‘Teen Wolf’ Bloggers and PR Confusion
A large portion of the Teen Wolf fandom has been growing increasingly critical of the show lately and many fandom news outlets such as The Daily Dot, Fangirlish, and even us have begun to point out things that have been upsetting to many fans. This is a common occurrence with many popular shows, especially those with large fandoms, so this isn’t exactly a unique situation exclusive to Teen Wolf. What separated this from other shows is the seeming shut out of outlets that wrote critical pieces. There were rumors of intimidation against blogs who choose to publish critical pieces and claims that they’d been asked to remove them by official PR channels. Some outlets seemed to have their press access to the cast and crew cut off out of the blue. After speaking with the Teen Wolf PR team, all of this seems to be a miscommunication. They were more than happy to speak with me and help clear up the issue. The PR team reiterated several times throughout the phone call that that they do not have a policy of contacting websites to take down articles or asking for any sort of censorship at all. They also stated that the only reason they’d deny access to press conferences was due to limited space at certain venues.
The event that sparked outcry in the fandom is the removal of an article from Fangirlish. We published a critical piece a few weeks ago and were bombarded with tweets warning us that we may get intimidated into removing it like Fangirlish had been. As I had the privilege of meeting the author of the piece in question at San Diego Comic-Con I reached out to her to confirm the rumors. Unfortunately their site policy prevents them from discussing internal matters, which is something we absolutely respect. The only thing that I can confirm is that it was removed and that it was a piece that was critical in both tone and content (someone submitted the article in full here, if you’re curious). Once again, Teen Wolf PR said that this is not something they would do and since Fangirlish is choosing to not elaborate further, we may not ever really understand why it was taken down at all.
Even The Daily Dot has been brought into this with an apparent shut out of Teen Wolf press access. Most of their communication for all press related matters was handled through the Teen Wolf social media team. The Daily Dot also recently spoke to members of the MTV press team in order to clarify the process for press access. At this point it’s important to clarify that the social media team is not in charge of PR, but strictly in charge of social media. All official PR media contacts can be found on their webpage here. People with questions concerning PR are encouraged to contact them directly and not through the social media team. The PR team also wanted to make it clear that the only time they’ve ever rejected outlets from press rooms is due to space, not over content issues. Events like San Diego Comic-Con can get crowded and there’s a limit to how much press can fit in the room. Any apparent shut out has less to do with content and more to do with space or working through the wrong PR channels. I’m sure this will come to a relief to many journalist who can be critical, but still want to attend and report on events.
Edit: Aja from the Daily Dot has comment on the post with the following clarification:
The Daily Dot recently spoke to members of the MTV press team in order to clarify longstanding confusion on our part about the process through which we request access to the TW production crew and to press events. We do not feel we have ever been deliberately shut out of press access by MTV’s press team, and have resolved this point of confusion to our satisfaction.
So how did we get involved in this whole debacle? We were recently contacted about a critical piece, which indicated to us that we’d become a blip on Teen Wolf PRs radar. It’s important to mention that we were not contacted by the Teen Wolf PR team directly, but by the author of a piece that seemed to further stance that Teen Wolf is positive for queer representation. The article ’Teen Wolf’ Cast Weighs In On LGBT Inclusion included interviews with many of the main cast members regarding this theme. The article was written for the Advocate, a publication that is highly respected for reporting on LGBTQ+ news. Due to the websites reputation, it was surprising to many fans see a piece like this published without being more critical.One of our Teen Wolf writers, Farid, wrote a counter piece ‘Not Just Posey, The Whole Cast Thinks ‘Teen Wolf’ Is An LGBT Gift.
The author of the piece contacted us personally hoping for a follow up to our critical article. Considering that what happened to Fangirlish was still fresh in our minds, I immediately felt a bit defensive and took this as another possible PR maneuver at curtailing negative articles. Our reaction was hasty as we didn’t want to have another repeat story of what apparently happened with them. Once we started digging, this story took off in an entirely different direction. It evolved into a conversation about fandom journalism, integrity, and relationships with studio PR departments. We had no idea it would spiral this far from the original email, but at least it’s helped uncover some things about how their PR works and their relationship with bloggers.
As the author of the Advocate piece hasn’t responded to us in more than a day, it’s unclear if he’s changed his mind about engaging on the topic, hasn’t had time to respond, or pulled back for other reasons. If he does respond, we will be writing a follow up piece regarding that specific issue. We aren’t sure if the author of the piece had any idea what he was walking into when he posted that article. His defense of his piece seems to most likely have been entirely self initiated and personal, so we’re reserving judgement until he chooses to engage us again. The queer representation on the show is a conversation that is definitely worth having. In this instance, the conversation has propelled itself beyond the original issue and become something else, but the original topic is still something that should be discussed and we hope to continue to engage on this subject.
Farid, the author of the piece that attracted the attention from the Advocate, has his own thoughts on the shift in Teen Wolf PR over the years:
“The fandom noticed how Jeff took over MTV Teen Wolf’s official twitter account and kept tweeting to himself without answering any of the replies. He also didn’t do a Tumblr Q&A session either. It was as if the PR was saying that if you had something bad or critical to say about Teen Wolf you weren’t a loyal pack member and it would be better if you left watching the show.”
Geekiary editor, Undie Girl, had this to say about this recent PR issues surrounding the show:
Personally I have never been officially reprimanded by Teen Wolf PR. The closest I have come was being asked by an editor to dial back the discussion on a particular topic as a show of good faith to Teen Wolf. This isn’t really unheard of and I wasn’t exactly surprised. Honestly I think this has less to do with any PR conspiracy and more to do with the fandom’s general feeling that they’re voices are falling on deaf ears. It’s been almost a year since I wrote a couple of articles about marketing to fandom – particularly Teen Wolf – suggesting that trying to control the conversation doesn’t work because fans just want to feel like they’re being heard (Has Teen Wolf Social Media Lost Its Edge? | Fandom Wants to Be Heard and Orlando Jones is Listening | Baiting The Fandom That Feeds You). It seems that Teen Wolf still isn’t listening.
It’s clear that fandom wants to be heard and all of the confusion over the PR team and their relationship with bloggers complicated matters. We hope that things are a bit more clear now and that the fandom can put some of the rumors to rest. We’ve certainly walked away from this feeling a lot better about PR’s relationship with bloggers. While there’s definitely been some confusion, hearing that they would never ask for a removal of an article or blacklist a critical outlet is music to our ears. We’ll keep talking about problematic elements of the show, continue going to conventions, and engaging with cast, crew, PR, and fellow journalists just as we always have. Now we can do so without being afraid of getting a take down request or being denied access and we hope that others feel the same.
Author: Angel Wilson
Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.
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I’m glad to hear that this issue has been resolved to The Geekiary’s satisfaction and that reassurance has been given that TW PR will not request articles to be removed or ban bloggers etc if they are critical. There does, however, seem to be a huge gulf between their PR team and their social media team, who do not seem to be bound by the same ethical restrictions. I would have thought social media was very much part of PR but that’s not my area of expertise. I’m very happy The Geekiary and others will still be able to give honest reviews & feedback without fear of pitchforks and torches.
After reading this I am genuinely more confused about Teen Wolf PR and their Social Media Team’s tactics. Based on what you have stated here, the PR team wanted to make it clear they are not part of the Social Media team and do not intercede on any social media outlets on behalf of Teen Wolf. In my experience, PR+ Social Media go hand in hand, and this admittance to not being affiliated with the Social Media team is a bit bizarre to me.
I’m not sure if you’re still in contact with them but if you are allowed a follow up piece on behalf of the fans questions could you ask them, what is their role in the publicizing of Teen Wolf? I’m not totally convinced of this ‘we are separate people and therefore do not interact’ implied message the PR team are sending here.
If the PR team truly cared about their persona and how we as fans perceive PR vs. TW Social Media Team, wouldn’t they have urged their social media outlets to improve their responses/methods?
I understand Fangirlish’s policy is to not discuss internal matters with outside sources. So, if the PR team is to be believed on their stance of subjectivity on Pos/Neg reviews, then I glean from Fangirlish’s article take down a more subversive threat of blacklisting over even the possibility of back lash from TPTB at MTV/TeenWolf/Viacom or what have you. In my estimation, self-editing the tone and opinions of your article (which a lot of fans felt happened with The Backlots latest review) is done in order to appease TW PR/Media is itself a form of “blacklisting” prevention.
Thank you for keeping us in this dialogue of sorts, but I truly feel more confused as to why the mouthpiece of TW media isn’t choosing to engage with fans in order to rectify their mistakes. It appears to me that they would rather bulldoze an idea of how they want the show to be viewed than actually talk to those who view the show and know it for what it is.
You can definitely email them yourself if you’d like. In the conversation we had they encouraged me to put the link to their PR page. To me that seems they are willing to engage directly, though why the social media team doesn’t adjust their tactics is confusing to me as well. It seems like that’d be easier to talk to fans through, but they were pretty insistent that all PR concerns be brought up with them instead. It seems like there is a communication issue between the two departments.
All of the links are leading to “page not found” pages and the word “weigh” was spelled with a “t” in your link to advocate article.
Correcting the links issue now. Thanks
It’s interesting to me that this seems to be eerily familiar, and almost an exact reiteration of what we heard in response to sterek, and other shipping related, material being banned in conventions.
As a previous commenter said, the rift between the official PR team and their social media, as well as other outlets for social and fanning interactions, seems to be suspect at best. One instance of “mixed messages” and “they’re doing their own thing and we don’t have any control over it” is suspect and frustrating. TWO? I’m starting to lose faith in what were trying to be sold here. I simply can NOT imagine that the official PR team wouldn’t have more control over how their product is being sold to it’s fans. Worse, their seeming refusal to do more than deny their involvement and actually correct the issues and “misunderstandings”, actually makes me think WORSE of them than had the rumors behind the need for this article been true. At least then I would have a true answer in regards to TW’s stance on the matter.
In the words of Stiles, if once is an incident and two is a coincidence…well, I’m not so convinced were going to have to wait very long for three and four…
Just coming back to say that I also find it problematic that this article seems to dismiss the fact that while the PR team is not in charge of the social media team, that does not make their social media team any less of an official voice (nor does saying that they don’t have a policy of censorship mean that they DONT do it btw). Consequently, if you go back to the TW official tumblr response to this (i.e. the banning of certain content at conventions) you will notice the use of the SOCIAL MEDIA’s explicit assumption of being a sanctioned voice of TW. The following is a quote from that tumblr post:
“The only conventions with an official authorized presence from MTV are SDCC and NYCC, and we have not (and will not) ban anything from there.”
Notice the words “official” and “authorized” followed by the use of “we”, indicating that this then is ALSO and official and authorized response (and by extension, the TW tumblr is an official and authorized platform for that response)
So tell me again how TW’s social media is not an outlet for the PR team, and that they does not represent the official beliefs and interests of the show’s powers that be.
All I can tell you is what I’ve been told and what I’ve experienced as a journalist. I’ve tried my best to convey not only my own authors experiences and my own experiences, but the experiences of two other blogs as well. When it comes to the PR team, we an only say what they’ve told us, which is exactly what we’ve put in this article. If you feel the information is inaccurate, we have happily provided the contact information for the PR department, which they’ve encouraged us to do. They specifically stated that if anyone has PR concerns to contact them. To me it sounds like you definitely have valid concerns, so I suggest taking them up on their offer. They seemed very willing to speak about theses issues.
-Admin Angel
This is an interesting article, but there’s a certain naiveté about it that I find troublesome. I work in advertising/PR – I cannot think of an instance (and this includes with other MTV shows) that social media & PR didn’t work VERY closely together. One reason why? Because of advertisers that want access to cast, and want that integration to be exposed through social media. Additionally, you state that access to the cast, etc, is limited only by space. Well, when there’s only a certain amount of space available, who do you think is going to get first dibs? The outlets that were (rightly) critical of TW, Jeff Davis, their PR, the cast’s growing list of screw-ups, etc – or the outlets (like The Advocate) that brush those concerns under the rug and enable those same people to pat themselves on the back for doing nothing? As things stand now, there is little to nothing the PR or social media team can do to bring back the (very large) amount of fans they’ve angered and driven off. And that’s just the TW PR staff. There is no mention here of the cast’s personal PR teams – which, yes, will definitely ask to have critical pieces removed (as many suspect was the actual case with Shelley Hennig’s PR team & the Fangirlish article). This is the same cast that make some of the stupidest PR blunders I’ve seen in order to alienate themselves from the homosexual overtones of the show (which were once heavily used to obtain publicity by the very same cast and PR teams that are now speaking against it). Dylan O’Brien, I’m thinking of you – who goes from ‘I’m on a ship!’/’We love Sterek!’ to ‘No way is Stiles gay, wow he loves girls, don’t read into any subtext, etc’. I won’t even touch the debacle of Posey’s comments. This is a nice effort on the Geekiary’s part, but TW is so out of touch with fans, that I don’t see them making their way back into fan’s good graces soon (if ever).
I suppose the true test of that will be when blogs who have been previously denied access through either a made up “blacklist” or by going through improper channels attempts to gain access at future cons. We will definitely be trying to get access at SDCC and now that we have PRs correct information, we’ll see how this plays out. If blogs who posted critical content all get denied again, perhaps their statements weren’t accurate. If some of us get in, then maybe they were telling the truth. We aren’t just speaking for ourselves here. We’re a small blog and we’re well aware that that might be why we don’t make the cut, but the Daily Dot is huge and if they don’t get let in, well, that’ll be saying something.
We didn’t have contact with individual actors PR Teams so we have no idea how they operate.
Thanks for appreciating our effort. We really tried hard to tell the full story that we had access to.
-Admin Angel
Hi, all! A word of clarification:
The Daily Dot recently spoke to members of the MTV press team in order to clarify longstanding confusion on our part about the process through which we request access to the TW production crew and to press events. We do not feel we have ever been deliberately shut out of press access by MTV’s press team, and have resolved this point of confusion to our satisfaction.
Thanks!
And this is why I dream of becoming a journalist 🙂
A+ clarification and professionality, guys! I’m glad you searched and found answers, and clarified everything with the MTV PR team. Thanks so much for sharing!
I actually agree with most of the doubts in the other comments, this thing keeps sounding fishy, but only on their part. You did a great job of constructive criticisms in the past, and I hope nobody dares stop it in the future, cos’ I love reading this blog too much (also, you all are good writers).
Now if only certain elements from the TW PR would follow your example … but good God, social media IS a branch of general PR! They’re different people, but there must be internal communication, especially in PR, which is fundamental for the show’s image. With that answer, they’re sounding childish: “he did it, not me!”
Well, we’ll see how things evolve. For now, thanks again.
I’m with the readers…i know the whole PR team saying they have no idea what the Social Media branch is doing, does come across as very fishy…I mean, as far as i know Social Media is part of the PR for any company, TV show, etc…so saying that SMedia is acting on it’s own is either an excuse or there’s some SERIOUS Miss-communication occurring
I would like to clarify, that as far as i can see, this article is about letting our readers know what the PR team are saying. You might believe them or not, that’s up to you. But our job as journalists is to provide our readers with both sides of the story. I’m glad our Admin decided to do such a piece and she did it quite thoroughly, contacting the PR team directly…as i see it, she did her job as someone who wants to bring accurate information to the website’s readers
If what the PR team said is inaccurate, you can be sure that TheGeekiary will definitely be writing about that…have you read the pieces we have written? You know we are a very critical bunch of people/fans and can not be silenced ;)….Right now i hope the piece quells some confusion in the fandom and enables fans to directly contact the PR team and see what answers they have to give….maybe, just maybe ‘direct’ fandom interaction or attack 😉 will make them change their PR tactics if they have been deliberately trying to silence critical websites cos now they know that such websites are on to them and fans don’t like staying quiet if they see something wrong
Good, now that we’ve got TW PR’s words that they won’t practice censorship in print, let’s see if they can actually keep them.
We certainly hope they keep to all of their promises here and don’t bar journalists who are critical either.
-Admin Angel
I’d like to say a word or two about that piece on Fangirlish. I’ve read it and it is my opinion that it had to be removed, not because it was critical of the show, but because it was amateurish, unbiased, grammarless and unprofessional and had no business calling itself an ‘article’. It was a rant, not an article. Its author insulted people. It’s one thing to be critical, but completely different to be rude. She insulted Shelley Hennig to the point where she made the girl seem like a brainless idiot. She then went on to flat out insult other cast members, the people working on the show and ultimately fellow members of the press because they liked a character she didn’t. She ended the article by calling all these people “lying liar[s]“. Very mature.
The interviews she did with the cast members of TW are still up on Fangirlish. Reading them is a nightmare for anyone who knows anything about journalism. As a journalist, you accept the answers you get from people you interview. If you don’t like the answers, that’s too bad, but you still have to publish them and not add things like “I was really annoyed with her answers.” I mean, this woman openly admits she had a hard time acting profesionally towards an actress because she hates her character. If you can’t differentiate between an actress and her character and treat the actress with respect, then you can’t be a journalist. It’s as simple as that.
And just to clear this up: I’m not a member of anybody’s PR team, not Teen Wolf’s or any of the actors’. I’m simply writing this because I have seen so many people praise that rant on Fangirlish, when the author deserves no praise at all. No serious news outlet would ever hire her if she wrote like that for them.
Also, in response to somebody’s claim that the actors’ PR teams might have asked that that “article” be removed: the interviews with actors are still up on Fangirlish and they contain as much damning stuff as that one rant.
That’s an interesting theory. We don’t know Fangirlish’s standards for writing, but we wouldn’t allow an article up that had profanity like Jamie’s did. However, we would allow a piece to go up that had strong opinions and editorial comments regarding an interview. Different websites have different rules, I suppose. We may never actually know what happened with the removal of her article because they refuse to talk about it. Their silence on the matter is making things a lot harder to figure out what happened behind the scenes. We’re very happy to be transparent about what’s happening her, but again, different websites, different rules. Until they speak out, we really have nothing to go on.
-Admin Angel
As a journalist, you accept the answers you get from people you interview. If you don’t like the answers, that’s too bad, but you still have to publish them and not add things like “I was really annoyed with her answers.”
This is probably the current standard for “journalism”, I admit, but it really shouldn’t be. What do you do when your interviewee is lying, obfusticating, or pulling things out of their ass? How do you indicate to your readers that this is going on? Shouldn’t one of your jobs, as a journalist, be to fact-check, note when something isn’t true, give some context?
I, too, am boggled at the idea that TW social media and PR aren’t connected. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on. It’s particularly important because TW PR/SM have been *consistently* lying and mis-directing about the actual content of the show, in a way that many people call “toxic”.
If you can tell the person you’re interviewing is lying, call them out on the spot. Ask questions that will force the truth out of them. If they’re still lying, then find information that will prove they’re lying and put it in the article.
The problem with the author of that rant at Fangirlish is that she wasn’t interviewing a politician or someone who is asked to give facts all the time. She interviewed actors who gave their interpretation of the storyline happening on their show. What annoyed her wasn’t that they lied about someone dying or something like that. What annoyed her was that an actress made a referrence to her character’s love interest while answering a question about her storyline. She just didn’t like the way the interviewee answered the question. Well, I’m sorry if she was disappointed, but what did she axpect? That actors were going to lie just to please her? That they would ask, “What would you like to hear?” and then repeat what she told them? No, that’s not how it works.
Also, to correct myself and my post above: the article was BIASED, not unbiased. It was very, very biased.
It’s not always easy to call people on things in press rooms. Typically you’re seated at a table with other outlets and are given a set amount of time for everyone. Moving from one question to another is often done very quickly and it’s rare to have a chance for a follow up question. If you’re lucky you get to be at the press line where you have a couple of minutes with someone one on one, but that’s usually extremely limited. If you’d like to see how press roundtables are done, you can look at our roundtables from Supernatural and Dominion from our SDCC coverage. They are listed on our youtube (linked to the right) as well as on the SDCC masterlist (linked above under “conventions”) and under the show specific masterposts (linked above to the left under “featured”). These things are fast paced and we’re often lucky to even get one question in.
-Admin Angel
Eva:
I read the piece as more of “opinion” than “article”, to be honest. And yes, it *is* a rant, by someone who’d been driven beyond the point of good sense by a frustrating situation.
What annoyed her was that an actress made a reference to her character’s love interest while answering a question about her storyline.
I’m guessing you don’t watch Teen Wolf. Here’s the interview in question — which was “in depth”, not a round-table, btw:
Fangirlish was asking about what had happened with Malia’s *actual*, adoptive father, Mr. Tate, who was significant to her in Season 3 and seemed to have vanished in Season 4.
Hennig clearly has no answer except “you’re not supposed to be paying attention to that, what’s more important is her relationship with Stiles.” Fangirlish isn’t making Hennig look stupid, it’s some toxic combination of the story she’s been given by the scripts and the showrunner, and the line PR has instructed her to take.
What drove Fangirlish nuts is that Malia and Hennig were *heavily* promoted in the lead-up to Season 4 and during the season itself. Yet apparently her backstory, her motivation, her *life* was something we weren’t supposed to pay attention to, it’s just TV.
I watch (some) Teen Wolf and I have seen the interview in question. What I get from her response are two things:
1. Hennig not being allowed to say the backstage reasoning for why the actor playing Mr. Tate hasn’t been brought back.
2. Hennig accidentally slipping a spoiler about Malia being lied to by Mr. Tate.
Point 1 is something actors have no control over. Actors have to deal with backstage shenanigans that affect their storyline all the time. The best they can then do is ask that people focus on other things while the backstage issues are being resolved. I’ll admit, Hennig did not handle that question well at all. But, Jamie saw her answer as a lame way of promoting a “ship” when it’s obvious Hennig just had no good explanation for something she had no control over and was desperately looking for a way out. Jamie got the answer she got and had to accept it. Hennig wasn’t going to lie and make up stuff for her.
Point 2 is something any good journalist should know how to take advantage of. At that point, nobody knew Malia was adopted. Had Jamie not been so consumed by her obvious dislike of Hennig, she could have noticed the spoiler. She could have written an entire article centered around that quote, making assumptions about what that could mean. Fangirlish could have received a bunch of hits for such an article. It’s a missed opportunity.
Your point #2 is incorrect. At the time of the interview (SDCC), all the characters except Malia knew that she was adopted. This was no spoiler.
“Malia being lied to by Mr. Tate” is something that never happened in canon, either before or after the interview. I believe it’s part of Hennig’s “headcanon”, the backstory she’s made up to explain her character’s motivations — because she hadn’t been given that information by the writers or showrunner.
I accidentally wrote the wrong e-mail address for this comment. I guess that’s what happens when you have several e-mail accounts. 🙂
Delete the comment above, please and respond to the comment below. Thanks. 🙂
Done.
Noticed some of Angel K’s tweets that express feelings of disappointment that the article may have let fans down. For the record, this article does not let anyone down. Indeed, it does something very important by putting MTV’s PR team position on record about press access granted to outlets that are critical of Teen Wolf, such as The Geekiary.
The article provides ammunition for outlets should MTV’s PR team conduct themselves in a manner inconsistent with the policy stated in this article, which also provides MTV’s PR team with some motivation to follow said policy.
In the end, this article embodies the watchdog spirit of journalism. Of the articles I have read here at The Geekiary, all of them have been underpinned by this same spirit – even if the execution could use some polish here or there. =)
So, keep on helping us to keep the-powers-that-be honest. What are we without accountability?
Thank you so much. I have been feeling like I’ve let some people down but I tried to best with what I’ve been given. I’m glad that people can walk away from this message with information and a spirit of accountability on behalf of journalists and PR, which is what we’re hoping for.
-Admin Angel
Something just occurred to me. MTV PR told The Geekiary that the Social Media Team operates as a separate entity. The implication here is that the PR team has no oversight of the Social Media Team. So, who does? Are we to believe that the Social Media Team operates autonomously? Of course, that would explain a lot in terms of how missteps by that team have gone unaddressed and continue to happen.
Another thing which stretches the bonds of believability is how Social Media, one of the most powerful mediums through which a company can relate to the public, does not fall under the auspices of the Public Relations department at MTV. If this is true, if they are indeed separate entities, then what good can come from vocalizing fan issues to the PR team?
What is needed here is a clearer picture of the administrative structure of MTV.
EDIT: What good can come vocalizing fan issues about the Social Media team to the PR team?
That’s what I meant. Sorry. *blushes*
Thank you very much for writing this piece and trying to get to the bottom of the whole thing. It shows that you’re dedicated to keeping your readers updated and that you value journalism. You are my hero today!
And while you deserve a medal for asking all the right questions, I don’t think the Teen Wolf PR team deserves any medals for answering them clearly and forthrightly. Yes, they answered them, but in vague roundabout ways. Remember, it is a PR person’s job to lie. It is what they are paid to do.
Journalists are paid (sometimes paid) to find the truth. PR people are paid to obfuscate the truth and make up prettier, more profitable alternatives to the truth. So do not be surprised if the responses you’ve documented in this piece are forgotten about by the PR and Social Media teams tomorrow. Teen Wolf is a business and they will do and say whatever they need to do to bring that business back to profitability.
It’s true that they keep making the mistake of underestimating their fan base’s intelligence and repeatedly assume that no one is paying attention to what they do. Hopefully your work will be the wake up call they need to see that their fans are SMART and that they pay attention to what is said.
Thanks again. Great work!
I’m sure you are aware about this article/statement that Fangirlish put up: http://fangirlish.com/the-only-comment-we-will-make-as-to-why-we-removed-the-teenwolf-pr-article/ it states that you never contacted them, but from your article I’m getting that you had. Plus recently the author from the PR critical article is now not working for Fangirlish anymore, which is their business but they’ve kept her articles up and at first changed the author to someone named Chloe but now has the author as erased.
Is it normal policy for a site to erase or change an articles author if they are no longer working for the site?
No it’s not normal policy and we feel really bad for Jamie. That was horribly unprofessional. When we’ve had authors leave we keep their articles under their name and simply remove their posting capabilities.
I wasn’t aware a post had been made but I had been contacted by Jamie about what had happened. We’re pretty good acquaintance and after this whole fiasco I’ve come to respect her a lot. I’ve even offered for her to come write for us instead, but she’s choosing to step back from writing at this time.
-Admin Angel
Thank you so much for the reply. This whole mess is depressing, and it’s great to find a site that isn’t afraid to voice concerns and being critical without being wholly negative.
I T-O-T-A-L-L-Y AGREE with everything said on the replies (especially Farid): the interviewer is being too good & naif with TW recent style: I’m still appalled at the lack of respect, as they held against us for all this time, without EVER (?!) saying to be sorry for their behaviour.
This has nothing to do with their effing show y’know, it’s called being “decent people”, so I was actually giggling about the comment about gay kids having a clue regarding TW, actually they’re having quite a bad example IMO instead.
& y’know also what? sometimes *indifference* is worse than an open dislike, so when they can just “watch the fake LGBT representation” to cheap laughs & strictly on the background while shaking the hate flag under your nose, how do you guess they should take it?! Hello?? It’s a big NO THANK U sir & I’ve personally already moved on from this TW trainwreck & heartbreak.
Plus perhaps you can behave like Jeff & co. did if you’re a real star, but surely not with the quality of the work showed here…Last but not least, knowing that the showrunner is gay this attitude hurts even more: yep I’m aware that there’re still issues with this topic (among the rest) on tv, but other classier guys would have show more respect for their public no matter what, even if Sterek or whatever else couldn’t be in the agenda, it’s called RESPECT!
Anyways folks let’s try not to be too sad, there will be other good occasion soon & awesome fanfics, & in the meantime a big salute to all our amazing TW fandom!! <3