Ever said anything you later regretted? Ever done something a bit silly, in the heat of the moment, when you were 22?
Everyone has, of course. But when I was 22, no-one was actually listening to me. In part that is because the technology to easily and cheaply broadcast my stupidity around the world did not exist. In part it is because I am neither an athlete nor an entertainer – to name two professions where people often obtain fame and notoriety at a very early age. In PR terms, no celebrity is ever off-duty these days.
Stephanie Rice – an Olympic swimming champion – has learnt this lesson, and at a considerable cost. Before she used a homophobic term in her Tweet about an Australian rugby victory over South Africa she had a sponsorship agreement with Jaguar, and the use of one of the luxury cars that comes with such an arrangement. Though she rapidly apologised and deleted the Tweet, what would once have been just a yell – and perhaps (though I wouldn’t know) a drunken yell – at a TV screen, became something that was broadcast to the world.
At that moment, the narrative shifted. She brandjacked herself. She was no longer the clean-living Olympian with which any aspirational brand would wish to be associated but a loud-mouthed homophobe. Not the sophisticated image one associates with Jaguar.
I wish to cast no aspersions on Jaguar, or its ethics. This was, plainly, a terrible thing for Rice to say, and Jaguar would, under the best of circumstances have been wise to cut their ties with her. But she should, perhaps, have been particularly careful under current circumstances. She is presently injured, and has already pulled out of the Commonwealth Games in Dehli. She is, quite simply, a less valuable commodity than she was when she signed the deal with Jaguar. Again, I should stress that, if I had been advising Jaguar, I would have strongly suggested terminating the deal anyway. But she should have realised that now is not the time to be taking risks.
Is there a way back for Rice? Of course there is. But the road may be long. When her compatriot, Jason Donovan, alienated colleagues in the music business by claiming that calling him ‘queer’ was defamatory he found himself persona non grata. It was – in the pre-social media world – a form of brandjacking, and became the only thing people ever said about him. On the satirical British show,Have I Got News for You? (Americans should think of the NPR show, Wait, wait, don’t tell me) Paul Merton and Ian Hislop consistently referred to Donovan as “the totally heterosexual Jason Donovan”.
Donovan rebuilt his career from the bottom up, by returning to the stage. After years of re-earning his profile he finally returned to acting and singing on TV. But it was a long road. I think some years of quietly performing voluntary work for charity are in store for Ms Rice.
Brandjack News 