Borkowski Weekly Media Trends: 08-07-22
Bye Bye Boris | Doja Cat's Prime TikTok Beef | 'GTA Hamlet' & Metaverse Theatre
Bye Bye Boris
We once called Boris Johnson the Teflon prime minister, and on another occasion observed how he defies PR logic the same way as light bends around massively dense objects. Now it seems his immense, gravity-shifting armour has been reduced to a heap of scrap; one that’s on its way to the dump.
Although the hordes of reasons for Boris’ ‘Clownfall’ will keep generations of political historians occupied, in simple political PR terms, this was less ‘death by a thousand cuts’ than ‘wound by a thousand neutron bombs’. Any one of the literally dozens of scandals Boris visited upon himself would have been enough to fell a normal politician, but Boris somehow managed to withstand unprecedented punishment before being put out of his misery.
Basic crisis communications logic says that if you have been caught red-handed the best thing to do is own up, apologise and move on. But the rules don’t apply to Boris who, believing himself indestructible, stuck to a diet of obfuscating, minimalising, rationalising, lying and blaming his enemies. His downfall tells us that by adopting such a deranged strategy, many of the scandals he appeared to have walked away from unscathed, were in fact stripping away layers of the public’s trust, patience and tolerance.
But it took time and sheer weight of numbers: the interminable cycle of scandal and crisis that has defined the Boris premiership includes much we have forgotten, and much more that caused him little or no harm him in the polls despite his enemies’ best efforts:
Proroguing parliament. Free School Meals. His defence of the Barnard Castle scandal. PPE Contracts. Ignoring scientific advice on Covid. ‘Let the bodies pile high’. Lobbying scandals. Owen Paterson. Cutting welfare. On all these policy or whole-party issues he remained transparent and unapologetic - an approach that for a long time, somehow, worked.
But gradually we saw scandals for which Boris bore personal responsibility starting to gain prominence: Alleged misappropriation of public funds to a former mistress while Mayor of London, ‘Wallpapergate’, and an alleged domestic incident began to reveal the ‘nasty piece of work’ behind the buffoonish Commedia dell'arte mask.
Then came Partygate and finally a tipping point. Even in our polarised age, almost everyone can agree that he lied and tried to cover it up. This was a step too far for the public. It wasn’t a case of ideology or interpretation; it was a stark illustration of the simple truth that Boris thought he was too good for his own rules, by extension thinks he is better than the general public, and, by lying about it, thinks that we are all stupid to boot. Out of all the blunders, corruption and lies, this was the one that made it personal between Boris and the British public.
This gave subsequent scandals just a little more weight. Resurfaced previous attempts to crowbar Carrie into highly paid government jobs. Investigations into lying to parliament. Rwanda. The attempted Sue Gray cover-up. Investigations into Russian connections.
What compounded things was Boris’ career-long failure to take ownership of his mistakes. As one MP pointed out at PMQs he likes to blame anyone but himself. This truth was still evident in his resignation speech. He never accepted he was wrong, in fact he blamed politicians for following the herd.
The final straw gave way when news broke that Chris Pincher, the deputy Chief Whip had been accused of sexual assault in the Carlton club. When allegations surfaced that No.10 had been warned about Pincher’s conduct previously, Boris defaulted to his playbook for personal scandals: Cover it up. He denied knowing about past allegations when the news broke, and over five days his position unravelled to a rather pathetic “I forgot about the allegations”. By then it was all too clear; he was lying, treating the electorate like idiots once again, only this time the public backlash was severe enough to persuade his political colleagues that this time, finally, he had gone too far.
Whether, as he has hinted, we are in for one last Trumpian tantrum before we see the back of Boris, or perhaps another scandal relating to the massive party he has planned at Chequers, he will have to make the most of his expensive wallpaper for now, as soon he will have to fend for himself, and it is probably safe to say that this is the end of the political chapter of Boris’s career.
Can the latest TikTok 'Beef' teach us anything about PR?
Any TikTok native or occasional user knows that certain fanbases or celebrities have feverish and obsessive followings resulting in swathes of content flooding your algorithm. And whilst it also happens on Twitter, the 'highly personalised' TikTok algorithm relentlessly serves you with the latest trends or coverage of popular celebrities.
And this week, two of these communities collided as pop sensation Doja Cat stirred up drama with Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp aka Will Byers. Now if you want a case study on a celebrity mastering social media, specifically TikTok, look no further than Doja Cat. Her ability to wade in and out of drama and post original content on trending material with a signature comedic flair has turbo charged her audience. In short, she just gets it. And now she's calling out Noah Schnapps for being a 'weasel' and a 'snake' after he leaked personal messages. Doja Cat privately messaged Noah about co-star Joseph Quinn's relationship status, who publicly leaked screenshots of their conversation. It's trivial drama, but it has ignited floods of news and content centred around the beef.
Why should you care? Because nothing has ever driven news as quickly as social media, and no social media app has ever driven news like TikTok. As PR professionals, we strive to spread our clients' stories as far and wide as possible. So trying to understand how TikTok disseminates and generates news is a constant headscratcher. And while brands hunt for these types of engaging partnerships, understanding what makes TikTok 'tick' can be a critical part of activating a campaign. Unfortunately, because TikTok moves at break-neck speeds, you must act quickly. Therefore creating original and engaging content is essential to a campaign's success. But competing against one billion active users is a complex challenge.
Grand Theft Shakespeare: A Glimpse at Theatre in the Metaverse
Last year a YouTuber known as Rustic Mascara – real name maybe Sam Crane if his production credits are correct—gained minor notoriety in the tech and gaming worlds for his attempts to perform and later stage Shakespeare’s epic Hamlet in Grand Theft Auto.
There was something strangely profound about using the world’s most infamously and wantonly violent video game as the stage for a play whose most famous refrain posits death as an escape from the unbearable hardship of human existence, before descending into a desperate bloodbath. And something eerily fitting about watching the intrepid performer-director get his (virtual) brains blown out at regular intervals for his art.
A full-length production of GTA Hamlet arrived this week and has so far been received as a moderately successful publicity stunt. But this bold endeavour could end up becoming far more significant than a mere stunt, as a landmark in the evolution of live theatre in the metaverse. ‘Live’ music and even music festivals are almost old news in the metaverse; visual art is at the crest of the NFT wave; film and television are scrambling for a more interactive and artistic presence than mere advertising: but ‘live’ performing arts such as theatre have yet to migrate into the virtual world that has been tipped to permanently infiltrate our analogue existence.
While GTA Hamlet may not be nominated for any Olivier Awards, it was a bold step into the undiscovered country of virtual theatre, one of which practitioners in the industry, and pioneers of metaverse development will surely take note…