Borkowski Weekly Media Trends 08-10-2021
Boris's Big Speech | Stunts in Space | Blockchain Woes | Adele's Return | Newcastle Takeover
Welcome to Borkowski Trends!
Over on his side of the blog, Mark B wrote about Boris’s speech at the Tory Party conference. Boris, he writes, is the Falstaffian maverick who ‘flouts common norms and social etiquette with impunity’—but he understands the value of performance. Check out the full post here.
And in other trends…
SPACE: THE FINAL STUNT TIER
Earlier this year we speculated in this newsletter that we might be approaching ‘peak space’. We weren’t talking about Voyager reaching an explorational milestone, but rather in terms of the media and public perceiving news value from anything and everything space-related.
Two more high profile stunts this week demonstrated this stratospheric momentum.
Firstly William Shatner, the on-screen godfather of so many of the clichés that formed our pop-cultural relationship with the extra-terrestrial as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, is set to become the oldest man in space aged 90 by boarding Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flight on 12 October. It’s a grand old stunt and reinjects Hollywood glamour into an endeavour that many see as a vanity project without substantial value.
The European Space Agency followed suit by teaming up with Mattel—who, as we’ve said before, have adapted shrewdly to a world in which traditional Barbie might have struggled—to release a new Barbie based on their record-breaking astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti by sending the prototype doll on a Zero G flight, much to the delight of broadcasters looking for feel-good colour stories. Culture has always co-opted space so it’s a smart move for the agency to return the favour, while Mattel’s rebrand as a champion of women in STEM is doing it no reputational harm.
Underscoring both these stunts is the sense that space remains one of the most dominant forces in the contemporary media agenda. May this phenomenon live long and prosper to infinity and beyond where no one has gone before etc. 🖖
Adele Says ‘Hello’ With Media Blitz
We’re used to seeing pop-stars reinvent themselves ahead of a new release. There will often be the reveal of a new haircut, or maybe the wiping of a whole Instagram account (save for a few ambiguous teasers).
If it’s rare that such momentum-building PR tactics are justified, then Adele is an exception. As the UK’s most successful female artist of the century, there’s (rightly) a consensus that her comeback is worth paying attention to. She, one of the biggest artists in the world, has successfully spent the past 5 years in complete privacy. Only last year did fans hear a peep from her via Instagram, where she shared her genuinely dramatic transformation, a 100 pound weight loss.
A few appearances, like her SNL hosting gig, has left the public guessing when the new music will come. Now, with her new single set to release on 15th October, the promotion can start in earnest.
This week saw the publication of a profile in UK and US Vogue – the first time in history that the two magazines have shared a cover star. The Mirror has already published an analysis featuring a body language expert. Adele looks ‘awkward’, they say. Awkward or not, the shoot is does seem lacking in the personality of Adele’s that is so loved. There isn’t the political statement that came with Billie Eilish’s controversial old-school glamour shoot earlier this year. It seems Vogue has gone with what will sell magazine (and fair enough).
Luckily the world gets more than enough Adele-ness in the profile itself. Sweary, candid, cocktails abound. It’s good to have her back, and it’s a joy to see a popstar re-emerge to such a ubiquitous welcome.
Preponderance of Hitler NFTs added to List of Blockchain Worries
Many people believe blockchain technology will be a force for good in the years to come. However, it is becoming more difficult to make that case in the short-term as more and more governments are waking up to the possibilities of money laundering and cybercrime made possible through digital currencies. Added to this list of concerns is now the fact that NFTs are being sold containing extremist content, hate speech, and alt-right memes.
As Vice reports, there are a weirdly high number of Hitler NFTs for sale on popular selling platform OpenSea. The fact these images are being hosted certainly does the burgeoning NFT space no favours, an industry which has striven to generate credibility through high-profile sales in traditional auction houses. For many, the mention of NFTs and alt-right content will confirm their assumption that NFTs belong to a shadowy niche of the internet where anonymity breeds extremism.
Unlike other NFT platforms and auction sites, which curate their content directly in collaboration with digital artists, OpenSea is committed to allowing anyone to host anything on the site, an approach which, as in the case of YouTube and other video hosting sites, will no doubt raise questions about their responsibility to moderate content and take bad stuff off the platform. And as we’ve seen with these other sites, the libertarian ideal of ‘openness’—to which OpenSea declares their commitment in their Terms of Service—has traditionally not generated much sympathy with regulators nor with outraged publics.
As more users wake up to the possibilities for scams, fraud, and criminal activity in the Wild West that is ‘the Crypto space’, we would not be surprised if hosting platforms are forced to renege on the promise of openness—as adult websites have had to do—or face the wrath of lawmakers.
And last but not least…
Newcastle Fans Welcome Club Takeover
If you want a quick introduction to the pandemonium that spread across Newcastle on Thursday evening, watch Sam Fender's BBC Breakfast interview.
Once the Premier League approved the takeover, fans rejoiced as Mike Ashley's 14-year reign over Newcastle United ended. For years, Ashley used Newcastle as a giant advertising hoarding for his retail empire, Sports Direct. But, to keep it brief, Ashley did the bare minimum to keep Newcastle afloat, looking to exit as cheaply as possible, and Newcastle fans despised him for it.
The Public Investment Fund has replaced Ashley, namely the Sovereign Wealth Fund from Saudi Arabia chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS). The takeover makes Newcastle the wealthiest club in the world due to the country's oil reserves.
The West initially praised MBS as a reformer who wanted to detach its economy from oil dependency while loosening the tight social and religious restrictions on its growing population.
Despite MBS's attempts to change Saudi Arabia's ultra-conservative image, the litany of human rights atrocities is shocking. From ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi critic and journalist for the Washington Post, to pursuing an air war in Yemen that's killed thousands of civilians and starved the country.
Newcastle fans are welcoming MBS with open arms because no one could be worse than Ashley in their view. And they'll finally have an owner that invests in Newcastle. But, while Newcastle's rivals and the wider football community will likely throw around Saudi Arabia's human rights record like cheap banter, football is in dire straits. After the Super League furore that happened earlier this year, it shows that the modern game is rooted in money - the ultimate driving force.
Some Newcastle fans are naively attaching themselves to an idea that the club will invest in the academy, scouting networks and coaching staff. This vision of the game is dead, and there's no going back.