Comparing Successful and Unsuccessful Spin: The Kardashian Brand VS The Carbon Tax

In today's modern society, the way we view the world is vastly shaped by professional communicators who aim to influence and construct public perception. These communicators, such as journalists and spin doctors, endeavor to subliminally guide audiences into believing what they write about and present to us by means of television, radio, the internet and advertising (Ostrowski, 2009). Spin doctoring, or public relations, can be defined as the management of relationships between the public and organization or individual by calculating strategies to engage and steer public opinion (Louw, 2010). Furthermore, this relationship between spin doctors and journalists acts as a vital tool in forming public opinion. With liberal democracy acting as a platform, spin doctors attempt to set public agenda by influencing and working with the media and journalists, whether it be the media spreading the information given or 'leaked' by the spin doctors or journalists digging and asking certain questions to create 'breaking news' stories (Evans, 2012).

This essay examines the relationship between spin doctors and journalists with regards to the successful spin demonstrated by the Kardashian empire and the unsuccessful spin of the Australian federal governments attempt to sell the carbon tax. With this in mind, the definition of successful and unsuccessful spin can be characterized by whether or not the major aim of the spin effect was achieved. Furthermore, this essay will observe the roles of these significant groups and how they contributed to influencing public opinion by analyzing the tools used by the opposing spin teams. Moreover, specific detail will be placed on how these tools were put into effect, how they were used and the results they generated.

In 1995, the Kardashian family became household names as the late Robert Kardashian acted as O.J. Simpson's defense during his murder trial. Moreover, after a widowed Kris Kardashian married Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner, the family quickly disappeared off the media's radar. However in 2007, daughter Kim once again brought the family back into the limelight after a sex tape was released of her and her then boyfriend (Piazza, 2011). Rather than ignoring the fame implications of the sex tape, the family embraced their new-found notoriety and used it as a platform to launch their reality show on the E! Network as well as themselves into the mass media. The impeccable marketing of the family helped them become 'famous for being famous' with their image constantly remaining in the public domain despite having no recognizable talent (Pendergast, 2000). Furthermore, audiences' primary fascination with Kim's sex tape led to their attraction of the show's "entertaining, visually stimulating and titillating" plot lines that followed the family's private lives. From this point on the Kardashian empire has influenced the world with spin doctors using their widespread fame to endorse an ever-growing variety of products such as clothing, cosmetics, alcohol, candy stores and jewelry (Feinman, 2011). In addition, the family has also served political endorsements which has become another tool for spin doctors to effect public perception, as well as provide financial profitability and "status and imagery of a celebrity" (Feinman, 2011).

The reason why the Kardashian empire is considered a successful spin is because their main aim of achieving fame was accomplished. The family initially started as barely recognizable Hollywood socialites and became one of the most talked about families in the world. Spin doctors successfully marketed the Kardashian's as a rich family living the high life who also dealt with the same everyday issues as their shows' viewers such as sibling rivalry, feuding family members and divorce. These relatable experiences helped generate massive audience appeal and made them "bankable commodities within the culture industry" (Piazza, 2011). In addition, the reality program "advertised" the family as 'everyday' people who were able to achieve fame and fortune, giving hope to their audience that they can accomplish the same feat (Pendergast, 2000).

On the other hand, in 2012 the Australian Federal government introduced the carbon tax legislation to poor public and political response. Despite agreeing to not introduce a carbon tax during the 2007 election, the Labour Party, and then prime-minister Julia Gillard, embarked on four month publicity scheme in order to gain successful momentum and support for their environmental policy. To this day, the carbon tax legislation and the unsuccessful spin that followed has greatly affected the popularity of the Labour Party. The subject produced an overwhelming degree of aggression and hatred from the media, opposing political parties and the Australian public (Mullens, 2011). Although there were a number of outside influences that played a part in the negative impressions of the policy, such as the tax concerns from the GFC, there were several significant failures that took place within the party's internal camp. The government's spin team, public relations professionals and party members were unsuccessful in their aim to create a coherent message that could be succinctly communicated to the public. What's more, there was also a fair amount of existing resentment towards the Labour government after their inconsistent stance on environmental policy and the subsequent dismissal of Kevin Rudd as their leader (Daley, Dodson & Priest, 2012). Additionally, public disapproval also arose after Gillard retained her position after scarcely winning the federal election. Moreover, the hostile media and cynical journalists pounced on these weaknesses and used an 'attack' style of reporting as well as utilized public opinion pollsters to create the illusion of a horse race between parties. In addition, along with the media's endorsement, the successful spin tactics used by the opposing political parties and mining companies helped counteract the Labour Party's failure to effectively convey their message about the carbon tax.

Unlike the spin doctors who worked of selling the carbon tax, the Kardashian's team created a wholesome and desirable image by means of their successful television program. The reality show greatly impacted the nature of television where audiences are no longer interested in substance but rather "visually stimulating images" (Louw, 2010). Every week audiences witness entertaining plot lines that showcase the different aspects of the family's lives that promotes their lifestyle of high-class photo shoots, frequent media appearances, luxurious vacations and expensive shopping sprees. What's more, the television medium has acted as a successful technique for spin doctors to achieve their aims. Audiences are able to plunge themselves into the Kardashian world and connect with the family due to the shows' sense of reality (Feinman, 2011). The television medium also allows spin doctors to cut and edit the footage to show what aspects they want to be public knowledge. This power allows them to choose what the public sees and how they will perceive it.

Similar to the Kardashian's, politicians need to be able to effectively communicate as professional performers. The quality of the performance is a crucial ingredient in political spin as the media treats "political leaders as 'goods' and the parties' spin doctors have to be able to successfully package these 'goods' for the public's consumption" (Grattan, 1998). Scripted performances on visual mediums have become a vital key in getting political messages across to a broader demographic (Tiffen, 2004). With this in mind, the Gillard government launched an expensive advertising campaign, staged numerous media events, and acquired the help and star power of celebrities such as Michael Caton and Cate Blanchett, to help sell their carbon tax legislation (Hills, 2011). However, the hard work only added fuel to fire with continuous negative media coverage that questioned the integrity of the policy. Furthermore, Neil Lawrence, a professional spin doctor who was a part of the marketing team behind the 'Kevin07' campaign, said that the Labour Party's media campaigns were both "clumsy" and "asinine" (Knott, 2012). Although the government was able to narrowly pass the carbon tax legislation through the upper and lower houses, the media campaign proved to be unsuccessful as it failed to generate any positive publicity or build "consent and legitimacy amongst the masses" (Louw, 2010).

Knowing this, the relationship between spin teams, the media and the public is subtle, tactful and constantly changing. Journalists have pounced on the Kardashian family as they write about them on a daily basis in gossip mediums. It is almost guaranteed that every gossip magazine out today has some type of story or article about the Kardashian family due to demanding public interest. Spin doctors frequently 'leak' stories to journalists and often call the paparazzi to stage photo opportunities so that the family can remain in the public domain. For example, several major events of Kim's life, such as her marriage and divorce to Kris Humphries, her pregnancy and birth of daughter North West, and her engagement to Kanye West, have become huge media spectacles that received prominent media coverage due to daily reports and worldwide television exposure. These events also become a part of the public's daily conversations. The spin doctors filter and control how much information is released to the public to keep the audiences fascinated and to provide enough material for journalists.

The cycle begins with the spin teams planting or 'leaking' stories for journalists to come across which often provide a list of sources and information. The journalists then report the information they've 'found' and the public then consumes it. The cycle repeats itself as spin teams feed more information in a way that makes the reporter feel as if they've broken a story that wasn't meant to be found. These long term interactions between spin teams and journalists is a relationship that consists on relying on each other to produce content. In addition, script writers, public relations representatives, managers and stylists are also a part of the Kardashian's spin team. They all have some type of control over how each family member is perceived in the public eye. Furthermore, 'mom-ager' Kris Jenner, has a great deal of say in how the family image is portrayed in the media. By working together and constructing public opinion, Kris and the spin team has managed to create the Kardashian empire that has continued to grow in the mass media (Feinman, 2011).

This relationship between the spin teams, journalists and the public is also featured in the selling of the carbon tax. Because the media pick and choose what they deem to be 'newsworthy', they are responsible for setting the political agenda and often act as a go-between for the public and politicians (Pearson & Patching, 2008). Furthermore, the style of reporting has altered over time and is now often known as "junkyard journalism" which involves the combination of "muckraking and adversarial watchdogism" (Louw, 2010). The main objective of this type of reporting is to create some type of battle or rivalry in its stories. This type of "attack journalism" changes the fabric of political debates by placing more value on the leaders of the parties and their personality rather than focusing on campaigns and polices (Louw, 2010). Additionally, this new style of reporting continuously use pollsters which provide sources that legitimize political horse-race journalism by judging their political campaigns as a competition with a winner and loser (Young, 2011). Furthermore, the inclusion of public opinion pollsters also provided a convenient supply of data that can be maintained as objective whilst also offering as a cheaper and quicker replacement for investigative journalism. There was a massive backlash and negative connotations from the media coverage of Gillard's carbon tax campaign. Along with constant updates on polling data that showed the public's dismissal of the tax's approval and the government's failure to win in the preferred prime-minister and party ratings, sound-bites and image-grabs of Gillard and opposition leader, Tony Abbott, were used constantly throughout the media's attack operation (Bacon, 2011).

In addition, similar to the symbiotic relationship between the Kardashian's spin doctors and the media, the relationship between the journalists and those against the carbon tax was extremely prominent with the bias reporting that was in favor of the Coalition and mining companies. Over the campaigns four month run, anti-carbon tax rhetorics were splashed across news headlines and took over the news agenda (Bacon, 2011). The Coalition had complete control over the media spotlight and were consistently using this to their advantage with constant negative spin regarding the Labour Party and the carbon tax. However, during the 2008 election, when the Labour government was popular, the press was overtly critical about the Coalition and their skepticism of climate change. Nevertheless, the spin teams behind Abbott and the mining companies prompted several alarmist reports that were fed to journalists who successfully delivered them to the public via the airwaves, newspapers and television programs.

In conclusion, journalists and spin doctors play a major role in the way we view the world around us. Spin teams have guided the public into their interest and fascination of the Kardashian empire as well as fuel their hatred for 2012 carbon tax campaign. However, the Kardashian family went from being unknown Hollywood socialites to one of the most talked families in the world as a result of successful spin. Their team of spin doctors, public relations professionals and their 'mom-anger' utilized reality television, social media and product endorsements to catapult them into the mass media. The relationship between their spin team and the media proved to be successful as they are repeatedly featured in gossip rags, news headlines and public conversations on a regular basis. On the other hand, the unsuccessful spin of the Labour government's carbon tax was the result of several diverse factors. There were conflicting problems within the party's inner circle of spin doctors, public relations professionals and party members who failed to comprehensively communicate their message to the public. Furthermore, the media adopted an attack style of journalism that used public opinion pollsters and represented the campaign as horse-race. The media also endorsed the oppositions' negative spin as it dominated the media agenda. For these reasons, it is clear the rise of the Kardashian empire is a case of successful spin and the Federal government's carbon tax campaign is a case of unsuccessful spin.

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