Seeing ‘the unseen hand’: Celebrity, promotion and public relations

Abstract

Public relations scholars have largely neglected celebrity public relations. The aim of this article is to explore public relations activity associated with celebrity, in order to better understand day-to-day public relations work and its influence on contemporary culture. Positioning public relations in terms of its cultural intermediary role, this article considers the work of celebrity publicists and public relations agencies that work closely with celebrities. It identifies the increased visibility of public relations in contemporary society, the links between public relations and promotional culture, and public relations’ role in media production and consumption. The findings point to the need to reconceptualise public relations as a promotional practice and call for a renewed focus on the societal impact of public relations activity.

The man behind the woman: Publicity, celebrity public relations, and cultural intermediation

“…While cultural studies generally focus on celebrity as text, an embodiment of symbolic power, or audience reception (Turner, 2013), scholars have acknowledged the role of the public relations-media complex in celebrity culture (Rojek, 2012). Despite this recognition, the day-to-day construction and maintenance of celebrity is missing from public relations research (Fitch, 2017).…”

“…Celebrities rely on the work of publicists to strategically cast, produce, and place discourses within spheres of popular culture. Although public relations is instrumental to celebrity culture, the role of public relations in the production and maintenance of celebrity remains underexplored and undertheorized (Fitch, 2017). I build upon and extend previous research that highlights the cultural intermediary work of public relations by examining Bourdieu’s notions of capital and the personal and professional resources drawn upon by publicists.…”

“…This article responds to Kate Fitch’s (2017) call to cast publicity as a cultural mode of production (Bourdieu, 1984) by examining a contemporary case of celebrity, the coming out of transgender celebrity, Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner is arguably the most ‘recognisable transgender woman in the world’, largely in part to her family’s reality television series Keeping up with the Kardashians (Mundie, 2019: para 1).…”

“…Celebrities rely on the work of publicists to strategically cast, produce, and place discourses within spheres of popular culture. Although public relations is instrumental to celebrity culture, the role of public relations in the production and maintenance of celebrity remains underexplored and undertheorized (Fitch, 2017).…”

Social media influencers, post-feminism and neoliberalism: How mum bloggers’ ‘playbour’ is reshaping public relations

“…While the link to the PR profession has been assumed, given that social media influencers promote products for organisations, often within advertorial style posts, there has not been sufficient focus on the explicit links between PR as a profession and social media influencers, with some notable exceptions (e.g. Fitch, 2017; Smith, 2011 and my own work). Mum bloggers are an interesting subset of influencers, particularly in relation to neoliberalism and PR, given that many mum bloggers are simultaneously working and raising children, ‘juggling’ responsibilities and roles, within a potentially liminal period of their lives.…”