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Is TV a reflection of society or is society a reflection of TV?
Right wingers just know the mainstream media is hostile to their way of life.
The mainstream media tells them so every day!
by Billy Ingram

As a person who spent a long lifetime on the front lines of the entertainment industry marketing maw, I'm a big fan of PR campaign successes and failures. The recent Komen implosion was textbook fail. Public Relations and marketing majors take note of a clear lesson.

The entire top management involved in the decision-making at Komen should be making plans to step down right now, by February 17th at the latest. Chances are it's already too late to right that ship, they pissed off both sides of the debate. That's what happens when an organization reacts to a genuine crisis of their own making with soulless corporate think and blind dismissal.

Karen Handel, the new hire that caused the Komen kerfluffle (despite her denials), walked away with righteous indignation in tow. She's headed for a huge payday and lots of carefully chosen media attention. She was in it for herself all along, her actions and words proved that. At this point she just has to play the injured innocent all the way to martyr status, a job that pays much better than the one she just left. Win-Win for her but she leaves a gaping hole in the vessel behind her.

Handel is a prime example of the huge disconnect hardcore right wingers have with reality these days; a robust alternative POV propaganda network disguised as legitimate news backed by corrupt-to-the-core think tanks supported by billions of dollars makes sure of that.

The misguided souls watching at home think their television is reflecting real life when, in fact, it's a 24 hour long Bizarro World episode of Leave it to Beaver with Sean Hannity as Ward Cleaver, Ann Coulter as June Cleaver and Jonah Goldberg as The Beaver.

Want to start a web presence that bashes liberals and questions climate change? There's loads of money in that. On the liberal side? Don't quit your day job. Remarkably dumb people are making a literal fortune pumping out ridiculously fatuous 'news' stories and commentary. They know it's BS but a job's a job, right?

Americans used to understand that you can't necessarily believe something just because you read it in print and you certainly can't trust what you see on TV. No, G.I. Joe can't really take that hill and your Chatty Kathy doll won't be your talkative new best friend. Most of us learned this at a very young age.

In an effort to buy into an alternate universe, a large number of good folks will believe anything they're told, if it fits what they think *should* be. Especially if it comes from the television. It's just too irresistible, apparently, the juxtaposition of Hagen Dazs commercials and bubble headed blondes surrounded on all sides by waving American flag graphics.

So what's next for the cancer charity? Komen could become a much smaller endeavor and refocus on their core mission with renewed vigor and complete transparency - that's what should happen. Or they could pick one side or the other, become a conservative charity or a liberal leaning one.

Instead my prediction is that only the president, Nancy Binker, will resign and Komen will change their name but not their business philosphy. I'm a cynic.

Compare & contrast with J. C. Penney who obviously did their demographic homework before they came under attack last week from right wing anti-gay fanatics. The retailer didn't buckle and the whole thing will pass like a breeze. In fact, this will be a boon for their business short term. Penney's new spokesperson Ellen DeGeneres (I'm not a fan) handled her side of the whole affair the way you're supposed to - with restraint, wit, and a message that resonated from the heart. She obviously has great writers. Again, Win-Win but with different results. If Penney's had capitulated they would be in the same soup Komen is in.

The main thing to remember if you find yourself knee deep in Komen-like karmah? Be consistent, be firm, and stick to your plan because that's the boat you're in now, whether you like it or not. You can't throw both oars in the water and whine about the choppy seas.

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It is what it is!

THE KOMEN SCANDAL
FROM A PR POINT OF VIEW

Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich is being curb stomped by the media giant and there's a growing groundswell around the idea that corporations, who are people after all, should show their gratitude for those millions of dollars that flow to them for work done in years past.

Occupy Ghost Rider?

The new Ghost Rider movie (wasn't the first one bad enough?!?) is coming soon and, if this grass roots effort is successful, the bad publicity will rain down on Marvel just as they are gearing up for their big summer blockbuster Avengers motion picture.

More about the Marvel Ghost Rider Scandal.

Facebook page for Gary Friedrich

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