Kim Kardashian’s PR Reality Show
They day quite a few PR professionals have dreaded is finally getting closer – the Kim Kardashian produced E! PR reality show featuring her male BFFs (best friend forever for those not in the know) Simon Huck and Jonathan Cheban will premier on August 22nd, according to a freshly released E! announcement. Called “The Spin Crowd”, the show will include eight half-hour episodes in this initial season focusing on the life of Huc and Cheban and their work at the Command PR agency targeting the world of celebrity buzz.
This show was first annunonces last year in August and at that time I published an article on it, joining what other PR people had to say about it, presenting a rather dark perspective on how such a show would impact people’s view on what PR is all about. At the time I did research on the two so called “PR gurus” and Command PR. While the views on Cheban were not that flattering, their site looked awful at the time. Poorly chosen background music on a one page site with no relevant information about the team, the services they offered or their clients.
Since then, the site has evolved to a different design, full flash as far as I can tell, featuring a Madonna song with lyrics one would think especially written for the Spin Crowd show and their take on PR: “Everybody comes to Hollywood / They wanna make it in the neighborhood / They like the smell of it in Hollywood / How could it hurt you when it looks so good”. Some details about the company, its services and Jonathan Cheban have been added. No list of clients and no mention of Huck at this time.
I have to confess that after reading a bit about the premiere episode, I realize it’s worse then I thought. Command PR hires girl to work for them. They are unhappy about her looks, so Cheban has her go through a complicated process to find her new, much more appealing look and even goes as far as recommending lip injections. Add a general show description for the full series which proves a big part of the show will focus on the Cheban – Huck personal interactions as they become room mates. One loves clean houses, the other one lets pizza boxes and dirty dishes pile up. Isn’t this grand?
While hanging out with Kim Kardashian and all the lovely stars that are on the wave right now, recommending style changes to employees and bickering about house chores, the two also have the time to do actual PR stuff for their clients. I am extremely curious to see who the clients are, what results they have and how exactly they do it, other than exploiting their rich and famous “friends” to push products and services.
On the other hand, Kim Kardashian is a master at being popular for being popular and her being on the producing team and also being part of her family’s reality shows will definitely bring the Spin Crowd team the attention and publicity they seek. How it will impact PR as a profession and its image, that’s another problem, ours, not theirs!
What do you think? Does the series have any chance of showcasing real PR work? Do they care? Does it matter for them, as the show will make them even more famous anyway and any wannabe entertainer will pay their live savings to them to make them big?
