Celebrity Entrepreneurs

Often times it is hard to satisfy our desire to make money. Many times celebrities take advantage of their status as an endorser to help a company do well in sales. However, It is not too hard to find people in the entertainment the business who uses their fame to start a business for themselves as a entrepreneur. Some of the more famous celebrity entrepreneurs are Oprah Winfrey, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Bono, Magic Johnson, Clint Eastwood, etc. The list goes on and on, and recently there has been few publications that measured and evaluated their performances as CEOs.

Some of these celebrities are very serious as CEOs when it comes to running their business. However, I think the businesses they have are more than just a money guzzling companies. Theses companies will help the celebrities in promoting themselves. There may be a limit to how the public can see an entertainer through their work as an artist or an actor, but showing their other side can be another way to appeal themselves to the public. For example, Magic Johnson is really trying to help the communities that are going through financial crisis by creating jobs and developing the communities through his Magic Johnson Foundation. Bono’s company, DATA: Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa, has companionship with nonprofits organization that is also designed to help the countries in poverty. Having a non-profit organization under there name can go a lot further than just endorsing one. However, a celebrity running a company under his or her name requires certain amount of commitment. This might sound obvious, especially when they are running there business with money out of their pocket, but is not always the case. When Paris Hilton was on the Late Night Show to promote her new female clothing line earlier this year, she was wearing a dress that was designed by a another designer. This shows that she is not committed to her work, but just wants to make money off of the girls who wants to be like her.

The faces of the celebrities will always be associated with their company and its products. If the company performs well, it will directly reflect the celebrity’s image, and vice versa. Many celebrities run their own businesses these days because they are driven by their ambition to get rich. However, these business are not just a method of making money, but also their number one self-promotional tool.

Who Said Traveling is Easy?

Naomi Campbell was arrested this Thursday for causing disturbance at the Heathrow Airport in London. According to People magazine, she made a scene on board a plane because one of her baggage was missing. After a dispute over her baggage, police officers were called in to arrest Campbell.

There are two sides to this story: Campbell’s and British Airway’s, the airline Campbell was flying in. Campbell’s side of the story is that “she arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 in plenty of time, checked two bags in and was told they would make the flight.” However, she was later told by the airline that “one bag could not be found and was missing.” Then, the airline called the police to “forcibly eject her.” The airline’s description of the situation was not the same. Campbell was boarding on the plane with “two large, hand-held bags,” and was asked to have one of the bags checked in. This is when Campbell “threw a few things around the cabin and then spat at the cops.”

I think this is a very interesting situation, where both parties are known to have bad public perception. British Airway’s Terminal 5, is known for losing many of the passenger’s baggage. Since it opened last week, more than 20,000 suitcases went missing. And, of course, Campbell is notoriously known for having bad temper. She has a history of assaulting her assistant while making the film, “Prisoner of Love” and twice throwing a cell phone at her maid’s head. In this case, no one is in their best public perception. However, it is Campbell who got arrested, and it is her who will be remembered from this incident. From now on, she should definitely look out for any more trouble to come. Throwing stuff and spitting on other people is going  too far, even for a model. She can’t turn back the time, but she should at least wise enough to not let too much out of your mouth. In few years, it might not be just her baggage missing, but all her fans and eventually her beauty.

The Break Ups

In the world of entertainment, it is not just the celebrities’ performances and their talents that entertain us, but also their private lives. As fans, as gossipers, we want to know everything about them: where they live, how much money they make, and what they do as hobbies. Among many of these, the one thing that is in the purest form of gossip is their love status.

There are so many fun things to know about people’s relationships, but what is more interesting than people hooking up? People breaking up!! Recently many celebrity couples have been getting divorced. Paul McCartney and Heather Mills went to the court earlier this year to make a divorce drama of their own. Last week, Kimora Lee Simmons filed for divorce to end her relationship with entertainment mogul Russell Simmons. Earlier this week, Robin Williams and his wife, Marcha Garces Williams, have decided to end their 19-year marriage.

Relationships are complicated things and whether we like or not, many of have hard times dealing with them. However, for celebrities, it may be in their best interest to limit the exposure of their personal relationships. I say this because of the contrasting cases of celebrities’ divorces. The Williams couple and the Simmons couple dealt with divorces very well as stars. They seemed to be in relatively good terms with their ex-partners as they break up. Heather Mill and Paul McCartney, however, battling each other for financial settlement, didn’t seem so pretty in the media. Earlier this week, as the two were trying to settle the dispute in court, so many things went wrong. According to Access Hollywood, Heather Mills’ demanding was so outrageous for it to be just a “reasonable need.” When things didn’t go the way she wanted to, she decided to dump a glass of water on Paul McCartney’s divorce lawyer. Ending a marriage is difficult, especially when there is money tied into it, but where is the cool?

It may be hard for Mills to end her relationship, but it may be harder for her to persuade the public that she is not an “explosive and volatile character.” When celebrities divorce, it is hard for them to keep a good public perception because there are always two sides. After all, that is why we like to talk about it so much. Of course, there are all kinds of reasons behind the divorces, but sometimes, “irreconcilable differences” may be just about enough for the public.

Crisis Management: Sean “Diddy” Combs

Nov. 30, 1994 was a date the hip hop scene lost a legendary rapper, Tupac Shakur. He was ambushed and shot at the Quad Recording Studios in New York, but it is still unknown who was behind the cruel murder. This is one of the biggest incidents that happened in the history of hip hop, and people are still talking about it, even after 14 years have passed since the mogul’s death. On March 18, 2008,, Chuck Philips, who has been trying to put the pieces together for the Los Angeles Times have suggested that Sean “Diddy” Combs may have taken a part in the shooting 14 years ago.

Most of the mainstream media covers the incident in an impartial manner. However, as of now, the spotlight is definitely on Diddy. The mainstream media is emphasizing the fact that Diddy is continuingly denying the accusation made by Chuck Philips. Diddy mentioned in an interview that the accusation is “beyond ridiculous and is completely false” and that Los Angeles Times is “so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.” The mainstream media also covers much of what Phillips had to say in his report, but the report being very lengthy and hard to understand, mainstream media is not giving extra effort to analyze a report that is mainly based on interviews that may be biased. Drawing from the 6 mainstream media converges, it seems like the media is just taking report as something like a rumor. Of course, the topic being very sensitive and knowing that there are going to be lot of young readers, the media is dealing with the issue very seriously. However, there have been more incidences similar to this one in the past, and the media is not new to this kind of accusations.

Blogs seem to be accusing the reporter for wanting get some attention with this highly controversial issue. This does not mean that bloggers are in favor of Diddy, but rather indifferent about Diddy’s involvement in the shooting. This may be because they believe the case will not be solved, and they do not want to accuse some with low level of understanding of Philips report. I say this because Philips’ report is very diffcult to understand, especially if the reader is not very familiar with the history hip hop scene. If the reader do have a great understanding of the hip hop scene, then they are likely to have a belief of their own and are unlikey to be swaggered from a viewpoint of another person.

Obviously, mainstream media is not taking sides in this topic of discussion. Not only this is a very sensitive issue, but also it may end up as just as a rumor. Phillips has done his homework, but most mainstream media believes that no one will ever find what really happened 14 years ago. However, bloggers seem to be taking side without much contemplation. Most bloggers thinks Diddy is innocent, and that Phillips just wanted to get some attention, know that he will get a high level of audience with such topic. As I mentioned before, this is not the first time accusation is being made regarding Tupac’s death. Consequently, it seems like vast majority of audience already have list of names of the murderer. Having someone already in mind, many bloggers are just elaborating on their thoughts they had previously, leaving Diddy aside of issue.

I firmly believe that the publicists are doing a good job handling the issue. They have denied the accusation, and they are not over reacting. When accused of something that can hurt one’s reputation, I think the best way handle the situation is not to just ignore it, but to address the alleged accusation and firmly stand at a point and continue to build and restore the reputation. So far, this is exactly what Diddy and his publicists are doing.

 

References.

http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/03/21/diddy-didnt-do-it-or-did-he/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-to.tupac18mar18,0,3045865.story

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1583505/20080317/puff_daddy.jhtml

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsx6uqsXEvCqt01AdlJX1C2m5muwD8VFFHTG0

http://uk.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUKN1761776520080317

http://www.gazette.com/entertainment/shakur_34381___article.html/times_rosemond.html

New Playboy in Town

Edison Chen is a Hong Kong based pop icon who has been recently caught up in a sex photo scandal. He had been the center of many sex scandals before, but they were never like this. He had thousands of photos of himself with other naked Chinese celebrities stored in his personal computer. Last year, Chen took his computer to a local computer store for a repair, which is when the technician guy decided to encrypt Chen’s personal files and save them to his own computer. Thousands of these photos were circulating on the Internet, and millions of Internet users did not hesitate to download them. Last week, he said he will be stepping out of the Hong Kong show business after admitting that the explicit photos were taken by him. Many of the companies in Hong Kong who were using Chen as an endorser have decided to remove him from their commercials. His scheduled appearance at the Beijing Olympics has been canceled.

So is it over for Chen? Since the leak of the photos, he has risen to international prominence. He has been getting calls from agencies in Hollywood and he is already signing contracts. We all know that controversy sells in Hollywood, and sex is a good one. The scandal may have ended his career in his native country, but has definitely raised his profile in Hollywood. As a suspicious being, I wonder if this was all master-minded by Chen, so he can start his career in Hollywood. One way or the other, it seems like it worked out for him after all. This may be the end of the female stars’ career, but just a start for Chen.

*Chen’s history with the ladies.

Don’t Forget to Tip!

Once in a while I go out to eat and leave a small tip, either because of the unsatisfying service or due to my empty wallet. Waiters and waitresses usually don’t get too upset by this act of mine, but when celebrities do this, it could turn into whole different story.

One of the ways celebrities make a bad name for themselves is by leaving little or no tip when they go out to eat. Especially if they are known to make millions of dollars for starring in a single movie, chances are high that they will be known as a cheapskate after their visit.

If you are a celebrity, people will be looking at you wherever you go. Some might look at you just because you are famous, while some might look at you as they hope to see you embarrass yourself while everyone is watching.

One thing about being a celebrity is that no matter where you go, you should always be in character (of which they are trying to be known for). All the focus, or at least a lot of it will be on you, and people are not going to forgive you for being rude in real life just because you played a certain role in a movie. It doesn’t work that way. Any real life experience people have with a celebrity can be more personal and powerful than the ones they have with the screens. So if it is in your interest as a celebrity to be appealing to the public, always smile, and don’t forget to tip after your meals.

*Click here to get list of “cheap celebrities”.

Clemens Vs. McNamee

Every sports channels or Web sites I go, all I see is the news on Roger Clemens with his steroid issue. Clemens was recently accused of using steroid during the height of his career. McNamee, who was once his trainer, stated that he injected Clemens with steroid and human growth hormones during the years of 1999 through 2002.

As of now, nothing is fore sure. Everything is debatable, and that is why PR can play a huge role in this case. I think it was smart of Clemens to be thanking the investigators for being nice to him during the whole investigation process. He told the press that the testimony was written by him, not his attorney. So far so good, but whether he wanted it or not, the hearing at the Congress went on air, live. This could have been a huge opportunity for him to persuade the public that he is innocent, or he could have sought out for sympathy at the least. In my personal opinion, any athlete who is accused of using steroid should not hesitate to confess that he or she is guilty of using such substance, if that is actually the case. If they did not use them but was accused of it, they should carefully defend themselves and try to please the public in any way possible. The way Clemens handled the issue was clearly not the best way to do this. If he is actually innocent as he says, he should not be stuttering most of his words like he did during the hearing at the Congress. Neither should he be vague when answering questions. Plus, an angry attorney sitting behind him with his face on is definitely not a good PR move on Clemens. Not only that, the attorney was constantly whispering on Clemens’ ears, as if Clemens was not smart enough to come up with his own plausible lies.

On the other hand, I think McNamee handled the media very well. He does not seek out publicity and tries to avoid the spotlight, however he handled himself very well inside the courtroom. McNamee acknowledged to the Congress and to the press that what he did was wrong, and he wishes to be a part of the solution to the whole steroid issues in the baseball league. Also, he wanted clarify the fact that he did not want to damage the player’s name, and that nothing is personal.

Everything comes down to Clemens against McNamee. In most cases, it is easier to prove guilty than proving innocence. In this case, McNamee has physical evidence to back up his argument, while Clemens have nothing (other than the recording of the phone call between him and McNamee which may have been edited). It was bad enough for Clemens to be accused of such thing. If he is found guilty of charge, we will not be seeing much of him. Even if he was found innocent, too bad, he already soiled his name.

George Clooney Plays a New Role

George Clooney is once again playing a role as the “peacemaker”, not in the screens, but in real life. United Nations News Center (www.un.org) has announced that the Academy and Golden Globe winning actor has been appointed as the Messenger of Peace for United Nations as of Jan 31, 2008.  The award winning actor has been a fervid practitioner in the entertainment industry as an actor, director and producer, but now he is working off the screen to help resolute conflicts around the world.

Clooney has been known for his advocacy in trying to resolute the conflict in Darfur, and was presented with the Summit Peace Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in 2007. During his acceptance speech, the actor called himself a “failure” for not making improvements in Darfur despite his efforts.

The modest man may not be the one solving all the problems people are facing around the world, but the actor believes that he can at least attract people’s attention by attracting the media to “bring a camera” to follow him and “shine a light on….. the things that are truly important to us.”