“Reality” or Not, Eye-Rolling And Slouching Do Not Make For Good PR

I typically do not watch “reality” soap operas like MTV’s The City. If you miss a couple episodes, you end up out-of-the-loop, and I just don’t have time to “keep up” with the drama to stay entertained. I’ve got better things to do, such as job hunt and write blog posts   However,  I did stuble upon an episode of The City titled “It’s All Who You Know.” I decided to give the show about five minutes and was about to change the channel when I found something interesting– and PR-related– to harp on.

Mind you, the several minutes of the show I saw were the last, therefore, I had very little knowledge of what the heck was going on in the show. However, what kept me intrigued was how unprofessionally Elle‘s Director of Public Relations Erin Kaplan behaved in the last scene.

In the scene, Ms. Kaplan is sitting (but more like slouching most of the time) in an office with Joe Zee (Elle’s creative director) to meet with a new hire (Olivia, who Erin clearly does not like) to go over some sort of assignment. See this article from MTV, which explains the scene in more depth and includes photos.

Okay, so I don’t know (or care about) what the beef is between these two — and nor should it matter in a professional setting — there is still no excuse for rolling your eyes at a colleague and slouching on-camera for the whole world to see, especially if you’re the DIRECTOR of public relations for ELLE MAGAZINE!

I soon learned that Ms. Kaplan is a cast member of The City. As Elle’s director of public relations, her participation in this show is putting herself out there as the image– the face– of Elle Magazine. Although I admire her obvious accomplishments that have earned her such an amazing, senior-level position at such a young age (she’s only 26 and Elle’s youngest ever director of PR), I feel that she needs to present herself more professionally on camera.

Good PR helps strengthen relationships between an organization (or a company, Elle, in this matter) and its public (Elle readers and, for this case, The City viewers). Ms. Kaplan may or may not have a specific “character” to portray on the show, but she should keep in mind that as her job title clearly explains, she “directs” the magazine’s public relations. Now, every time I pick up a copy of Elle, an image of Erin rolling her eyes will probably come to mind. I don’t care how “real” or “scripted” this show is, that’s just not good PR.

If the show wasn’t all about drama, no one would watch it. Not even five minutes. Not even me.

We all know image is a big deal in PR. I may even watch a full episode next time– and learn a thing or two.