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41
OPPOSING IMAGES OF THE FEMALE ENTERTAINMENT PUBLICIST ON
REALITY TV: THE PR BUNNIES AND PARTY GIRLS VS. THE MASCULINE
BITCH
The PR Bunnies and Party Girls
PoweR Girls and The Spin Crowd provide a more traditional stereotype of the
female PR practitioner, which is the “PR bunny” and “PR girl” (Frohich & Peters, 2007,
p. 229; Morris & Goldsworthy, 2008, pp. 6 – 7). Frohlich and Peters believe that the PR
bunny is a devaluation of women’s roles within public relations (p. 242). The following
portrayals in PoweR Girls and The Spin Crowd affirm this devaluation since they
showcase the female publicist as someone who puts their looks as the top priority and
who is intellectually shallow.
In the case of The Spin Crowd, the two executives are male, and the rest of the
staff is female. While this does reflect the overall gender makeup of public relations, it
seems as though the staff are there to look good instead of actually work. In episode one
of The Spin Crowd, ironically titled “Image is Everything,” Lauren, a former model,
claims that she often has to prove that she has a brain in her head because she is blonde;
however, there are many instances where looks do trump smarts in the series. Cheban
proceeds to tell one of his newer employees Erika that she looks “homely” and has
Lauren, who has worked at Command PR West for some time, stand up to show her what
the “proper” work outfit is in the office (Appendix, Figure 4). Lauren’s outfit is “a thin
chiffon camisole with her breasts falling out” (Stasi, 2010). In the same episode, Erika
tells her coworkers:
Object Description
| Title | Power party girls, good looking crowds and one hellish boss: The portrayal of the female entertainment publicist on reality television |
| Author | Hashem, Camille Renée |
| Author email | chashem@usc.edu; chashem87@gmail.com |
| Degree | Master of Arts |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Public Relations |
| School | Annenberg School for Communication |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-04-01 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-05-03 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Thorson, Kjerstin |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Floto, Jennifer Saltzman, Joseph |
| Abstract | This thesis is an examination of the portrayal of the female entertainment publicist shown in reality television. With the large success rate of Samantha Jones from Sex and the City in the 1990s, female interest in public relations has increased, and good or bad, Jones has served as one of the predominate images of the publicist in the entertainment industry. Those who have performed critical analysis of the image of the public relations practitioner have deemed these representations as showing negative characteristics of those in the profession. While there has been previous research on the image of public relations in media, analysis of the female entertainment publicist in reality television has been left untapped.; The project consisted of a content analysis as well as interviews with various women in entertainment public relations. Three reality television shows featuring female entertainment publicists were watched: MTV's PoweR Girls (2005), Bravo's Kell on Earth (2010) and E! Network's The Spin Crowd. After conducting this analysis, the author found that the female publicist is put in one of two gender categories, the masculine bitch or the overtly sexy "PR Bunny." Other findings inferred that the dominant images within each series suggested that public relations is overall an easy field to enter, with little or no experience or professionalism needed. Finally, although the three series had some subtle differences, public relations is still shown as a glamorous job.; Interviewee responses showed that the negative representations of entertainment publicists on reality television are not indicative of the real life job itself, but that media's representation of it has led others to believe false or skewed images of the profession. Since these three shows' target demographics include young women about make a career decision, the impact they may have on this demographic, and how it may affect the future of public relations and the expectations of those about the enter the industry, is also discussed. |
| Keyword | communication; entertainment; media; public relations; reality television |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1990/2010 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3875 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Hashem, Camille Renée |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Hashem-4503 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Hashem-4503.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 41 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 41 OPPOSING IMAGES OF THE FEMALE ENTERTAINMENT PUBLICIST ON REALITY TV: THE PR BUNNIES AND PARTY GIRLS VS. THE MASCULINE BITCH The PR Bunnies and Party Girls PoweR Girls and The Spin Crowd provide a more traditional stereotype of the female PR practitioner, which is the “PR bunny” and “PR girl” (Frohich & Peters, 2007, p. 229; Morris & Goldsworthy, 2008, pp. 6 – 7). Frohlich and Peters believe that the PR bunny is a devaluation of women’s roles within public relations (p. 242). The following portrayals in PoweR Girls and The Spin Crowd affirm this devaluation since they showcase the female publicist as someone who puts their looks as the top priority and who is intellectually shallow. In the case of The Spin Crowd, the two executives are male, and the rest of the staff is female. While this does reflect the overall gender makeup of public relations, it seems as though the staff are there to look good instead of actually work. In episode one of The Spin Crowd, ironically titled “Image is Everything,” Lauren, a former model, claims that she often has to prove that she has a brain in her head because she is blonde; however, there are many instances where looks do trump smarts in the series. Cheban proceeds to tell one of his newer employees Erika that she looks “homely” and has Lauren, who has worked at Command PR West for some time, stand up to show her what the “proper” work outfit is in the office (Appendix, Figure 4). Lauren’s outfit is “a thin chiffon camisole with her breasts falling out” (Stasi, 2010). In the same episode, Erika tells her coworkers: |
