Borkowski Weekly Media Trends of the Year 2022 (Part 1)
The Metaverse | Political Scandal | Wrapping up football in 2022
The Metaverse has arrived: but was 2022 a Crash Landing?
NFTs, crypto, the metaverse. Many started 2022 off collectively exhausted by the perceived smoke and mirrors of the digital world. In perhaps his only piece of universally praised content this year, Ye (formerly Kanye West) aptly captured the public sentiment when he stated "Do not ask me to do a f&$king NFT". This was likely in response to one of music's bigger NFT-scandals. A website called HitPiece was selling album artwork as NFTs but hadn't even attempted to seek artists or labels' permission. After a flimsy attempt at an apology, this get-rich-quick scheme crashed and burned enabling the next crypto-NFT-metaverse scandal to swoop in, in a never-ending sequence that looked set to define the digital world of 2022.
But this wasn't quite the case. Tides turned for the metaverse in April with news of the formation of a $2 billion Sony - Lego - Fortnight dream team. According to Lego, the mammoth investment was focused "on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in" countering any sceptics" hopes of consigning the metaverse to a humorous memory alongside Google Glass and Theranos. Instead, this multi-billion-dollar investment is the surest endorsement of the metaverse yet, potentially rocket launching it out of its niche corner of Zuckerberg’s internet and into the mainstream. Indeed, the fact Borkowski is now in the metaverse ensures there is little doubt - 2022 was the year the metaverse started going mainstream.
2023 will likely see the Fortnite partnership go head-to-head with Meta and Microsoft in a battle for the elusive-but-lucrative monopoly over the metaverse. Prepare for an interesting fight!
Just a few days after the metaverse investment was announced, Chancellor Sunak shored up some legitimacy for crypto too by asking the Royal Mint to create its own NFT. For a good two weeks, it really did look like the digital world might have finally begun emerging from the wild West and snake oils, to reach a plateau a legitimacy. Pencilled to launch by summer, the Treasury claimed the move showed "the forward-looking approach we are determined to take towards cryptoassets in the UK" However, they failed to specify exactly what the NFT would confer ownership of, if more would ever be made, or even whether it would generate any funds for the public. After a Twitter storm of mirth and memes, the Treasury soon went silent on it all - rumours have it Rishi got side-tracked by something else...
The UK Government’s Annus Horribilis
Partygate
2022 started with Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, fighting to keep his job. The country and media were waiting in anticipation for the Sue Gray report, and almost weekly it seemed like we learned of a new lockdown party and a new scandal unfolded. The handling of this scandal was poor from start to finish, lurching from brazen arrogance to fumbling word salads beset with feeble excuses like "I was ambushed with cake". What emerged was a narrative that during lockdown, the rule maker was a rule breaker and Boris, previously near immune to negative PR, suddenly looked mortal.
The government’s turmoil worsened when their flagship Rwanda policy was halted and planes grounded. The policy was a PR disaster, their flagship immigration clampdown has to this day still removed no one from the country, and has certainly damaged the brand of the Conservatives for millions. The "compassionate conservative" era is truly over.
Sadly this year the Houses of Parliament have been awash with sex scandal, from paedophile MPs causing election defeats for the government to the Chris Pincher which contributed to bringing down even ‘Teflon Boz’. After months of the partygate saga, the Prime Minister appointing a minister he knew had outstanding allegations against him was the last straw. Angry MPs rebelled, and the government collapsed. The Boris years had left a legacy of sleaze, incompetence and corruption, and it was perhaps this that sparked a derisory leadership election that resulted in perhaps the country's worst prime minister.
Liz had a traumatic start to her premiership with the Her Majesty the Queen sadly passing away. But no sooner was mourning over, than the government got itself into a hole, and from there tried to dig itself all the way to Australia. Liz tried to rebrand the country as a small state with low tax, with one policy blunder after another, and it all came to a head when the mini-budget created a no so mini blackhole in the country’s finances, and commotion in the markets. The un-costed borrowing frenzy to cut taxes on the rich while the normal folk struggled ended in disaster. The pound plummeted, and the prime minister resigned after less time than it took for a lettuce to turn.
This year has been a year of political crisis and scandals, often exacerbated by dismal communications operations. As the new year arrives, and we inch closer to another election, so 2023 may be the year the government finally gets its act together…
Football’s whirlwind 2022
'More than a game' is one of the mantras underscoring football's personality, but this year it came true for all the wrong reasons as a series of scandals saw the sport bleed off the pitch and into the news pages.
The year started with Roman Abramovich ending his explosive tenure as the owner of Chelsea due to sanctions against Russian oligarchs. Abramovich incredibly has since been credited as one of the few individuals able to drive direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia...quite the reputational turnaround, especially after an attempt to kill him after he suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning at peace talks on the Ukraine-Belarus border.
And who could forget Norwich's wince-inducing Pride Month attempt to condemn homophobia in football, which tremendously backfired when the club released artwork of graffiti depicting homophonic slurs that they would scrub out' to demonstrate that there was no place for such bigotry in football.
But really, the lion's share of footballing drama happened towards the end of the year around the World Cup. Recency bias aside, frequent controversies on and off the pitch and many news stories surrounding the competition mean it's been a permanent fixture in the press and our Trends.
If we had to select one standout moment - Gianni Infantino's notorious speech is unrivalled in terms of immediate impact and the memes the address will inspire for years to come. Many journalists in attendance remarked on the deathly silence as FIFA's president said, 'I feel Qatari, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled' - he caused sheer confusion and shock, stunning everyone in the room to silence. And whilst we've seen more harmless moments, like viral animals correctly predicting scores, giant killings like Saudi Arabia toppling Argentina's 36-unbeaten streak on their opening game, and Ghana taking revenge on Uruguay and arch-villain Luis Suarez, the more significant news stories surrounding the world cup means it turned into the PR equivalent of Pandora's Box.
Lycett's attack on Beckham raised some of these much-discussed issues tactfully and efficiently with a genius viral stunt that gave Becks a simple choice: sever ties with Qatar, and he would donate £10k in cash to charity or attend the tournament, in which case Lycett would burn the money.
Many have attributed Ronaldo's jaw-dropping Piers Morgan interview to the world cup's timing. The fireside chat was arguably one of the year's most significant overall new stories. It captivated social media and was a trending story for weeks and weeks as the saga is still ongoing. Ronaldo gambled with his reputation on a global stage, and only time will tell its impact on his legacy.
With a limited word count, we'll have to gloss over Ivan Toney's betting scandal, Barcelona's transfer saga that threatened the club's existence, some nastier scandals like Kurt Zouma booting a cat, and high-profile rape cases, including Greenwood and Mendy.
But if 2023 is anything like 2022, we'll have a lot to follow!