiative by Amanda Rose and friends grew into this fascinating event that has connected people all over the world with the aim of raising money for an immense number of causes worldwide.

This year Twestival is going local which means that small local charities that normally might struggle with getting noticed will be able to benefit from the engagement and mass-communication that happens through Twestival.

The visible passion and commitment is crucial to an initiative like Twestival in order to make online as well as offline action happen. And it shows how powerful well-targeted communication can be, even if it is being done in no more than 140 characters.

Doing PR for a good cause does not mean you necessarily need to save the world through your work, it can also be about encouraging transparency in corporate businesses, promoting creativity in the digital world, or even providing communication tools for people in remote parts of society.

There are evidently positive aspects of the PR industry and as graduates we will have the chance to practise these, and to show a sceptical public that there is more to public relations than spin, cover-ups, and desperate publicity stunts in Hollywood.

A competition launched by the Leeds Corn Exchange to raise awareness of their half-term children’s activities has become a trending topic in Leeds on social media platform Twitter. The #Yorkshiresuperhero competition invites people to suggest what the perfect Yorkshire Superhero would be called and what superpower they would possess.

The competition has so far had over 80 entries and the #Yorkshiresuperhero hashtag has been used 112 times. The competition which launched earlier this week aims to raise awareness of the Corn Exchanges’ Superhero Day which takes place on Friday 25th February, 10-4.  Batman will fly into the shopping centre to meet the children of Leeds and help them make their own superhero masks and comics.

Batman will pick the winner of the #Yorkshiresuperhero competition and the winner will have their #Yorkshiresuperhero brought to life in their very own comic strip which will be designed by a professional illustrator.

Louise Smith, centre manager at the Leeds Corn Exchange said: “We are putting lots of effort into building our online audience and hope by doing so we can engage with the local community on a daily basis. Superhero Day is set to be a  fantastic day for children of all ages and we are very excited about meeting Batman.”

The competition closes at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. To enter simply follow @leedscornex on Twitter and suggest your #Yorkshiresuperhero or like the Corn Exchange Facebook page and add your answer to the wall.

The Net Delusion: How Not to Liberate the World
By Evgeny Morozov
432 page, PublicAffairs, 2011

How not to liberate the world…

Since the Twitter Revolution of Iran in 2009 and the more recent social media fuelled overhaul of the Egyptian government, it would be easy to assume that the world is hurtling towards a democratised Utopia, in which peace, equality and justice are omnipresent. In The Net Delusion, Morozov produces a surgically argued and wonderfully eloquent account of why this may not be the case, insisting that such blissful naiveties could have pernicious ramifications.

Morozov coins the term ‘cyber-utopian’ to describe the West’s inflated sense of self-righteousness towards the power of the internet. The idea that this phenomenon will break the shackles of populations oppressed by totalitarian regimes, helping forge a new-age world that is rife with democracy is immediately dismissed by Morozov. Instead he cites the 2009 ‘Twitter Revolution’ in Iran. “Let the people tweet and they will tweet their way to freedom.” Morozov thinks not, rather, conversely, he focuses on the empowerment the Iranian government experienced courtesy of the internet. In essence, the very tool that people were using to try and liberate themselves was now being used by the government to achieve the opposite. The deployment by the Iranian government of a twelve-man cybercrime team tasked with ridding Iran of those spreading “insults and lies” on websites was initiated. Those spreading this information were quickly hunted down and arrested. The team would trawl through social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube, seeking the faces of those involved in protests, and there was no shortage thanks to the ubiquity of social media. Iranian news service Raja News published photos of the accused and demanded public cooperation in the detaining of them. The Iran Defence Ministry sent out a charming text message to all Iranians with a phone:

“Dear citizen, according to received information, you have been influenced by the destabilizing propaganda which the media affiliated with foreign countries have been disseminating. In case of any illegal action and contact with the foreign media, you will be charged as a criminal consistent with the Islamic Punishment Act and dealt with by the Judiciary.”

So the premise is that the internet can just as easily be used to control publics as publics can use it to find freedom. And if the internet is such a powerful Trojan horse for freedom it is oppressive regimes such as that of Iran or China should fear such a force. Quite the contrary, it would appear.

The Net Delusion paints an ominous picture for the future of global democracy, one that’s perpetuated by gross naivety displayed by elite Western figures who should know better. Morozov cites Gordon Brown, at the time Prime Minister of the UK, and the “ridiculous conclusions” he drew from the events in Iran:

“You cannot have Rwanda again because information would come out far more quickly about what is actually going on and the public opinion would grow to a point where action would need to be taken”

“On that logic”, Morozov sarcastically retorts, “the millions who poured into the streets of London, New York, Rome and other cities… to protest the impending onset of the Iraq war made one silly mistake; they didn’t blog enough about it. That would have definitely prevented the bloodbath.” Ouch!

Morozov’s polemical prose must be commended for its originality. In a sea of social media and internet literature that promises the enlightened age of democracy, it would have been easy to jump on the bandwagon. Morozov is a rare breed in this field, one of the few that believes the hype surrounding the internet and the perceived positive impact it imparts on a global scale is unwarranted, misguided and, simply put, a delusion. Whether or not one agrees, The Net Delusion takes a refreshing stance on a surprisingly ambiguous and underestimated issue, one that we’ll ignore at our peril.

The Net Delusion is a brilliant read, full of insight, controversy (he thinks us students are ‘depoliticised’) and thought-provoking ideas. Whatever your opinion, Morozov produces reams of evidence to support his conjectures (his bibliography runs to 70 pages alone) and has written a book that will see him marked as one of the most influential authorities on the subject.

The Net Delusion was reviewed by Toby Margetts, a final year PR student at the University of Gloucestershire who regularly tweets.

If you’re interesting in writing a book or film review for Behind the Spin, get it touch with the section editor Clare Callery via email: cs.callery @ gmail.com (no spaces)

A weekly online chat for PR professionals is to host a student special next week on 18th October.

CommsChat is a weekly discussion held on Twitter through the use of a hashtag (#commschat) with a different theme each week. Set up by Adam Vincenzini and Emily Cagle, the chat regualrly welcomes guest hosts, with the student special being hosted by Jane Crofts, PR  lecturer at the University of Lincoln.

The Hull meet-up (Twitter hashtag #hullmeetup) will take place on Saturday 22nd May in Weatherspoons branch, The Zachariah Pearson on Beverley Road from 1pm.

The event is designed to give local Twitter users the chance to meet, network and interact with others who live on their doorstep, in an effort to take social media offline and put it in person for a day.

Twitter has been the cause of many social and professional events globally, with many events leading to continuing social meet-ups on a local basis.

Hull’s event has been organised by Twitter user, Laura Smith (@lauramsmith) after the idea was suggested to her followers with immediate positive response.

Anyone is welcome to the event providing they have a Twitter account.

Attendees may be social media enthusiasts, want to learn more about the uses of Twitter or simply want the opportunity to meet new people and gain new friends and followers.

For more information on the event, follow @lauramsmith on Twitter.

Andy Carter

Leeds City Council and Leeds Metropolitan University have teamed up to help public relations students get on the job training, assist with their studies and boost their employment chances once they’ve graduated.

A partnership between the two organisations has been developing for several years which gives students the opportunity to do real work for a real organisation. It not only benefits the council, it contributes to the student’s learning and can often make a difference to their final grade.

This year, a number of under graduates from Leeds Met’s public relations school have been carrying out various projects to audit different council activities, for instance, investigating issues such as culture and internal communications.

Andy Carter, head of communications said: “There’s no point in getting students in on work experience only for them to sit there watching what the council’s communications team does.  Instead, they need to be involved and getting their hands dirty.  That’s why our work with Leeds Met is so valuable – the council gets something out of it and the students benefit too.”

One of the latest council and Leeds Met projects is being managed by students Mary O’Shea and Jenny Singh. They are investigating whether the use of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are effective as communications channels for the council’s libraries service. The results will be shared with the authority and used to improve the service.

Shirley Beresford from Leeds Met University said: “We have had a strong relationship with Leeds City Council for many years with a number of our students being offered the valuable opportunity to do some ‘real’ work.

“We’ve carried out a range of projects – such as communication audits – in a number of council departments.

 “Feedback from the work is excellent and I’m delighted that we continue to develop new opportunities for students and Leeds City Council in the future.”

Councillor Richard Brett, joint leader and executive board member with responsibility for communications said: “These students are potential council communicators of the future and I’m delighted that we’re able to offer them the opportunity to work closely with us.  Proper ‘on the job’ training is by far the best way of gaining new skills.  The fact their work has the potential to help us improve our services is a definite bonus.”

Social networking sites are becoming increasingly popular and are being used by many organisations to support their PR and marketing activities. Mary and Jenny are keen to collect a range of views and have set up a short online questionnaire which they would be grateful if people would complete. It can be found by clicking here.

Will Watson updates his followers during a meeting

The Leeds Met Students’ Union Executives are showing Leeds City councillors who appear to be stuck in the dark ages just how useful a few Tweets during a meeting can be.

Earlier this week the Lord Mayor, Cllr Judith Elliot, banned councillors James Lewis and Jamie Matthews from using Twitter during meetings of the full council. The ruling has been heavily criticised by councillors and senior PR professionals who believe a Twitter or two can be a very effective way to communicate important information to wider audience.

Will Watson, Associate President Education, is an avid Tweeter and will often keep the students of Leeds Met updated on the Union’s Executive meetings via the social media platform.

Will said: “Twitter is fantastic way to engage with our students over issues that matter to them, the ruling to ban our city’s councillors from tweeting is an absurdly arcane measure. Councils should strive to move with the times just like business do; social media is an ever growing beast and used in the correct way can be extremely powerful.”

Monday sees the monthly Executive meeting and Will, along with other executive officers will all be tweeting away.

Twitter supporters Coun James Lewis, Ollie the Twitter bird and Stuart Bruce

Councillor James Lewis said: “The incident in question was a very important housing plan for a part of Kippax just outside of Leeds, the public gallery was empty so I thought I would try to inform as many of my followers on Twitter as I could.  It’s great that the politicians of the future are engaging with their publics using social media and I hope they continue to do so.

 Stuart Bruce, managing director of Leeds-based public relations and social media consultancy Wolfstar said:

 “New media and the internet doesn’t replace traditional political channels, but it’s playing an increasingly important part. This will be the UK’s first election where the internet will play a significant part so it’s refreshing to see the politicians of the future embracing new forms of communication

To follow Will Watson on Twitter click here  and to follow the Leeds Met Students’ Union click here

Twitter is based around the interaction between individuals using ‘Tweets’, a message no longer than 140 characters answering the question, ‘what are you doing?’. Also known as microblogging, it’s now being requested by more and more companies as part of their digital PR campaigns.

University of Huddersfield graduate Matthew Watson was recruited via Twitter last summer, shortly after tweeting, “Good News: Had last exam & finished uni! Bad News: Didn’t get job at AxiCom or Cake PR. Good News: It’s sunny & I’m having beers & bbq!”

When asked to describe how his recruitment took place, Matthew described the simple process that occurred as a result of twittering: “After finishing my final exam I discovered that I’d been turned down by some PR agencies I had been interviewed by. I tweeted this and went out to celebrate the end of my degree with my class mates. A few hours later I checked my emails and found a message from Stephen Waddington, MD, Rainier PR, who said he had been following me on Twitter and had noticed that I was looking for a job.”

Twitter, along with blogging, puts your personal brand out there for recruiters to see and understand what kind of person you are and whether you could have a noticeable impact if recruited to their company.

Since the website was launched in 2006, Twitter has been ranked as the third largest social networking site, with 6 million users and over 55 million visitors to the site every month.

Most recently, Hatch Communications tweeted a simple message, telling followers how recruitment may soon be on the cards for the agency – a method which took seconds to display and potentially saved thousands of pounds in advertising and agency costs.

Michael Litman, now a Social Media Strategist for Consolidated PR was also recruited via Twitter, after an online friend recommended him to the digital department.

“No recruitment agencies were involved, no external costs, no bells, no whistles. Just me and Twitter. That’s a pretty big deal when you think about the costs of recruitment for one new hire. You can eliminate all of those costs in one fell swoop and be seen to be a very forward thinking company at the same time.’’

Twitter is rapidly gaining followers as PR companies, celebrities and others catching onto the free social media opportunity. Celebrity, Stephen Fry has become known for his favouring of the site, tweeting several times a day and being asked to talk about the site regularly in interviews and at appearances.