Is Any Publicity Always Good Publicity? Cancel Culture and Celebrities

Nike, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Frankie Paul have all made big headlines, but has it

always been beneficial? In this age, cancel culture is stronger than ever, and virality can

change your life overnight for better or for worse. Some scandals can be PR nightmares,

while others can boost the sales of your company more than you could have on your own.

I have heard the phrase “All Publicity is Good Publicity” since I knew what publicity was and

my first thought has always been that it can't be true. This saying was known to be made

popular by P.T. Barnum. He famously believed that it doesn’t matter what they're saying

about you, as long as they're saying something, because it means they're interested. With

the addition of technology and the internet, this phrase is put to the ultimate test.

The first strong argument for the statement being true is in the case of Sabrina Carpenter.

While she has been known as an actor for years, her singing career didn’t kick off until the

roll out of negative press in 2021. In 2021, she was involved in widespread drama regarding

her relationship with singer and actor Joshua Bassett. Singer and actor Olivia Rodrigo, who

had been rumored to have dated Bassett, wrote a song seemingly about Sabrina. Fans of

Rodrigo quickly came to “hate” on Sabrina and say terrible things, but at the end of the day

it got people talking about her. She dropped two singles regarding the situation, one of

which was received extremely poorly, and the other one received well. Shortly after this

drama ended, Sabrina rose to fame and is now one of the most popular singers in current

time. She still uses her ability to be controversial to her advantage, doing small things that

will upset some, to get people to talk about what she is doing.

Another positive outcome of negative press was Nike. In 2018, Nike collaborated with Colin

Kaepernick after he was seen kneeling during the national anthem at a football game. Nike

leaned into this controversy with their campaign with Kaepernick. There was a lot of

discussion around whether it was appropriate or not, and many people voiced their

distaste. According to Marketing Dive, despite the backlash Nike seemingly faced for this

Ad, their sales spiked by 31%.

American Eagle Sydney Sweeney ad is probably something you've heard about within the

last year. American Eagle paired up with Actor Sydney Sweeny on their ad campaign

centered around having good genes, playing on the homophone that is jeans and genes.

This ad campaign was talked about all over the country and even the world. Many people

were upset because with Sydney Sweeney being blonde haired and blue eyed it seemed as

though American Eagle was pushing eugenics and the idea that someone's genes can be

better than others. While the reputation of Sydney Sweeney was tarnished, it did not affect

her ability to get work in the industry, and according to Forbes, American Eagles stocks

went up 20% after the campaign was released, and the jeans showed the campaign sold

out.

Mormon Mom and TikTok Star, Taylor Frankie Paul is known for being a controversial figure,

but people love that she is honest and real when it comes to making mistakes and not

being a “perfect person”. In 2022, she was caught up in a “swinging scandal”. Online, she

admitted to being in an intimate relationship with her friends and their husbands. This was

a shock at first but is has boosted Paul's popularity to the point of being offered the lead in

a reality TV show about her life called “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” that has taken over

the internet, and she was given the role of Bachelorette in the Bachelor Franchise this past

year.

While being a controversial figure has worked out for Taylor Frankie Paul in the past, it has

not always worked out. Within the past month, she was called out by her ex-boyfriend and

multiple media sources about her domestic abuse charges, and a video of a domestic

dispute from 2023 was released via TMZ. While some loyal fans stuck by her, the masses

attacked her and discussed that she was not suited for TV. She received so much backlash

for this video and these claims, that her season of The Bachelorette was cancelled two

days prior to its premiere.

The idea that “all publicity is good publicity” consistently holds true when attention drives

awareness and engagement, but it doesn’t hold up in cases where the negative exposure

threatens the safety, legality, or financial stability of a business. Getting talked about is

usually beneficial, unless the controversy puts your company’s survival at risk outside of

publicity. When a company is considering creating controversy, it is also important to make

sure that it doesn't skew too far outside of the customers and companies’ moral values.