Will Spin Crowd turn off PR talent?
The greatest compliment I could possibly give the Spin Crowd is that it will at least catapult PR into the mainstream just as Madmen has done for advertising.
Unfortunately, there is more chance of me securing back-to-back lottery jackpots than there is of The Spin Crowd replicating Madmen’s Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning accomplishments.
Madmen has been critically acclaimed for its historical accuracy, in particular its approach to gender and racial bias in the workplace. It has been a positive force for advertising, giving the industry a cool, untouchable, gritty style that has no doubt rubbed off on many a potential applicant here in the UK.
The Spin Crowd will not achieve any of that. It is in fact dangerously far-fetched, featuring self-obsessed megalomaniacs, fluff and a constant concern for personality over substance. In the first episode, the show’s main protagonist encourages a younger team member to get lip injections. Look on YouTube and you’ll find that same PR man getting his back fat melted away (whatever that means). And all this set in a framework of ‘reality’ TV, trumpeting their experiences as the ultimate in modern PR. It’s asinine rubbish. Trailer trash TV.
The biggest risk of all is that the Spin Crowd will denigrate the perception of PR in this country. Ours is an industry that has completely revolutionised in recent past as media channels have fragmented and evolved, and as the role of social media and the power of the consumer continues to escalate. PR is a hugely valuable communications tool in the modern media environment: it is effective, good value and can have meaningful, lasting effects on consumer behaviour. It takes talent, intelligence and dedication to deliver well.
Most importantly, PR attracts intelligent, creative, diverse talent from a massive swathe of society. Our people work at Grayling because they want to meet a challenge and deliver change for their clients – and do so with an unwavering commitment to creativity, fun and mutual respect. After half an hour in front of The Spin Crowd, I wonder how many of tomorrow’s generation of real PR practitioners might take another look at advertising before taking the plunge.