Are Stereotypes Holding Women Back? (Part 1: Let’s Blame Samantha Jones)

Isn’t it ironic that professionals for whom dealing with reputation and public perception is their bread and butter are so helpless when it comes to managing their own image? This was certainly the first thought on my mind as I was contemplating a discussion of female PR stereotypes.

I have mentioned before that some believe the public relations field is so attractive to women because it is associated with a party lifestyle and perceived as a “soft” career option, something that does not require much effort on behalf of the worker. Now there are many various stereotypical perceptions of PR practitioners, including being manipulative, unethical, insensitive, pushy, etc. However, when it comes to women in PR, most of the stereotypes in the popular culture tend to revolve around two notions:

1.Public relations is a glitzy and lucrative work, which involves attending the hottest parties, mingling with A-list celebrities and earning huge sums of money at the same time.

2.Female PR practitioners are not particularly sophisticated or career-oriented, but more likely to be ditzy, fluffy air-heads obsessed with partying, shopping and dating.

Examples of characters which represent both of the above notions are many. Bridget Jones, Gwyneth Paltrow’s character Helen in Sliding Doors, Eddy in Ab Fab, Heidi in MTV’s The Hills, and more recently, the much criticised MTV’s reality TV show PowerGirls (see Coombs and Holladay 2007: 16-17). But the cream of the crop has to be Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. In fact, if I were to ask you to think of any female PR character in film or television, I am pretty certain that the majority of you will remember Samantha straight away. Well, I have to inform you that (perhaps unsurprisingly!) most of those blogging on PR issues use pretty harsh words when referring to Miss Samantha Jones.

“With apologies to Samantha Jones, this person reinforces the flaky, hollow publicist image we’ve all cringed at seeing on TV. As if public relations is nothing more than a series of parties, ribbon cuttings and ground breakings”, rages one.

“I blame Hollywood for glorifying the public relations field. How many young women have gone unsuspecting into PR because of Samantha from Sex and the City?”, questions another one.

Now I have to admit that I have not actually watched PowerGirls, but the reaction it attracted among PR practitioners (both male and female) in the blogosphere was enormous. The show, which flopped in the US, followed the lives of four young women who competed for a permanent position at a New York celebrity PR firm. Critics felt the show was reinforcing female PR stereotypes and projecting a false picture of the field. Before the show even started, Tom Murphy of PR Opinions blog commented:

“Just when you think it can’t get any worse…, a far more sinister threat to the profession of Public Relations emerges… PowerGirls the long awaited MTV reality show kicks off… I’m sure the show will mirror the daily grind of a job in PR. Coming in grumpy in the morning, wading through 6,000 e-mails, answering voice-mails, cup of coffee, read the papers… I have a feeling that Power Girls may skip some of the more mundane stuff.”

Judging by the “reviews” among the practitioners, he was right!

But it is not only the bloggers who are frustrated with these unrepresentative portrayals. A study by Miller (1999) analysing the representation of PR field in film and fiction, dating from 1930 to 1995, found that misconceptions about and stereotypes of PR practitioners are indeed prevalent, and interestingly these portrayals have remained the same over many decades. The researcher classified these stereotypes into several categories, and “likeable but ditzy” is the first on her list. Miller emphasizes the importance of these representations, arguing that “although movies and novels are not mirrors of reality, they do offer a view of PR to people who have had no personal experience with its practitioners” (Miller, K. S. (1999) “Public Relations in Film and Fiction: 1930 to 1995” in Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 3-28).

From my experience, the “party girl” stereotype used in popular culture does have an impact on how the public view women in PR. But what do you personally think? Could these stereotypical portrayals be taken seriously or are they just something to be laughed at? More importantly, are they potentially damaging to the image of female PR practitioners in particular and PR field as a whole? Are PR bloggers justified in their criticism of and frustration with these representations?