Crazy PR
With our offices being situated next door to Leicester Square we often walk out of the door not only to trip over masses of tourists, but occasionally come face to face with celebrities. I’m sure you all saw the launch coverage of Borat the movie in the newspapers last week, well on that night I left the building not to be confronted by a celebrity but various celebrity horses! Or horses which would later become celebrities as they pulled Borat to his premiere. There is no doubt that this arrival stunt by Sacha Baron Cohen by horse and cart in London’s West End turned heads and picked up loads of media coverage. It could no doubt be summed up as a good PR for him, but I think I could safely say that it would not go down too well in the world of corporate PR. It’s obvious however that in some cases, an easy and effortless way to create media coverage is to do something completely out of the ordinary, it certainly works and fits in well with the crazy message that Borat is portraying.
Kasakstan, have complained profusely about Sacha Baron Cohen giving the country a bad image; however since the launch of this movie, never have the western public been so aware of a country that previously rarely appeared on the their radars. This can’t be a bad thing.
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Generally I have to agree with you there, Mark. The backlash against the film has been a bit of a double-edged sword, however.
Had the Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev taken the film in good humour and not as a slight against his country (which, admittedly, it sort of is in some ways), he may have benefited even more. As it is, he’s seen as a bit of a curmudgeon in the media and this has somewhat detracted from the positive coverage generated for Kazakhstan. That said, negative press is still press and serves to put Kazakhstan on the map and in the spotlight. In comparison to the image painted of the USA by the film, Kazakhstan got off lightly in my opinion!
Incidentally and quite fortunately, the Kazakhstani premier’s daughter publicly derided her father for being too touchy and embraced the comedic nature of the film…teenage rebellion is a beautiful thing!
Moreover, there are the court cases being brought against the film makers by some of the ‘cast’ of the film which, in other circles, would damage the reputation of the subject. however, when the film is notorious for being ‘offensive’ or close to the mark, very public legal wranglings surrounding the film will only serve to push more people to see the film to see what ‘all the fuss’ is about.