Chris Brown a young up and coming R&B pop star has landed himself in a public relations crises. On the night of February 8th Chris Brown was alleged to be in an domestic abuse altercation with his girlfriend another young popstar named Rihanna. Both have several chart topping songs on the air and several endorsement deals. After the distress call to 911 from Rihanna, Brown turned himself into the Los Angeles police department later that night and was charged with two felony count of assault and criminal threats.
Now Brown has found himself in some major PR hot water. This couldn't have come at a worse time for Brown who had signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Wrigley’s doublemint gum in August. The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company has decided to suspend their current advertising campaign with Brown. The company told the public that they want to wait until the situation is resolved before they start re-airing the commercials. Brown also took his own nomination and invite to the Nickelodeons Kids Choice Awards.
Chris Brown has also gone on to hire a crisis PR firm from Los Angeles called Sitrick & Company to handle his situation. Sitrick is considered an expert in handling these kinds of Cases. Sitrick has dealt with high profile celebrities such as Halle Barry who had a hit and run incident, Mel Gibson’s drunk driving incident, and Rush Limbaugh’s oxy-contin addiction scandal. The Sitrick PR released a statement on Brown’s behalf. Many video news releases with the same statement have been released on many entertainment and news channels. This shows the strategy Sitirick is using by addressing the issue as soon as they were hired they assessed the situation and released a nice concise statement covering what they could. The only problem is they may have been hired to late because much of the public media were upset that he hadn’t release a statement earlier like the day after the altercation occurred. The PR saga still continues with many segments being done on the story along with one I even saw today on Oprah. However, things could be looking up for Chris Brown because on Oprah they showed pictures of the young couple together at a party after the aftermath of the domestic dispute. Many topics about abuse where covered each putting a different spin on the story. Tyra Banks who was a guest on the Oprah special said Brown’s mother was beaten when Brown was a child, which she thought may stem such an outburst of violence from the young singer. This special may help Brown out in the long run. If you were a crisis PR firm how would you handle this situation?
In my opinion if things do blow over for Chris Brown he could always get an endorsement deal with Hawaiian Punch. Sorry, I just had to do that, I have no remorse for abusers and neither should the public! I also think Tyra Banks had the worst show ever and I’m glad its canceled what a lame excuse to hit a woman.
Chew Doublemint gum. The fragrance of the gum will help you pick up your own young star to beat the living crap out of. Personally, I like the idea of the Hawaiian Punch. I believe that Chris Brown is a moron. If his girlfriend was a no-name bimbo he would have a better chance of this blowing over. But he beat the crap out of Rihanna. Now, I would imagine all Rihanna fans hate him. Past abuse should not be an excuse for anyone to harm anyone else. Good luck with your PR Chris Brown, you'll need it.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I absolutely loved the Hawaiian Punch line!
ReplyDeleteHow incongruous that a person of this social stature / public visibility believes that the law and basic rules of conduct do not apply to him.
I must say that I do not often agree with Oprah but on this occasion I will quote her “if he hit you once he’ll do it again, don’t believe that he is sorry.” There is no excuse for his behavior,
I do not care how mad he was it does not give him a right to harm another person – she was not assaulting him, he was not fighting for his life.
This man needs to deal with his anger issues, until then no woman in his life is safe.
This is a great example of a PR crisis! For Chris Brown this situation is going to probably cost him a lot of money and fans! Like stated above, if his girl friend was a no namer it may be a little easier to rise above all this but she isn’t...she is Rihanna! He is going to have to do a lot of publicity for himself to make people believe that he isn't as bad of a person as he is coming across as. Hiring a PR firm to try to make the situation better could be a good move but I think a lot of the public and fans want to hear what Chris has to say for himself! Not what another firm 'thinks' he should say to get him on fans good graces.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I was a fan of Chris Brown for over a year and I was deeply disappointed when this broke. I do not understand why would you beat the person you love. How is that love?
ReplyDeleteYou should have put in your blog on how radio stations weren't playing his songs anymore because the believed that abuse is a very serious offense.
Sadly this happens alot when people have money. Many, not all basically think they can do what ever they want. I do believe that this is what occured in Chris Browns case. If I was the PR firm handling this case i would definetely try to get a statement out as soon as possible before the medis spins the story out of control. Although this will most likely cost him money and fans I do think that he will be ok. Talking about it on oprah and didsplaying pictures to the public of the two together AFTER the incident was a BRILLIANT PR move by his representing firm.
ReplyDeleteLike you Ben I also have no respect for women beaters. We should give them our addresses so when they come here we could Chuck Norris high kick them in the face!!
Way to screw up the rest of his life with this incident. He had such a promising future as a singer and making millions from endorsements. He is only like 19 years old, but this is going to be a shadow over him for the rest of his life. There is no room for beaters in this world and even if they say sorry, most of them can do it again. There are a lot of women that are beat and never say anything, way to go Rihanna for speaking up.
ReplyDeleteThere is never an excuse for abuse. Though this happens everyday, we got to see this story unfold in depth throught the media. I think that the public handled this well be canceling his music on air and taking away his indorsments and nominations. The PR firm handled it ok as well but definetly not quick enough. Why the wait? I hope Chris is punished for a long time for his behavior. He should not get of free for having money and being famous.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of a PR crisis. However, I am sure there is no amount of Public Relations that could make it sounds any better. This instance is pretty cut and dry, he hit a woman. Eventually something else will come up that is more interesting to the public, and this situation will not be as talked about. However, Chris Brown is branded, whenever he comes out with a song or PR stunt, this will be in the back of the public’s mind. One could almost compare this to the whole Michael Jackson incidents, just very different circumstances.
ReplyDeleteNot gonna lie, hitting a woman is absolutely no excuse for any possible reason. I mean sometimes they get on your nerves, but you deal with it and don't resort to abusive violence. Tyra Banks may be a popular person, but she is also into herself way too much. It is almost as if she likes to hear herself talk. Chris brown should pull out of this ok, but still, he will have to live with the fact that he hit a girl that he apparently likes a lot and that may affect him. Also, what will happen if he does that again? Think about that!!!
ReplyDeleteWhats even worse than Chris Brown beating Rhianna, is Rhianna putting it all behind her and getting back together with Chris! This happens all the time and is the most ridiculous thing in the world. the way I see it, hitting a woman is only justified if it is in self defense. Most people will say that self defense isn't justified, but there are some big women out there that can hit harder than some guys. I think Chris shouldd get in a lot of trouble after hearing the police report but he will probably buy his way out or Rhianna will go to court and dtell the judge he didn't hit her and she deserved it.
ReplyDeleteHere is another example of people that use their fame and power to try to get away with their bad choices. Not only does this make him look bad in the publics view, it also makes you wonder what else he has done that has been hidden from his fans. Maybe things will be investigated more and he will have to worry about his other past misdeeds coming out for all of his fans to see.
ReplyDelete