Living your life on the billboard

I watched with fascination this week as the world went to the labour room with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Every media station worth its salt had correspondents camped in front of the hospital, so did tourists and residents, not even the Queen’s sister’s (or was it a cousin – her chief bridesmaid, none the less) comment about ‘babies being born everyday’ deterred people, everyone was fascinated with the birth of another heir to the throne.

Amid my surprise at their idleness (I’m sorry, but this is my personal view) I reviewed in my head again – how much pressure the young couple were under. No one can assure me they are used to this type of public glare, where even the most private of moments of giving birth is so public. As I often ask – why can’t she be left to wear her bathrobe into the car home from the hospital if she wanted? We saw they finally yielded to the pressure of unspoken request to be seen by the waiting crowd, and so out came a young and first-time mother whose tummy was expectedly still only 24 hours after child birth.

Whether the Duchess of Cambridge or a local company CEO, living your life in the full glare of the public cannot be that pleasurable, except you’re a Kim Kardashian whose life must be lived on the billboards (by the way, what real lessons do watchers of Kim K get save for improving her show’s rating). Still the pressure of being aware of yourself round the clock must be enormous. Your manners must be intact always; same for your comportment, the way you look and act. People suddenly become less human when they have a public personae.

As reasonable and media savvy as I am, I am still surprised, when my favourite media personae gets out of line. I catch myself asking why? before my brain retorts that she’s as human as I am – true she’s a distinguished CEO, but she’s first of all human. Her hair can fall out of place – she can wear the same black jacket thrice if she likes, still it must be a tough life – to be scrutinised so.

I recall about two years now, a good friend who is the CEO of a development organisation had attended a party as anyone would and the photographer (or paparazzi as they are called) got a close up photo of her and then analysed, and put a cost on her entire outfit, accessories inclusive. The total sum of her outfit was put at over N1 million. It was a slightly embarrassed girl who was explaining to us how she had worked around her grad school hours while schooling in the states to acquire her Rolex, which was a personal gift to herself.

She was quite bewildered as to how she had been positioned as this superrich girl. I think like the marketing principle of top of the mind awareness facilitating recall – when you typically are frequently in the media, the paparazzi will remember you and will sometimes pick on you. Reality is that you’ve got to do what you have to do, to move a business forward or you forward if you need to.

I recall years ago also, when I worked on an active brand; I would typically have a lot of events being the corporate communications person. That’s when the line became hazy – when it’s difficult for the audience to differentiate between an appearance made in the course of work from an appearance made from social activities. So, it was that I had attended what I considered a personal function – a family friend’s 50th birthday – in company of my family. The following day, I was surprised to see the outfit I wore to the event had been traced to the one I had worn to my close friend’s fashion line launch. The writer wondered why I was re-wearing a dress, my dress, paid for by myself from the money earned working in this Lagos. Being Port Harcourt-born and well aware of myself – it was so easy for me to ignore them.

I couldn’t help wondering though – what sort of pressure that would have put on real celebrities, especially when they add what they said – didn’t say or how they said it. How much of useful money will be put into ‘appearance keeping.’

The one that often surprises me is how we all underestimate the power of social media. This platform that so (deceitfully) induces people to live life on the billboard. Check in this app – it helps your audience follow up to the moon, bathroom and back. ‘Kiki just checked into the Galleria at Texas, it reads.’ Seriously? I often wonder what anyone’s business is with where I checked into. But then again, I adjust myself to the reality that this app isn’t meant for me and my kith. Must be exclusively for artists, who have to keep the limelight shining brighter. I must wish people in this tough ecosystem luck. Seems to me like they’d need it.