Unflattering Beyoncé photos does not a happy publicist make
Beyoncé graced us all with her presence for the Superbowl XLVII halftime show in New Orleans this past weekend. From what I can tell, the general consensus is that she killed it, and most likely caused the almost 34 minute blackout that followed her performance. The online response was amazing. Twitter was inundated with #BeyoncéBowl tweets and gifs of the performance were already being posted online that night.
Even if you’re not a Beyoncé fan, it’s hard not to respect that performance. Everything (mostly) went well, with only one Illuminati conspiracy, but overall I’d say it’s a homerun.
Over at Buzzfeed, they had compiled a list of “The 33 Fiercest Moments from Beyoncé’s Halftime Show.” After she posted the photos, Buzzfeed staffer Lauren Yapalater received an email from Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure with a request to remove the “unflattering photos” of Beyoncé that appeared in the article.
The email in question
It’s important to treat Beyoncé as a brand in this situation, and I understand the need to protect the brand’s image. However, I think it’s extremely naive to assume that a) this email would not be posted online and b) the photos would be taken down. Noel-Schure essentially fueled the fire and gave Buzzfeed more of a reason to continue featuring the photos. Buzzfeed posted an article called, “The Unflattering Photos Beyoncé’s Publicist Doesn’t Want You To See” featuring the email Noel-Schure sent as well as the “unflattering” photos she asked to be removed. Her email created news out of something that wasn’t entirely newsworthy. The public response has been mostly that it was seriously bad PR for Noel-Schure to send the email.
Here are a few of those photos:
Photographer Ezra Shaw released these photos of Beyoncé’s performance through Getty images. A lot of the conversation online is focused around her strength as a female artist, and how these pictures support this idea. It’s refreshing to see “real” pictures of celebrities, not ones that are manufactured for the press. All these photos accomplish is prove to everyone that Beyoncé is a human being, who from time to time makes faces… during a grueling Superbowl halftime show.
What can we learn from this?
I think the major PR lesson out of all of this is to never dismiss the importance of social media when dealing with a brand. Things can spread very quickly online, and it’s important to realize this. While you always want to stay on top of something that is hindering the brand’s image, it’s also important to recognize whether or not it’s worth the extra attention. The “unflattering” Beyoncé photos is a perfect case study of when not to draw further attention to something online. Before Noel-Schure sent the email, Buzzfeed was the only major site to feature the photos, and afterwards the article, and the unflattering photos were everywhere.
While this story won’t break Beyoncé’s momentum, 2013 is being dubbed the “year of Beyoncé,” it’s a prime example to never underestimate social sites like Buzzfeed, who discriminate against no one, including Queen Bey.