The Cliché Awards: Nominations Open
I think it’s time to act. Consider this, my happy followers. We are being submerged by cliché! Need proof? Just see my post from yesterday: Governor Sarah Palin attacked, as a “blood libel”, suggestions that her political rhetoric contributed to last Saturday’s fatal shootings in Arizona. Blood libel? Glory be! These PR sound bites and […]
Sarah Palin and the Language of Violence
Reading and hearing about the shootings in Tucson, Arizona I am more and more struck by the awful ironies of this tragic event. That Gabrielle Giffords should be a pro-gun Democrat is strange enough, but the fact that her life has been saved by a trauma surgeon just back from Iraq, whose skills have been […]
Underground, Overground
There’s been quite the hoo-ha regarding the undercover policeman who penetrated the Green movement and ended up a member of the Ratcliffe Six, and the more recent revelations about an undercover WPC who had done pretty much the same, both at great cost to the tax payer. But honestly, what did people expect? There are […]
Promote It Like Beckham
Tottenham Hotspur have pulled off a nifty coup for the New Year, bringing David Beckham in to train after a few weeks of speculation and “will he/won’t he?” in the tabloids. Regarding Beckham actually playing for the team, nothing is certain still, but that is hardly the point. The point is that this is a […]
Fallen Archers
Even if you aren’t a fan of The Archers, you surely can’t have escaped the hype surrounding the 60th anniversary of the show. It was a delicate soufflé, whipped up over weeks, promising a storyline that would ‘change Ambridge FOREVER’. Unfortunately, said soufflé emerged from the oven as flat as a pancake. It came down […]
The Borkowski Blog 2010 Review
It’s nearly Christmas, the snow lies heavy on much of Britain in astonishingly traditional fashion, causing less astonishing but no less traditional mayhem, chaos and panic. But, given the last year, one can almost understand why there is panic. The weather may hark back to the past but the world moves on into the future […]
The Borkowski Blog Christmas Appeal
Cycling through London the other day on a Boris Bike (surely one of the great modern branding failures – Barclays pumped millions into the scheme only to lose the name to the charismatic mayor) and sweating like a constipated sumo wrestler, full of the joys of winter and rushing to get back for a meeting, […]
Breaking X Factor in America
This weekend the nation gathers around the TV once again, to watch the X Factor final; the uber-karaoke contest live from the Wembley’s Amphitheatrum Flavium, thumbs poised for pollice verso. Tomorrow we will marvel at the victor who, with scrupulous and unaffected dignity, will be giving thanks to the loyal viewers for allowing him or […]
Malcolm McLaren: Great Lives
Today’s Great Lives on Radio 4 is a look at the life of the great rock and roll swindler, Malcolm McLaren, who died earlier this year. He was nominated for the programme by me. Here’s the blurb from the BBC website. “‘I’ve been called many things,; McLaren wrote as advance publicity for his one man […]
England's World Cup Woes
So Russia have the 2018 World Cup and it’s to go to Qatar in 2022. Anyone trying to suggest that this decision has anything to do with football needs to go away and sit quietly in a dark corner whilst they reevaluate their opinion. The decision by FIFA bigwigs is solely about where the power […]
How to Keep the Spectacle in Spider-Man
The Spider-Man musical has previewed on Broadway to a chorus of boos from the press and I am bewildered as to why Broadway has not harnessed the power of social networking to counter the effect of people like the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, otherwise known as the Butcher of Broadway. It’s a grossly unfair […]
Royal Fairy Tales in the Digital Age
The “Fairy Tale” Royal engagement, announced yesterday, prompted an outpouring of joy in this morning’s papers. The red tops in particular are euphoric, filled to the brim with jubilant headlines and rapturous copy. I suspect the coverage arouses hope that the event will provide succour to their declining readership and influence. Past trends suggest papers […]
Royal wedding? Screw the recession, there's dosh to be made…
And so the day has come! Prince William is to marry Kate Middleton. Be of good cheer, Britain, there’s new blood being drafted into the old firm! It really is fabulous news, in such tough economic times, that the cuts will not affect everything. In 2011 there will be something for the whole nation to […]
Looking to the Future of PR
The recent story in the papers about Geoff Baker, the former gatekeeper for Sir Paul McCartney who now dresses as a dustman to give tours of his home-town, should act as a salutary lesson for all entertainment publicists. I first met Geoff at the height of his journalistic powers, as a showbiz reporter for the […]
How to Build on Past Protests
It was fascinating, on Wednesday, to watch the streets of London step back 20 years in time to the sort of violent protests that marked the anti Poll Tax movement. I admire the energy and the zeal of the students but, in an age where everything is being re-drafted, reinvented, challenged and overturned, I wonder […]
Gordon Ramsay: Frying Pans, Fires and Open Letters
There is a mood of incredulity in the media at Gordon Ramsay’s latest PR faux pas; an open letter to his mother in law, published in the Evening Standard. “This has to be one of the most painful letters I’ve ever had to write,” writes Gordon. “Listening to Tana in floods of tears reading your […]
Edward Bernays and the Suffragette Movement
On the 18th of this month, a vigil will be taking place to mark the memory of the two Suffragettes who died 100 years ago on that day whilst attempting to enter Parliament to demand a debate on the Conciliation Bill, a bill that would have given some women basic voting rights. They were part […]
50 Years of Psycho Stuntsmanship
As the nights draw in faster and faster, it’s worth remembering that, 50 years ago, Alfred Hitchcock dreamed up two things that have defined the horror film industry ever since. The first was the film Psycho. The second was a publicity stunt for the film that was so successful that it has come back time […]
Putin on the Ritz: PR Russian Style
I went to the opening of The Expendables recently, in the mood for a little bit of escapism, and was bowled over by the crowd’s whooping, hollering love for Sly, Lundgren, Arnie, Bruce et al. There seemed to be more love than you could have ever expected for a formula, and a set of stars, […]
Stephen Fry in the Firing Line
DIY PR was back in the news over the weekend, when Stephen Fry landed in hot water with the broadsheets for comments he made about women’s sexuality and then took to Twitter to try and resolve the furore. It’s a perfect way to highlight the dangers of do it yourself PR; like some hapless DIY […]