PressEthic

During a February Grammy party, Beyonce Knowles was presented with a plate of treats but only ate a small slice of one brownie. How do I know this? I read it in a Vanity Fair article. After reading the piece, I also know that she’s going to be in two upcoming movies and has an album in the works.

Still reeling from watching Super Size Me last week (pun intended), I took no delight in learning about anyone else’s eating habits. Putting that aside, I thought about another issue both the movie and Adam Pennenberg’s class brought up – PR.

“From the minute we got to Sundance we were branding the movie,” said the industrious Mr. Spurlock in an interview with Jess Search from Channel 4 back in November 2004. Aside from jackets, bags and “un-happy meals,” he went so far as to start rumors that McDonald’s was suing him over the film.

Beyonce doesn’t need to do all of that to get a little attention. Still, as I paid for my November issue of VF, my friend called the article “just another piece of PR.” In fact, the article is called a “Press Release” on the publication’s website (that notation isn’t made in the magazine).

When is it not PR in the world of celebrity journalism? A review of an album or film resembles an op-ed piece in its reliance on the writer’s opinion. But an interview with a celebrity, even when it’s intended to shed light on something that people are talking about, is really another way of raising that person’s market value.

In many ways, the celebrity journalist is a cipher for the message that a celebrity’s “people” want to spread. Perhaps that’s why Us Weekly does so well. There’s that same feeling of transparency we get from blogs when we see a famous face being stuffed with cheeseburgers and fries.