Two people break down how celebrities like Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively use controversy and bold marketing to grab attention. They dig into the ethics and strategy behind these moves, asking what counts as a calculated risk versus a real mistake.
I'm going to provide a quick hit right now on where we are as.
A culture based on media outreach to.
Have me be a media commentator.
In the past week, network morning television, network news.
I could, I couldn't do either. I was on npr, All Things Considered, BBC.
I just did a live hit with CNN right now, all for the same type of topic. Outrage marketing. I don't even work in marketing.
I work in crisis management. But I'm an easy spokesperson to go to because outrage leads to crisis. Right. But both of the topics. Astronomer.
And I know you don't want to.
Hear about it again, but I have one more quick take on it. And Sydney Sweeney, the American Eagle ad. Quickly, you know, on my podcast this week, and I wrote an article for Substack about this. Why the Gwyneth ad? I know everybody loved it and thought it was so clever.
That was, that was by design. Ryan Reynolds wanted you to think that.
That ad was funny.
Still didn't land for me. That company's CEO had a massive ethical breach and many would say moral by, by having a relationship with their, with their cpo. Now imagine me as a crisis manager.
When I tell my clients we're in.
The middle of a crisis. I know, let's call Ryan Reynolds. I know.
Let's make a joke about it.
No. Imagine being a junior staffer for Astronomer and knowing that, that like you can't pay your rent and you look at your salary. But Ryan Reynolds gets more money and.
Gwyneth Paltrow get more. Gets more money. Meanwhile, Blake Lively sitting for a deposition today. Gwyneth Paltrow has a biography out written about her.
Now, it' necessarily a hit book, but.
It'S still creating a lot of dialogue.
A lot of stories that Gwyneth probably.
Doesn'T want you to talk about.
An astronomer doesn't want you to talk about the fact that their CEO had a massive ethical lapse. It was a distraction from all of those parties. And the American Eagle ad was intentional.
My sound bite.
The American Eagle ad, it was there. It was intentional to spark debate, drive engagement, ride the wave. And then when the dust settles, American Eagles. American Eagle gets the clicks, the coverage and the cash. My job is not to tell people how to think. I. I want to tell people what to look for. I want to point out who the puppeteer is and where the strings are. That's.
That's what I want to point out.
Whether or not you like it, that's on you.
That's fine. That's great. If you, if you like an ad.
If you think a Ryan Reynolds produced.
Ad is fantastic, that's great.
But how many of you love the Gwyneth ad? But also you can't stand Ryan Reynolds? Or you see through what Ryan Reynolds.
And Blake Lively were doing with their whole campaign?
Clicks, coverage, cash and deflection. But that's a D. I've lost the alliteration. I need another word for C. But that's all.
