Tag Archives: Palin

Saturday Night Live: Friend or Foe?

All over the country, people awaited the appearance of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.  How could she actually appear on this show?  What type of role would she play?  Would she make more of a fool of herself than usual?  Would this bring her more respect or put her further in a disrespectful light?

Clearly, Palin’s PR professional thought it was a good idea for her to go on SNL, but was it really a good idea?  Yes, it may have been a good idea for NBC as all of America became interested in watching the show, but for Palin that may not have been the case.  For the most part, the viewers who tuned in to the show at 11:30 pm on Saturday the 18th laughed at Palin’s sad attempt to redeem herself on the show.  Even before she took Tina Fey’s position on stage, Alec Baldwin made the final jab at her by telling her she looked “hotter” in person.  The comments and perceptions of Palin only further ridiculed her and made her look unsuitable for a serious political position.  Even though she received the attention she was seeking, the same position remains: Palin will not be taken seriously as the vice presidential candidate.

 

PR Everywhere You Look

In my Public Relations class we have discussed the different components of PR including community relations, government relations, media relations, and employee relations.  The question that comes to my mind is in what point in a person’s life does he or she decide which type of PR to go into?  How does someone become involved in investor relations?  How does someone figure out that they have a knack for working in the government?

While watching the vice presidential debate tonight, I wondered if Biden and Palin were told to use the various PR techniques that they demonstrated by a professional working in government relations.  Biden used specific PR techniques to make the audience remember the message.  He repeated himself quite frequently, one of the key persuasion techniques.  Did his PR practitioner tell him to use this technique?  Palin used the technique of channeling to relate to the common person.  Did her PR practitioner tell her to use this technique?

If we take a step back, the whole presidential campaign is a PR initiative.  The candidates are attempting to win over the audience of the American people to influence them on November 4th.  The situation, objectives, audience, strategy, tactics, timetable, budget, and evaluation of other plans is clearly apparent in the “most important election in our lives” (at least according to Biden).