Borkowski Weekly Media Trends 23-07-21
Bezos enters Billionaire Space Race | Ben & Jerry's vs Israel | Tanya Burr x Marcus Rashford: Influencer 2.0
Billionaires in space draws more backlash with Bezos’s Seven Minutes in Heaven
The image of the world’s richest person gallivanting space has prompted outcry in some quarters, particularly as times on Earth seem increasingly dire, as well as some comparisons to Dr. Evil’s own extra-terrestrial sojourn.
People were even more miffed when, in a new high-water mark even for tone deaf billionaires, Bezos thanked the engineers and crew, along with “every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all this.”
In what is being described as the new capitalist space race between private individuals and companies, comms strategies have been particularly poor. Branson’s claim that his spaceflight was about ‘making space accessible to all’ felt particularly lazy even for corporate virtue-signalling, and drew barbs from prominent astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein among others in opinion sections.
The social media outrage has been relentless, and, though it has become something of a cliché that Bezos could, if he wanted, ‘end world poverty’ (a claim which is debated), there is nonetheless merit in the view that these projects represent a colossal misallocation of priorities and resources.
It will be a significant challenge for these companies to overcome the showmanship of their founders and to convince people that they are in it for the betterment of all, but not an impossible one. In the wake of these much-lampooned stunts, others have come to their defense, including the Wall Street Journal editorial board, who point out some of the practical benefits of the new space race in terms of developing technology and creating jobs.
But even the greatest corporate showman of them all seems at a loss when it comes to pleading the case of space-obsessed billionaires. Elon Musk, who has made it his mission to send a man to Mars, waded in to the debate with an oddly haiku-esque tweet propounding the ‘hope’ that space gives people. Interestingly, rather than insisting on the real-world benefits of privatising space (which can be disputed) Musk opts to present his ambitions in the purely symbolic terms of what they represent for ‘mankind’. Comms-wise, he might be on to something. Better than pleading a lost cause and attempting to paper over what remain egomoniacal fantasies, the new capitalist pioneers of space will have to find their own version of Musk’s message, weird as it is in its ‘e e cummings’-esque form, if they are to capture hearts and minds.
Mixed success of Ben & Jerry’s Palestine Gambit offers brand-activists (Phish) Food for Thought
Ice-cream brand and part-time radical activists Ben & Jerry’s courted controversy this week by announcing that it would no longer supply ice-cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Responding to a sustained BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign that had called upon the brand to stop producing its products in Israel, Ben & Jerry's said that doing business in Israeli settlements built on land captured in the 1967 war (in contravention of international law) was "inconsistent with [their] values."
Ben & Jerry's love weighing in on social issues. The brand has been a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and excoriated the US police for the murder of George Floyd. This latest move, however, seemed to be aimed to cementing their position as a truly progressive, socially conscious company in a space crowded out by allegations of performative corporate activism.
Predictably, there was an outpouring of support for Ben & Jerry's across social media’s various progressive bubbles. But this was accompanied by swift, and proportionate, backlash from across the political aisle. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, called Ben & Jerry's decision “a new type of terrorism.” Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett warned that Unilever chief executive Alan Jope would face "serious consequences" for the "anti-Israel" move.
Calls to boycott Ben & Jerry's within Israel were shared widely on social media. So were posts that accused Ben & Jerry's of not doing enough and asked the company to go one step further and stop selling its ice-cream in Israel completely.
This backlash was inevitable and could conceivably have been worth the boost in other markets, but any brand activism has to be devoid of hypocrisy and presented by a unified front to be totally effective. This hasn’t been the case, with Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever awkwardly failing to back the move. Moreover, The Israeli media has been quick to point out that Ben & Jerry’s decision will also cost Palestinians (for whom unemployment is a major problem) jobs, thus slightly undermining the show of solidarity.
Ben & Jerry's had intended to make a statement by showcasing the brand's activist credentials. Instead, the ice-cream maker landed itself in the soup (or melted Phish Food?) with a decision that appealed to neither side of the divide and illustrated the complexity of playing marketing with politics.
Tanya Burr & The Second Age of Influence
When you cast your mind back to the dawn of YouTube, it may return a hazy veil of nostalgia. The content spawned between 2006-07 had an organic innocence as people got to grips with the platform. The thought of a creator making millions off the site was then inconceivable, but during these formative years we saw the first generation of influencers develop.
Today, the global influencer industry is worth billions, chewing up and spitting out thousands who try to monetise their content. Then there’s Tanya Burr – a first-generation YouTuber who at her height was mobbed by fans if word got out about her location. But now she’s reshaped her life and in doing so may have changed our relationship with, and understanding of the phenomenon of influencers. How could that crop from the early 2010s have known the outcome of their online success? An insidious industry formed around them – fuelled by the expectation that their fanbase would keep growing.
Burr is a symbol of the evolution of the industry. From posting beauty tutorials from her bedroom to becoming one of the UK’s most popular vloggers, the industry had crippling effects on her mental health. But time away from the spotlight has given her a new perspective on her job, an added need for substance and control.
Today’s influencers seem to be better equipped to deal with these pressures, thanks to the Tanyas who had to discover the hard way. Take Marcus Rashford, who this week expertly pre-empted a Spectator hit piece with a measured response on Twitter before publication. Rashford proudly stands for a noble cause and doesn’t shy away from his duties. But his team are better equipped to deal with these moments through experience. We are approaching an era where influencers don’t build an audience as vacuous attention-seekers, but rather as agents of change.