Whichever high profile career an individual is striving for, good PR plays a vital role in helping them achieve the status of celebrity. Perhaps predicting the start of an ongoing trend, there has recently been an upsurge of controversial and infamous female characters within the UK media. The emphasis here being on the term ‘character’ because that’s exactly what these individuals have become – constructed personas.
Josie Cunningham, the subject of a new documentary named “The Most Hated Woman in Britain”, is a public figure known for creating controversy, particularly surrounding boasts she made in 2013 about receiving breast augmentation surgery through the NHS. Unsurprisingly, she subsequently received a torrent of abuse from the British public. However, alongside this invective publicity, Cunningham was also offered photo shoots and therefore fulfilled her dream to become a model. Assisted by her PR agent Rob Cooper, she has become a household name in the UK, entertaining 108k followers through her Twitter account. A link promoted through her account publicises a dating website titled Easysingles for she is credited with founding – yet another part of her growing portfolio.
Josie Cunningham’s new approach to self-publicity
Within the documentary, which plays on Cunningham’s divisive image, her agent has made it abundantly clear that decisions were made to intentionally cause offense as part of an over-arching PR campaign. Cooper and Cunningham were deliberate in posting distasteful Tweets such as questioning the sale of her placenta after the birth of her third child. The two even strategized the planting of a grammatical error so that more people would be encouraged to respond, further raising her online profile.
What is amazing is how overt she has become about courting controversy for PR gain, yet is still capitalising on her notoriety and has recently been quoted in an interview saying that “I won’t be hated for free – I’m not naïve” (BBC Newsbeat). Taking into account the amount of interviews she’s sold as a result of the documentary, it is thought that Cunningham must now be worth a lot more than in her “pre-fame” years. This undoubtedly clever, yet risky, public relations strategy is still very much paying off.
Designing a personality for the media
The public persona that Cunningham has created is based on what she says is like watching popular soap EastEnders – the nasty characters always make for better viewing. Her simulacra has been carefully and meticulously constructed to a point where the majority of the public believe her to be genuine. Columnist and television personality Katie Hopkins is a similar case: originally rising to prominence on TV’s “The Apprentice”, she has since seemingly made a career out of causing controversy within the media. During the course of the programme, Hopkins made many offensive and derogatory comments to fellow contestants yet still managed to reach the penultimate episode in which she withdrew from the competition due to childcare reasons. It was a peculiar occurrence and many speculations were made about her decision at the time. While all this negative press led Hopkins to being fired by her previous employer, she began to capitalise on her dislike by selling her story to a major newspaper and magazine company.
Although her public career to date has included remarks promoting classism, criticism of obesity, ‘badly-timed’ (arguably intentional) tweets about Glasgow and commenting on trade union leader Bob Crow shortly after his death. Yet for all of this negative coverage within the media, Hopkins has flourished, garnering high profile appearances on reality TV shows such as “Big Brother” and “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!”
Negative PR is still PR
However, much like Cunningham’s approach to seeking notoriety within the public eye, it has been intimated that Hopkins has also been playing to this negative persona as part of a similar PR campaign. Broadcaster Terry Christian notably accused Hopkins of expressing her controversial opinions only in order to make money from all the media attention she consequently receives during “The Big Benefits Row: Live” in February 2014.
Of course the “marketing” of a celebrity is premeditated by PR agents, but this approach does appear to be even more calculated than usual. We live in a society where many marketing campaigns now legally have to remind us that they are in fact advertising products, and so it is possible that they have become immune to overt falsification and new techniques have to be approached within publicity campaigns in order to once again become covert. If you have the right PR support behind you, today’s modern media offers a fantastic tool to utilise for business progression. Social Media has proved an ever increasing outlet for raising online presence, and this has certainly been the case with Cunningham and Hopkins, who have both used online networking to foster negative coverage within the media.
To find out how Chapel PR can assist your business with successfully reaching your online potential please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our digital PR strategies are bespoke for every client and will help you raise brand awareness and sales. Contact us now through our ‘Get in Touch’ page or by calling +44 0207 129 1330 for more details.