Blue Origin’s performative space stunt this week was an embarrassment. To the concept of female empowerment. To those of us in the PR profession (who should have known better). And to the women who allowed themselves to be used as clickbait.
As a lifelong space nerd, women’s advocate, and PR pro, I’m appalled that anyone in the company believed this was a good idea. I really thought my profession had moved beyond the “All publicity is good publicity” of the 1950s. Did someone get Don Draper out of retirement? I suspect even he would have shuddered at the crassness of this stunt.
Nicole Schuman said it so well in her recent column in PRNews: “While empowerment campaigns might be created with genuine intentions and missions in mind … they also need to include substantive actions. Performative approaches can backfire, leading to public cynicism. Organizations should ensure that their messaging aligns with tangible commitments to the causes they champion…”
Here are the lessons that every brand can take from this PR fail:
- Staging performative-only events leads to distrust of your brand.
- Stuffing a bunch of Instagram clickbait-worthy celebs into one place does not make for a substantive event.
- Dressing up a publicity stunt with the words of a trendy social issue – in this case, female empowerment – comes across as insincere.
- Using the power of your brand to advance a big idea is admirable, but only if you put substantive resources into making something happen afterwards.
- Spending millions of dollars on a very public event without testing it on your target audiences is folly.
The bottom line is this: A stunt is just a stunt unless there’s substance behind it. Before a brand commits to something like this, they need to ask themselves if they are willing to see it as a beginning. To see it as a way to attract attention to a big issue. And then to be willing to back it up with resources and action. A good stunt can blow up on social and spark momentum. It can open the door to change. As long as those behind it understand it’s only the first step.
A version of this blog appeared in the Hartford Business Journal
