It's PR Max, but not as I know it...

Saturday’s Guardian newspaper carried a large interview and feature on Max Clifford; quite probably the “PR” man with the highest profile and greatest awareness in the country.

Of course I, and many others, would dispute that Clifford works in PR at all – he certainly doesn’t work in the same PR land that I inhabit.  To my mind, Clifford is a publicist and that is very different.

At times, however, Clifford uses words and phrases that conjure up a style of PR I can relate to – especially when he is talking about message control.  But he loses me completely when he talks in such a matter of fact way about what appears to be constant and habitual lying.

At the moment, Clifford’s imprint and control are looming large over two of the biggest tabloid stories that are currently doing the rounds - Jade Goody’s rather tragic marriage, and the equally sad tale of the “is he, isn’t he” 13 year old father, Alfie Patten.

Jade is a paying client, no doubt with commission thrown in, but Clifford insists he isn’t charging the Patten family for his help.  Nevertheless, they do have something that Clifford finds useful as he readily admits to a lifetime’s horse-trading with the media – helping with one story in order to keep another one quiet.  In those terms, the Patten story is valuable currency indeed.  Quite possibly one of Clifford’s paying customers will benefit from the media trading power Max has acquired in young Alfie Patten.  Again, this is not a form of PR I easily recognise.

In the article there are references to Clifford’s ability to manipulate the media and a suggestion that this comes close to bribery at times - including job offers.  There is also plenty of talk of mutual exploitation between the PR man and the media.

Now, the man is entitled to make a living, and a good one at that, so what’s my problem with all this - he's running a perfectly legitimate business. But, put simply, I care passionately about our profession and I hate to see it portrayed in this way – with the implications of lies, distortion, backhanders and manipulation.

Clifford claims that about 80 per cent of his business is PR covering serious business issues and that only 20 per cent of what he does is about “stories”.  But that 20 per cent is the part that the public know and I think that, taken overall, it tarnishes our image and professional standing.

It would be wrong of me this week to sign off without a nod to the looming deadline for this year's Excellence Awards - the closing date is Friday.  In terms of boosting your professional standing, especially at a time of economic uncertainty, winning awards gives any consultancy, business or organisation a tremendous morale boost, a renewed confidence, and a valuable endorsement of the quality of its work.  I encourage you to enter, and wish you well in the process.

Comments

[Emma Long]

I completely agree with you and have written basically the same on my blog (wwwemmalong.blogspot.com).

I would class Max Clifford as a good spin doctor who at the best works with issues and crisis control.

The modern PR world that I have learnt through theory at university and now in practice is not the world that Max Clifford refers to.

[Paul Seaman]

In contrast, on my PR blog I've paid homage to Jade Goody and Max Clifford.

http://paulseaman.eu/2009/03/homage-to-jade-goody-and-max-clifford/

[Kevin Taylor]

Paul - I've read your blog and agree Max has done a fine job on Jade Goody and that she has good motivations regarding her children and cervical cancer screening. That's not my point.
My point concerns habitual lying and distortion and those are traits I deplore in any person practising what they would call "PR".
It's not the style of PR that I want to promote or that does our profession any long-term good.

[Paul Seaman]

You raise a strong point. It is, I admit, a very tough issue to discuss. I have replied:

http://paulseaman.eu/2009/03/max-clifford-tells-it-straight-me-online/

[Elisabeth Lewis-Jones]

I totally agree with you Kevin and it's interesting to note that some of my clients and contacts have been talking about this story too. For them, the PR world of Max Clifford is so far removed from their understanding of reputation management that they have paid little attention to and at times discredited what he has said.

A couple of years ago many people saw Max as the PR man, today that is not the case - they see him as a publicist and that his world really is far removed from the PR/communications field we operate in.

You cannot disagree though, he has done an incredible promotion job for Jade and her family!

[afra7]

thank you alot

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