Mark My Words Blog
Welcome to ‘Mark My Words,’ the digital sanctuary where insight meets intrigue, and commentary sparks contemplation.
Delve into the dynamic world of PR maverick Mark Borkowski as he unravels the threads of media, culture, and communication. Mark’s blog is a treasure trove of industry wisdom, offering a backstage pass to the inner workings of publicity and the ever-evolving landscape of modern media.
Great PR Disasters
I recently came across what can only be described as one of the greatest PR disasters of our age. It happened in the U.S. on May Day in 2003 when George W Bush gave a speech aboard the USS Lincoln declaring that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”. He stood in front of a banner with the slogan “Mission Accomplished”. Bush landed in a fighter jet on the deck of the aircraft carrier. The events of that day were praised at the time, but have come to be regarded as a very embarrassing publicity stunt and premature declaration of victory…
Brown to play to his strengths
London – British finance minister Gordon Brown will portray himself as a sober, intellectually rigourous politician of substance in his campaign to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair, analysts said. http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2112575,00.html
Borkowski on Brown
If Brown does decide to try and reinvent himself as a more personable and charismatic politician, however, he should do so carefully, warned Mark Borkowski, who founded Borkowski PR, a public relations firm that counts various celebrities among its clients. “True image change is about stealth… The powerful image changes are those that aren’t spotted,” Borkowski told AFP. “The British public, and also the global public, are not fooled. It’s now whether or not this image change has substance, and has integrity, because that will come through.” Whatever Brown decides to do to enhance his appeal to voters, one thing…
The trivia cycle
One of the perils of being a publicist, for me at least, is having to go through the papers thoroughly every single day. I’ve been doing it for years and years, but instead of it getting easier, it’s fast becoming a chore. The reason for this is the sheer amount of trivia that clogs the arteries of the news. I really don’t care whether Trudy Styler and Sting lost their industrial tribunal against their cook, nor do I care about Callum Best and Lindsay Lohan rutting like rabbits diagnosed with mixamotosis Whether Gordon Brown wears a tie or not when…
Celebrity Fashion Designers; just a tired PR stunt?
To queue or not to queue, that is the question. Recently, fashion and retail publicity, with Madonna, Kate Moss and now Lily Allen turning their hand to clothes designing, has demonstrated a real lack of imagination when launching new season’s collections. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/05/celebrity_fashion_designers_ju.html
Lord of the Flies 2
An interesting treatment for a new reality show was emailed into our office today. I urge you to read the treatment. Can it be real THE SHOW: “The most nail biting, adrenaline soaked game show on earth” Ten kids aged between 11 and 14 are marooned on an exotic island thousands of miles from school, friends and parents. They compete to be the first to conquer the island and learn how to escape from it. The island is a fantastic place to be stranded for the short term. It’s a paradise for kids. There are no silly rules, no fussy…
Outrage Factor
I noticed in today’s Guardian, Owen Gibson’s article about how adverts these days are attracting a record number of complaints. The advertising industry watchdog’s annual report is published today, and it lists stylised violence, same sex kisses and religious offence as some of the top ten most complained about adverts for last year. An advert placed by the Gay Police Association depicted a Bible and supposedly intended to highlight that a rise in homophobic crime was due to religious motivation. This was the most controversial advert attracting 553 complaints. The list is endless. In my opinion this is really no…
Imaginary People
Delving into the lost history of publicists, I have found that there was a rather amusing trend which involved inventing individuals to stand up a story. In the 1950’s, publicists used this ploy to establish relationships or trysts with non existent folk. It seems rather strange that these individuals were never exposed as fakes, but this is because journalists needed stories so turned a blind eye to them. These imaginary creatures were usually industrialists or rich entrepreneurs who were either patrons of the arts or dating movie stars who needed more publicity. Sometime these characters grew out of all proportion…
Crime and The Media
This morning we heard that the mother of Madeleine McCann, the missing girl who was snatched from her parents’ holiday home in Portugal last Thursday, has made a desperate appeal to whoever is responsible not to hurt her daughter. The British public take it for granted that the Police use the media, but what they don’t understand is that it’s a necessary relationship between the two that could generate a conclusion to an investigation. In cases such as Madeleine McCann’s, our legal system can oxygenate publicity enabling the public to know what’s going on step by step and hopefully turn…
FASHION GOES TO HEAVEN
In memory of fashion guru Isabella Blow, who died yesterday. In the afterlife the angels are shifting on their clouds and the hosts of the deceased are reassessing their shrouds. All the chubby cherubim have a glad glint in their eyes as they lift up their smocks to expose their fleshy thighs. Saint Peter’s wearing a lobster hat and a McQueen creation, Gabriel’s dressed in Gucci there’s a new sort of elation flooding through the heavenly hosts, an Elysian rosy glow, as heaven welcomes through its gates Isabella Blow. The cherubs are all wrangling to be the most like Sophie…
Scandal
The papers are really feasting on the disgrace of Lord Browne for lying to the High Court about where he met Jeff Chevalier. The real disgrace, in the eyes of the homophobic media, was not the perjury, but the fact that Browne had delved into ‘seedy’ gay websites and hitched up with an entrepreneurial rent boy. But is it unusual for prominent, highly successful people to try to find love? Some papers have drawn parallels between Browne and Lord Profumo who spent years on the charity penance for his misdemeanours. But that was the 1960’s, nearly fifty years ago. Let’s…
The Truth and Nothing but the Truth
Students of Hollywood spin should perhaps study the influence and power of Hedda Hopper. Perhaps not as potent as Louella Parsons, she certainly made her mark during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Hedda, along with Louella Parsons raised the gossip column to an art form and had the power to make or break careers. Louis Mayer helped the failed actress get the gig, which rapidly made her name as well made her enemies. Her moniker sent the publicity folk in Hollywood into apoplexy. The late Hollywood gossip columnist cut quite a swath for many years with her spy-hole journalism but…
Air Care?
Does anybody really like Ryan Air? I had the misfortune of travelling to Dublin in one of their blue and yellow cigar tubes of the sky; it was a deeply depressing experience. Does no thrills mean rude? The staff were not unlike East German Stassi circa 1953. I hope that we will all be forced to pay the real cost of flying and the pound shops of the skies will be grounded. Chatting to the person sitting next to me I was passed this rather informative website http://www.ryan-be-fair.org/news/current_situation.htm I arrived in Dublin to meet Louis Walsh, who thrust me into…
The Goat And The Vagina
Publicity stunts that cause indignation stretch back for hundreds of years, but this week media indignation continued to heap on Sony Play Station, in fact it has soared to Number one for a stunt to outrage all outrages. A row has been ignited over animal cruelty and the ethics of the computer industry by Sony’s use of a freshly slaughtered goat to promote a violent video game. The corpse of the decapitated animal was the centrepiece of a party to celebrate the launch of God Of War II game for the company’s PlayStation 2 console. I am not sure if…
Vulture Culture
Hugh Grant’s brush with the law for a cafuffle with a rouge snapper has resulted in my inbox being besieged by requests from fevered media outlets wanting me to comment on whether his career is over . In the 24/7 news cycle, Hugh is a top topic after losing it with a papp, and many are of the opinion that it will be curtains for Grant. Let’s just cast our minds back a few years, when Hugh recovered from something far more risqué than throwing a take away tub at a photographer! Wasn’t the king fop caught in flagrante with an LA prostitute?…
You’ll need to be a really good liar.
I found this interesting nugget from Joe Eszterhas excellent book “The Devils Gude to Hollywood” PR folk take note! Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo: “The art of lying is the art of the practical. It ought never be indulged in for the pure pleasure of the thing, since over usage dulls the instrument, corrodes the character, and despoils the spirit. The important thing about a lie is not that it be interesting, fanciful, graceful or even pleasant but that it be believed. Curb, therefore, your imagination. Let the lie be delivered full face, eye to eye, and without scratching of the scalp. …
LOVE ME OR LOATHE ME
Written after reading that Lindsay Lohan discovered she was “a highly sexual person” whilst hiding in a quiet white room for 30 days during a stay in rehab. Love me or loathe me, won’t you mentally unclothe me I’m sexual in the extreme I’m after something ecstatic but – let me make this quite emphatic – I want to be the wet dream. I want the power and bling confetti to get the whole world hot and sweaty I want people to think of me and start to steam then I want chocolates, I want flowers I want superpowers I…
Blog Jewellery
I am surrounded by blogs not unlike a plague of locusts. Attached to every email signature that arrives in my inbox from a fellow PR uber cheese, is another link to yet another wacky blog. Cleaning off this smelly, vacuous, verbal diarrhoea, I urge fellow travellers to focus on the issues at hand. This current trend employed and promoted by highly dubious corporate PR networks, is gnawing away at my conscious, not dissimilar to intrusive toothache. I refuse to succumb to the pathetic attempt to misuse the web. Wacky names and mysterious authors aren’t fooling anyone. Deep inside the cool…