Guest post
When you
think of reality TV stars, you probably think of the typical figures such as Kim
Kardashian, Vicky Pattison and many others who don’t mind showing off their
daily lives to millions of viewers, both in the UK and across the world.
Many reality
TV stars are now worth millions, basically for just showing us their world and
having an opinion, why can’t we all earn that sort of money for just doing
that? I wonder what their secret to this fame and success could be?
You’ve
guessed it, PR is the answer!
Most stars will have a strong team of PR people
behind them, to come up with ideas to gain public interest, organise
promotional events and shine them in the very best light possible. If it wasn’t
for the strong PR team many of these individuals really wouldn’t be that
successful, it’s just not that possible. Celebrities are completely different,
they may be a famous singer or actor who already has a glittering career, but
think about reality stars, what have they actually done? Sometimes it seems
like they appeared out of nowhere and you can’t actually remember how or why!
Take Kim Kardashian as a big example
of this. Her entire family have an executive PR team behind them. They take
care of their new product launches, public appearances, even handling personal
issues, one example being where Kim Kardashian was robbed whilst on a trip for
Paris fashion week.
Reality TV
stars becoming more popular and well known benefits many people, particularly
brands. Fashion, beauty, food, and fitness brands are the main ones that
benefit from a cash boost, just by including one of the stars as a brand
ambassador, public appearance at one of their events or just taking a photo
with a product and then uploading to their millions of followers. It’s really
that simple.
Not so long ago it was hard to become a celebrity, now it seems
accessible to pretty much everyone, you don’t need a talent, you don’t have to
really do much to achieve it… let the PR people handle that! Reality TV has
only added to the obsession many of the public have with celebrities, many will
do whatever it takes to look like their favourite star, even by going as far as
having cosmetic surgery in order to achieve their flawless features.
Reality TV
stars have now become trendsetters, they can inspire and influence thousands
and even millions of people. For brands this is huge. In recent years, many
brands have launched collaborations with celebrities, an example being the many
perfumes released by the ITV hit show The Only Way Is Essex, the public can’t
enough of it. PR can be thanked again, they most likely pushed the idea of a
perfume being created and released, something that seems quite popular these
days amongst reality stars.
PR agencies
have capitalised on all the brand activity with reality TV stars, realising
that the stars have huge influence amongst their many teenage and even adult
fans, their accessible in a huge way through their various social media
platforms and usually inexpensive to hire for brand campaigns. Ann Summers,
Lipsy London and The Perfume Shop are just some examples of brands who have
worked with members of TOWIE over the years, there will definitely be many more
to come. In the early days TOWIE as a show, its stars were mocked for their
bright orange fake tans and accents, fast forward to 2017 and the show is more
popular than ever.
The budget has got bigger and therefore the amount of money
the stars get paid has also increased, many stars such as Amy Childs, Gemma
Collins and Sam Faiers all have a net worth in the millions… not bad for
appearing on a reality TV show! This just shows me that reality TV stars and PR
agencies go hand in hand together, the stars most likely wouldn’t do as well
without having the guidance and experience from the agencies.
Overall
reality TV stars will always have a place within our fast paced media industry,
possible even more so in the future with new shows emerging and then creating
new versions of the reality stars we have encountered in recent years, PR will
always have a role to play!
Post by Jack Walton, first year Media and Communication student at BCU. Follow Jack on Twitter and his media blog, Jack Walton Media.
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