How Do Superhero Movies Teach PR?

It is given by definition that superheroes are saints because they bring safety to us by fighting injustice. We should appreciate them because they defend us without any expectation compensation. Yet Batman, Superman, Hancock alike is under constant scrutiny by the public despite their loyalty to us, and have to maneuver around our emotions. This shows us the power of image. Image is so important to us that it can overshadow our previous feelings of debt and gratitude (towards the hero, brand, or product). PR is about people’s behavior according to what they see in front of them. If the public sees the slightest harm to them awe, loyalty, and admiration turns into fear and resentment. The public’s attitude is as stable Justin Bieber’s good behavior. Hancock is an excellent example of the impact of image and Man of Steel is awesome for showing us human nature.

Hancock is just like Superman, he just happens to be an alcoholic smart-ass and looks homeless. The city openly hates on him as he ends robberies and saves lives. That is because he is careless and costs the city millions of $$$ in damage during rescues and reflects his disdain for them dropping luxury cars everywhere and stealing from in ice cream truck half-naked in front of little kids. Ray, a PR specialist, fixes his image because he recognizes his potential. A good PR specialist can see something marketable in any situation. He turns L.A.’s most hated drunk into a missed superhero with a few simple tricks.

1. Press Conference: Admitting faults and announces plans to go to jail.
   1. He gives the public what they want to hear about how they have been victimized.
   2. He is transparent about future plans and says why he is doing what he is doing.
2. Uniform: Looks like he stands for something.
   1. Shows respect to police by asking permission before jumping in and acting polite (“You’re doing a good job”, “thank you”)
   2. Shows the public he is on their side.
3. Jail: Give the public a sense of justice.
   1. Absence will show how needed he is because crime will go out of hand fast.

Ray teaches us that we have to serve the public on their terms. The perception we want them to have needs to be the easiest and most obvious conclusion to jump to. That is because people are too busy with their own personal lives to care enough to see the whole picture of anything that is not personally urgent to them at the moment. They didn’t care that Hancock ended a robbery and saved their entire life’s savings, they saw their nice BMW’s tossed around like a ball and that is what they remember when they think of him.

Man of Steel shows us how fickle human nature is in terms of perception. Clark’s human parents distrusted human nature so much that papa Kent willingly dies to protect Clark’s identity because the world wasn’t ready to discover him yet. This sounds dramatic and cynical but it is true. Remember when the school bus was sinking and he saved all the kids, even the jerk bullying him 10 seconds earlier? How did the kid’s parents react? It wasn’t gratitude for saving their own precious flesh and blood; they were trying to paint him a freak show. That feels like a nice thank-you, huh. After this, Clark spends his life ghosting out after assisting in tragedies left and right instead of enjoying the well-earned glory of being a hero. Isn’t that SUPER messed up? Why does this badass with a heart of gold feel like he has to hide his superiority from us weak, simpleton humans?

Mama and papa Kent constantly explain to him that people will always fear what they don’t understand and will reject him despite being a beautiful mystery to the world with a character history of being a total saint. Lois Lane’s boss knows this too well how true this is and warns her that the public would freak out hearing that there is an alien living among them. Like clock-work, the news is raging about turning in an alien who has integrated with them so peacefully that they barely even noticed him for 33 years. They want him to prove himself even further that if he means no harm, he will want to turn himself in. Of course he does it anyways because he is cool with us being jerks by now.

When the drama with Zod ensues, Clark offers himself to the military. This is where he shows his skills in diplomacy and PR tact.

1. He establishes his identity and relational status to them.
   1. He approaches them in uniform and floating slightly above them to show power.
2. He gives the military comfort by playing it their way.
   1. He lets them cuff him and go through their usual protocol by the book.
   2. Politely answers “Do what you have to do, General.”

Ray would have been very proud as Hancock rolled his eyes calling him a kiss-ass.

 

Clark goes on to explain to the military that they are scared of him because they can’t control him, but that doesn’t mean he is their enemy. Sounds like Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome has us figured out pretty well. He is not expecting to be understood anytime soon. He knows human nature operates on emotion before logic and that it is hard to break past our own initial impressions of the emotional reactions we make. Clark shows us that PR requires tip-toeing around people’s emotional needs because it is hard for us to accept and embrace anything foreign and different without a spoonful of harsh skepticism. This means shaping public opinion requires anticipating any feeling of threat the audience can think of and also politely shoving feelings of utility and comfort in their faces.

Superhero movies are a great source for seeing PR come alive because the heroes are always adjusting to the public because they live among the public. They are at odds with the enemy and with our perceptions. Fantastic Four’s scene with the mishap on the bridge shows PR at play in just a few minutes: Reed tries to explain what caused the powers but is interrupted because the crowd wants to hear only the fun, flashy stuff about it; Susan deflects the attention by saying they don’t know much about these “symptoms” yet, to which the crowd reacts fearfully; Johnny shows clever recovery by joking “if it’s a disease then yeah, we got it bad…” and turns on the charm and shows off; finally Reed tries to discourage publicity by appealing to the sympathy of humanity and stay vague and short about their next step. They could have easily been booed and shot down by the police but they chose to take control and earn everyone’s trust. This is a prime example which shows us that since, by definition, superheroes serve the public, we have a golden opportunity to see PR in live-action in superhero movies.

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Can PR use Carl Jung’s Personality Types As A Marketing Tool?

As an ENFP (the Champion, according Jung), I am always making connections and seeing patterns between totally unrelated concepts in order to find better ways to do things. Lately, I have been thinking about how knowing Jung’s 16 personalities is basically a cheat-sheet for PR strategists.

His system organizes people based on how they receive, interpret, and make decisions from information given from the external world. Here is a 30 second summary to get you by for this article: people are either Introverted or Extroverted (energy from interaction with external world), Sensing or iNtuitive (facts come from face-value or patterns), Thinking or Feeling (decision making), and Judging or Perceiving (favor decisiveness or adaptability).

 

 

This information on how their brain’s function can be applied to tailoring content and tactics to a segment or even different groups within a particular segment to see that the content really resonates with them.

 

Do the people in your segment trust the rules or do they want to stick it to the man (woo-hoo, ENFP)? Are they easy-going or super organized? Do they trust what is right in front of them or do they read between the lines? Do they prefer quiet time or want to be where the action is? Do they like the tried-and-true or are they always looking for the new thing? Are they always looking polished or do they look like they never quite finished getting dressed this morning? Are they following what others have done or do they evaluate against their own judgments?

 

This is all vital information in profiling the culture you, as a PR professional, are catering to. I think that these concepts are the backbone to any type of our tactics and ploys because they show us what each type sees as trustworthy and self-similar content and source. That tells us what modes we should use and the moods we should set for our campaigns.

 

Nordstrom sells NARS and Estee Lauder cosmetics in the same place, but do you think the sweet ladies at Estee Lauder are lining up to buy the famous “perfect for every skin type” NARS Orgasm blush? NO. Everyone there obviously cares enough about their looks to drop $60 on a product that looks like it’s box can barely fit $50 bill inside it. It is easy to see who likes the classy or tried-and-true ways (who Jung labels Sentinels; SJ’s) and who favors challenging the system (Explorers; SP’s). Let’s also look at MAC, they are known for being very dramatic in their look (which appeals to those who prefer introverted feeling because they strive for self-authenticity; NF’s) yet named one of their lines the Barbie Edition. This was a clever way to solidify the part of their market share that was not as edgy as the rest by playing to their nostalgia and sentiments of our culture (appealing to people who prefer their introverted sensing function which values tradition: SJ’s). See how both types are equally dedicated to their make up and have same amount of disposal income yet are easily turned-off by each other’s core values (at a level they are not aware of unless they took the test also)? As an NF, seeing “because everyone else loves it/traditional/American” at the heart of the campaign will be an instinctual loser in my book before I’m fully aware of why. Where as SJ’s will instinctually appreciate the message of stability in that campaign because they will see “classy/lady-like/traditional/respectable.”

 

I know what some of you are thinking, “Freud gets sex, he is the only important guy,” but people forget that Freud TOLD us that psychoanalysis exists and it was Jung who fine-tuned what most of that sex stuff meant and tried to get Freud’s mind out of the gutter a little. He is also a main leader in analytical psychology. You studied his concepts of archetypes and a hero’s journey in your English-Lit class, you just did not realize it. Safe to say, you can trust this guy.

 

So, being the “Campaigner/Motivator” type that thinks like Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Aniston, and Dr. Seuss (yes, my people are awesome and VERY quirky), I have been wondering for a long time why PR does not utilize psychology and even anthropology as part of sizing up the target group before talks of the strategy even is. Jung’s personality-types work alone shows an awesome blueprint of individuals within the subculture of the targeted group. Understanding that what individuals instinctually see as accountable, trustworthy, and valuable is actually ingrained into their particular prototype is at play with what forms of information are seen trustworthy, if they comprehend the information at face value or see a bigger picture, they are planners or impulsive, evaluate information against the norm or themselves, natural leaders or followers, live in the moment or live in their head, warm or aloof, sentimental or innovative, and how they see themselves compared to other people. I think I owe Jung a thank you for cutting my PR research for my next campaign in half.

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Urgency For Our Own Self-Education

A lesson that Jurassic Park teaches us:

Formal education might have now become too tight-focused.

That is a danger because it limits our creativity for finding solutions and foreseeing unintended consequences. Meanwhile reinforcing our blind-spots stemmed from lack of empathy for varieties of mindsets and angles to a situation.

This could be why we find people’s reactions unpredictable and static at the same time.

Majors should have a variety of disciplines within its study to achieve a well-rounded, balanced perspective on human and universal operations. That will have a huge impact on decision-making regarding formation and implementation of policies and projects to create incentives for the desired behavioral outcome.

That is because we learn how we can appeal to what the target needs or wants to hear.

We live both in a service economy and are also biologically wired in a way that binds us to complex social culture. So a well-rounded background in understanding human nature will benefit every single person creatively, personally, and professionally.

All social science majors could benefit from a couple biology, psychology, history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and philosophy classes. These make sense out of what motivates us, how we perceive and evaluate our circumstances and choices, and interpret social trends evolving inside human behaviors.

Exposure to a variety of concepts makes people more comfortable approaching new ideas because familiarity and habits replace fear of the unknown with empathy and understanding.

People think that really perfecting the operations of their project will force everything into place and solve the issue at hand, but the history books consistently prove that is not the whole picture.

Democracy, communism, the tax system, religions, socially motivated morals, prison systems and all social constructs never fully ditch their problems. Instead, installing narrow-focused controls (like those do rigidly) actually tend to function like the Greek mythological Hydra, and breeds more complex issues with every tiny victory.

Otherwise we would not be burdened with a 10,000 year history of so many societal problems and would have gained more universal political stability. That is plenty of time to have figured it out by now.

The reason is this: no matter how well thought out your system of controls (law, policy, management etc) is, it is still in the mass hands of people operating it, whose shortsightedness is motivated by how just or hopeless they perceive their own circumstances and how they compare to their peers.

This observation does not it single out anyone, it is a universal principle and is not a crime; it is just human nature ensuring it’s own survival.

So the key to enticing the results that you want from anyone is to understand how, why, and what influences and directs their actions and choices.

I think this could be done by studying 2 phases. First, the way our brain makes decisions: the fundamentals of our psychologies, our motivations and needs, and how we relate to and interact with others. Next is understanding how the context realigns these psychological processes: how the circumstances alter their perceptions, prioritize needs, and evaluate its means to succeed in its self-interest.

I think this approach would both smoothen relations between cultures and individuals through empathy, and also yield higher societal solutions and gains. Then we can relax, as the world would not feel like such a hostile force.

#cwucom475 #liberalarts #socialsciences #selfeducate #globalunity