5 Common PR Fails That Every Celebrity Experiences

Posted on May 10 2019 - 11:31am by Editorial Staff

There are those among us who think that our favorite celebrities can do no wrong and that they really are just as perfect as their photoshopped social media feeds indicate. Occasionally, however, our idols will stumble, revealing themselves to be just as human as the rest of us. It seems that no amount of training and advice can prevent even the most polished celebrities from committing the occasional PR gaffe, which some poor agent will have to clean up. While no two PR fails are the same, there are some common themes of gaffe that seem to befall every celebrity. Read on to find out the most common PR sins that every celebrity is guilty of committing. 

The ‘Hacked’ Twitter 

Contrary to what many people might think, most celebrities actually man their own Twitter accounts. Sure there’s usually a social media consultant who they’re supposed to run certain things by, but for the most part, it’s free reign. It’s this that has caused countless seriously damaging PR nightmares for famous people, after which the only solution is apparently for them to claim they were “hacked” by unknowable forces. Famous examples include Rita Ora’s flop tweet in which she promised to drop an album if she got 100,000 retweets, only to get a little over a thousand. The genre “politicians liking NSFW tweets without realizing everyone can see their likes” deserves a category of its very own. 

The Costume Party Fail 

The celebrity social calendar is filled with opportunities to dress up in the most elaborate costumes ever for the paparazzi and public to marvel at. Think the Met Gala, VMA after party, and of course, Halloween. It’s always a lesson that some costumes should definitely have been submitted to further consultation before a public debut. Recent shining examples of party costumes backfiring include Miley Cyrus’s controversial reincarnation as ‘Lil Kim and Kim Kardashian’s attempt to dress up as dearly departed RnB singer Aaliyah. 

Hitting Back at the Haters 

The worst thing about being a celebrity is that everybody has an opinion about you. Companies have been able to handle reviews masterfully, but celebrities have not. While global entertainment companies such as the casino site Mr Green proudly display their online reviews from happy gamers across their website, celebrities have a tendency to hide reviews or respond to anything approaching negative in a less than savory way. The list of well-known people replying to reviews of their concerts or albums on Twitter with 140 characters of pure vitriol is far too long to include here, but let’s just say that each instance always necessitates a certain level of damage control. 

The Branding Misfire 

Celebrities work with brands. That’s just a fact of life. However, some of the worst PR fails ever have been when these attempts at sponsorship end up being very poorly judged. The standout example from recent memory is probably supermodel Kylie Jenner’s incredibly ill-fated Pepsi advert, which was reviled but just about everyone and forced the star to go on hiatus for about a year. Fails such as these should remind celebrities that sometimes even the biggest paychecks might not be worth it.  What do you think is the worst kind of celeb PR fail? Let us know in the comments!

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Editorial Staff at I2Mag is a team of subject experts.