PR feels disingenuous

What the title said. 

These days everything we consume is promoted to us, heavily. Whether it's a movie, book, food item, subscription service, it's all marketed in a way for higher sales. 

Nothing inherently wrong with that, it's to make profit and marketing when done right, can be extremely effective or just entertaining to watch unfold. However that may not always be the case. 

PR, or Promotional Marketing is done in n number of ways for n number of products. Because let's face it, in the era of technology and the internet, word of mouth and a reputed review isn't gonna do the trick anymore. It's when this new form of marketing, the social media exposure or 'tiktokification' of a brand/product comes in that it starts to go sideways.

See, the social media virality formula is typically random. It is always a silly or wholesome idea that people end up finding funny. Something that is not done with the purpose of internet fame but rather a spur-of-the-moment genuineness. When companies or individuals try to profit off of this moment, it very clearly is seen as fake or tryhard. And unfortunately, since the consumer base is located in apps where trends and audios are popular, they join in. It's not always bad, but when it is...it's hard to look away.

A really good example of this is the promotion of books these days. Earlier, the only way to tell if a book was good was through literary praise, accomplishments, celebrity book club mentions and word of mouth. Now, with the advent of communal spaces online where promotion is free and allowed, it's been used to market these books in questionable ways. Here the tiktok model of flashy descriptors, attractive model pictures and tropes come in. Instead of a synopsis or concept description, we are fed tropes, edits and Henry Cavil must be mentioned. The consumers are to be given blame as well here because when xyz comments on an instagram post: 'I've read better stories on Ao3/Wattpad.', the publishing industry does not think they should do better and improve but rather to adopt that model to get more readers interest. And it works. But the long-term consequences of this marketing in other genres and for writers is not as convenient. Also it makes writers write in a very specific way so as to sell books and make money and not actually have a distinct voice. Hence why so many books in a genre read the same way. They're all clones.

Another evil hybrid of this is PR relationships. This is a crazily common way of marketing a movie, a TV show, a song, you name it. This is not annoying to me per se, but it's kinda stupid to me because it's not being done as well as it hypothetical could be. A really good example is the whole Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney fiasco over their movie 'Anyone But You'. I will say, in hindsight, all of that drama over that mid-tier chemistry-less movie is actually really funny. The whole thing felt forced and manufactured. The movie was a sleeper hit, yes but it also again says a lot about the people who believed it. I'm not really sure how to phrase this without sounding mean but it's kind of idiotic to assume that celebrities do anything they do in press junkets organically. Yes, there are natural moments and stuff but their job is to promote. Every interaction will be heightened and any chemistry will be used to make people watch the movie. If you see anything, it's because they wanted you to- not because you're the Sherlock Holmes of stan twitter. Media awareness is important in the entertainment industry because these are strangers. 

A sister of PR relationships would be the never ending barrage of promotion we get when a big blockbuster comes out. Barbenheimer happened semi-naturally last year and the internet accepted it because it was a fun concept but forcing that same event is not going work the same way (cough, GLICKED, cough). A recent press tour that never seems to end would be the Deadpool 3 one. I don't really like Ryan Reynolds all that much. This is subjective and changes from time to time, but currently every content I've consumed of the promotions have left me feeling weird. See, because he's doing so much work to promote this film, whatever promos I see, it feels extremely forced. Ryan Reynolds in generally does not come out as naturally charming to me, so it gets annoying after a while anyways. Hugh Jackman in contrast, does the 'best bros on a film' schtick a lot more naturally. When you are surrounded by these two men on your screen all the time, it will get annoying and old really quick. So far, I'm okay on them. 

ALSO ALSO ALSO (because I like using one word way too many times), Kamala is not BRAT. But this is a more overt form of promotion that so obvious and nonsensical that really I didn't have to say any of this because we've turned so dystopian that an election can be fought solely using social media marketing and Charli XCX. (I will say, despite all this, music marketing is fun nowadays)

I think honestly I'm just tired of marketing being so formulaic and boring. Be creative and try to do something new. Or do the normal route and just tease the thing and drop it. I don't want the song of the summer, your cast starting fake dating rumors or your brand to start drama on twitter, well maybe I actually do, but try other methods as well. Don't just follow trends, make them. That's what makes you stand out. 

🐄