A list of public disasters that would make any PR rep facepalm, including Chris O'Dowd's tone-deaf comments and Will Smith's controversial slap to Chris Rock.
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, with the best teams to advise them, end up doing or saying things that are so tone-deaf and narrow-minded that they instantly regret them.some of the most epic celebrity fails when their behavior backfired in the worst way possible. These are public disasters that would make any PR rep facepalm. Scroll down to read what to never do if you ever end up becoming famous. Chris O'Dowd was on Louis Theroux's podcast, and Louis asked him about it.
I think you can see it on YouTube. I'm glad Chris at least admitted it was tone deaf and the backlash was justified. Idk if it had a big effect on him, but Will Smith slapping Chris Rock definitely didn't help his image. It had a big effect imo.
The general public seems to have lost all respect for him, and Will Smith is completely blacklisted now. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been in a movie or a show eversince. And if he has, it clearly hasn’t been promoted to the level it would have been if he was still in the good graces of the industry.
I believe from time to time he goes on a radio show or releases music to try to regain his image, but imo it’s done in such a cringey way that he has become a laughing stock now :/Some blame him for the slap, others for being Jada's cuck and only speaking up after she told him to be offended. Overall it went downhill the more of his personal life became publicBarbara Streisand, for creating The Streisand Effect.
The act of trying to stop something but inadvertently giving it so much exposure. I can't believe this isn't the top choice! The whole topic is literally named after her. lol For those who don't know, she got a bunch of bad press because she tried to bully a photographer into taking down photos of her house that happens to be on a public beach. , instead, because it attracts more attention and curiosity.
The antidote to it is openness and honesty, if there’s a genuine problem you’re trying to tackle. The term itself was coined in 2005 by Techdirt founder Mike Masnick and was the result of singer and actress Barbra Streisand suing photographer Kenneth Adelman for a whopping $50 million back in 2003. Adelman had taken photos for the California Coastal Records Project, one of which accidentally featured Streisand’s mansion in Malibu.
At that point, the image had been downloaded a mere 6 times. Later, it got over a million views and was reprinted many times.
Meanwhile, Streisand lost the lawsuit. Though Streisand had had bad experiences with being stalked, in this particular case, it would have been better for her if she hadn’t escalated things. Pepsi made an ad during the height of the 2020 BLM protests where Kendall Jenner walks into a protest, hands out pepsis to the protestors and cops, and they all drop what they’re doing to start partying together and have a good time.
While I dislike this family immensely, this isn't her fault. She was just paid to do a job. Go after Pepsi for doing the ad, not her. The celebrity billionaires who went to space - calling themselves “astronauts” and telling the public that little girls all over the world thought they were heroes.
I found the whole thing insulting because all it proved was that to go to space you either had to be an astronaut, Rich, a celebrity, or a billionaire. The general public has no idea how long a candidate has to be at a beauty spa before they can become an astronautThe sad thing is she was right about the Catholic Church and their cover ups and it basically cost her a career.
Another example of the Streisand Effect has to do with Beyoncé. After she performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2013, BuzzFeed shared some photos from the middle of her routine. The star’s publicist reached out to the outlet, demanding to take down some of the “unflattering photos. ” This prompted BuzzFeed to publish a second article titled, ‘The Unflattering Photos Beyoncé’s Publicist Doesn’t Want You To See.
’ The photos went viral on social media and led to the creation of memes.that they have carefully constructed over the years. Trying to suppress certain information can leave a lasting impression, painting the person or business as dishonest and untrustworthy. The result is a tarnished public image, media scrutiny, regulatory attention, decreased sales, and lower customer loyalty as your brand has been affected.
Transparency, politeness, professionalism, quick responses, emotional regulation, and avoiding lawsuits are your best strategies if you want to avoid the fallout from this effect. Nicki Minaj joining MAGA in hopes to get her husband a pardon. Didn’t seem like that worked out for her. Absolute fail.
Cruise fired his excellent publicist who told him to keep that weird stuff quiet…. and put his sister in the role. He then went public…. What are the biggest PR nightmares and disasters that you’ve seen stars and public figures construct with their own hands and words? Have you ever witnessed someone fall prey to the Streisand Effect, where the information they tried to hide ended up going viral?
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis writing a letter of character support for their friend Danny Masterson who is serving 30 years. Every single part of his story was incredibly stupid. He claimed he was outside and going for a walk at two o'clock in the morning, during the polar vortex. Most businesses were closed because of the late hour, never mind the weather conditions.
For me, it HAS to be Ellen making that joke to Dakota Johnson about not being invited to her party, which led to that very humbling call out and eventual cancellation of her entire career. Bill Cosby told the Internet to make a meme of him, which ultimately led to the allegations becoming common knowledge.
And if I recall correctly you couldn't delete/remove it at first, apple had to come out with an ipod/iphone/itunes update to allow you to delete it. I think the newly minted Ethan Slater “I’m leaving my marriage for a pop star and fame, never mind it’s just loss of my family and career” debacle is appropriate. Didn't they just break up too? Left his wife and baby for his pop star girlfriend only for them to end things.
Lea Michele's tweet to support George Floyd. Then her black costar accused her of being a racist bully. And it broke the dam of other costars and extras claiming she's a POS. A different costar defended her by saying she's not racist because she bullies everyone regardless of race.
When Colleen Ballinger was accused of grooming and harassment, she released an ill-advised, self-pitying and mocking video of her playing the ukulele and singing about her deniability. Neil Gaiman trying to explain that his exploitation of his nanny was totally consensual. Also trying to blame it on his autism. He blamed it on his AUTISM!
I was such a huge fan of his work and when the news dropped, I packed my collection all away but to blame it on autism. I don’t know how that makes it worse, but it does. David Blaine spending a month in a glass box suspended above the River Thames, and discovering in the process that Brits really don't go in for the sort of celebrity worship that he was used to back in the US.
Not only were most Londoners distinctly unimpressed by the stunt, they came out in force every evening to openly ridicule and torment him. Prince Andrew thinking that BBC interview would clear his name is the gold standard for backfires. He really tried to use a Pizza Express in Woking as a legal alibi. Sam Smith - weeping openly about being in isolation in his million quid house during COVID while people were dying in droves.
Jonah Hill texting his girlfriend a list of rules about what she could and couldn't post, who she could hang out with, what she could wear. He'd spent years building this wholesome 'therapy bro' image talking about boundaries and mental health. The screenshots went viral and basically ended his public career overnight. Ashley Tisdale and the mom drama.
She wrote that essay thinking everything would feel bad for her, and while she got a little of that, I don’t think it was the majority opinion. For Australia it would be Ben Roberts Smith. Newspapers and television programs raised points about the possibility of him committing war crimes. He sues them and loses.
He appeals the decision and lost again. I wonder if anyone remembers Geraldo Rivera's live Al Capone vault or him drawing a map in the sand on live TV during the invasion of Iraq. What she did to ruin his life with the lawsuit was diabolical and it ended up tanking her career. No director will work with her for fear of being accused of god knows what and sued by her and Ryan, she’s finished in Hollywood.
Gina Carano. All she had to do was shut up on social media and she could have had a career as an actor. On a level, I get it. He's got music connections, his business partner had the funding and the customer base - Putting together a festival should have been..
I won't say straightforward, but certainly do-able. But watching the various documentaries, he didn't treat it like a business venture - More like an overly ambitious startup director who's never been told 'No' & saw the whole process as a party and then rolled into the very short timeframe.. of course it was going to fold. Throwing into it, the insane marketing - Getting top models for the videos, giving infuencers free tickets..
I mean, they REALLY got the buzz going but didn't think of the bigger picture. Woodstock 99 was 18 years before, and there were SO MANY lessons to take from that - like considering infrastructure for that many people. I can't imagine it would have been that hard to get in touch with a few of the companies/people involved in that to help avoid or mitigate any pitfalls really early on.
Obviously it didn't help that the business partner was then taken to court for all sorts of fraud related to his other ventures. When Ned Fulmer tried to restart his career with a podcast that was just 2 hours of his ex-wife ripping into him for being an adulterous jerk.
“Olivia Jade Giannulli was at the center of the 2019"Operation Varsity Blues" college admissions scandalbecause her parents—actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli—paid $500,000 to fraudulently designate her and her sister as recruited athletes for the University of Southern California crew team, despite neither having any rowing experience. ”.
Pewdiepie could've chosen not to release that video where he had a bunch of Indian guys hold up a banner with an offensive slogan he didn't think they would actually make. When Jennifer Love Hewitt publicly shared that she had a crush on Adam Levine when she was on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Ellen vowed to set them up.
But when Adam was on the show and Ellen tried to ask him about Jennifer, he basically told Ellen he wasn't interested in her. Metallica siding with the label companies in the whole Napster controversy. Back in the ancient days of the early 2000s, a website like Napster where you could listen to music and download it for free without any kind of subscription service was revolutionary.
Up until then, you either had to buy the whole album, or wait for it to come on either the radio or for the music video to play on one of a handful of music TV channels that were quickly getting rid of music videos. And most artists were cool with it, because the record company are the ones who made money off of record sales, especially in the rap genre.
Recording artists made their money off of tours and appearances. So Napster was free advertising for people to come to shows, because no one had to pay for royalties to play it on the radio or on TV. The suits at record companies were against it because it cut into their profits. And James Hetfield was against it because he was a massive jerk at the time.
They lost fans over it, because you don't side with the corporations. Napster ultimately died, but Metallica eventually walked everything back, and the next couple albums didn't do as well. Music piracy continued, and while it comes with a subscription fee today, the ability to download and listen to music whenever you want without needing to buy an album lives on. I haven't paid for a single album since 2009.
Pyrrhic victories. In 2000 Anthea Turner and her husband Grant Bovery used their wedding to promote Cadbury Snow Flake chocolate bars. They claimed it was not a promo but just Google the pics. Despite their claims that they had no idea it would be a promo and they were just eating chocolate, they also had sold the rights to their wedding to a magazine for a lot of money . They claim the magazine made a side-deal with Cadbury without their knowledge. Oh also, said magazine gave people a free Snow Flake with the issue that covered the wedding.
I remember this being huge in the UK at the time and everyone found it really crass and disingenuous. It had a negative impact on her career as a TV presenter at the time, which relied on people finding her trustworthy. Knowing the British public, I think most people were more bothered that they tried to claim it wasn't deliberate. By all means sell your wedding if you want to but don't insult our intelligence about your selling out.
Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real.
At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature.
However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies. Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do.
My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle.
I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies. I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job?
Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art. I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.
The dude who r***d people, pulled out racist, misogynistic, and homophobic moves, called his followers stupid, and more, I could go on. Oh wait. People somehow voted for him to become president, and he still is. The dude who r***d people, pulled out racist, misogynistic, and homophobic moves, called his followers stupid, and more, I could go on.
Oh wait. People somehow voted for him to become president, and he still is. Toxic Parents Kick Their 10-Year-Old Son Out Of The House, And A Will Reading Years Later Sets Off A WarBy entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and
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