Here is a memoir about working at the sketchiest end of what is already a sketchy industry, i.e, PR. The author has spent a career shilling for dictators. He was a big debater in high school, and it shows. He thinks he is just so terribly clever. The book was kind of interesting e.g., I learnt the horrifying fact that there are 300K publicists vs only 40K journalists in the US, and that a PR firm exists who took $18.8M from Saudia Arabia to try and spin the dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi. But it was also kind of boring, because its just a litany of ways he tried to spin stuff that he thinks is very clever. I’m not sure they are that clever, I just think the list of people willing to do this stuff is not very long so the competition is not very steep.
One part I did find interesting was the weekend he spent in Vegas trying to make sure that Gaddafi’s son, Muatsaem, did not do anything newsworthy. It was wild to see how completely unhingedly entitled this guy was, down to beating hotel maids for trying to clean. And how wildly unhappy. I also enjoyed his visit to Nigeria, where he goes to try and massage the kidnapping of the Chibok girls. Try this:
” “The whole world just found out where Nigeria is on a map because of these kidnappings,” I say. “Everyone is watching you. You need to do something about this problem.”
“Problem?” an official asks.”
Everything about this is hilarious. As if Nigeria was unknown to the world because this PR guy didn’t know about it. And I just love the profoundly Nigerian reply, as if a few hundred more kidnappings is not that big deal, which, to be fair, it is not, in the larger scheme of the security situation in the North. Also of interest to me was that he stayed in the Abuja Hilton, a place I have myself stayed for many months, and also noted the oil men, prostitutes, etc. Strangely he was very stressed out by it. I guess if you’ve never even heard of Nigeria before the Abuja Hilton is quite an introduction.
I also learnt something we should all recall, which is that in PR you should never state a negative. Apparently the first phrase that Americans think of when they think of Richard Nixon is ‘I am not a crook,’ which is something he said. This is a classic example of accepting the wrong framing. You should always say ‘I am a good man,’ or ‘I love America’ and etc.
One last thing, the writing is often sharp and funny. He has a friend who is very Republican. Here’s the friend explaining:
“Nobody who doesn’t have a generator and two years’ worth of food in their garage outflanks me on the right.” Says the author: “I describe him as ‘authoritarian-curious’”
I love that phrase! Perfectly describes these decadent rich people who don’t understand what democracy has given them.