After watching Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance, I guess it’s true what they say about the freaks coming out at night. But was Miley’s performance simply an expression of her newly over-sexualized self or was it one big publicity stunt? Well, seeing that it is now two months after her performance and people are still talking about how she violated a foam finger, I’d say regardless of what that performance is categorized as it was a success. Previously known as the doe eyed Disney Channel star, Miley Cyrus took the stage donning a teddy bear onesie (which we will no doubt be seeing more of this Halloween season) with her tongue lasciviously wiggling its way out of her mouth. For the next seven minutes, Cyrus then proceeded to shock the world with her twerking, jerking, gyrating, and grinding causing an uproar in the world of social media. Overnight, Miley went from a role model for young girls to a symbol of raw sexuality resulting in scrutiny, disgust, and in very rare cases, admiration. Was it worth it? According to Howard Bragman, a close friend of Miley’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, and an experienced PR agent, "It's a rite of passage, particularly with these Disney girls. They seem to want to say 'hey, I'm not that little kid anymore, I'm a grown up lady.'" Whether or not Miley can be deemed a “lady” is up for debate, but Bragman poses a very good point; Cyrus’ VMA performance has served as a springboard for the second phase of her career: X-rated Miley. After all, we couldn’t expect her to stay the same innocent child star we watched grow up on the Disney channel. It was only a matter of time before this 20 year-old actress/singer revamped her image to complement her transformation into womanhood, but maybe “murdering Hannah Montana” took the renovation a tad too far. Segueing into her next big publicity stunt, Miley Cyrus broke the Vevo record with her latest scandalous music video “Wrecking Ball,” reaching 15 million views in less than 24 hours. That video now has 241 million views since its release on September 9th, 2013, 2 weeks after Miley’s shocking performance. Coincidence? I think not. The strategic release of her controversial video “Wrecking Ball” is Miley’s way of telling the world they better get used to seeing her half naked because the wholesome Miley is gone. Although some view this as a PR nightmare, it is quite the opposite. Everything Miley has done has been strategically planned to shatter her “good girl” image to pieces and showcase Miley 2.0. From sauntering out of a giant teddy bear in a matching leotard to riding a wrecking ball naked, Miley’s team has a game plan. From my perspective as a college sophomore, Operation Good Girl Gone Bad has been successful thus far appealing to the high school and college age demographic, exactly the fan base Miley had been targeting. The older generations, however, are not keen on Miley’s sexual behavior. This is obvious through the vast number of people in their 40’s and older speaking out about how they do not condone the singer’s new provocative image claiming she is a bad influence for the younger age demographic. Miley’s responded to the haters with "My whole thing is, haters are gonna hate, but haters are also going to click on your YouTube video just to watch it, so I don't really care. You helped me break the record. Even if you were watching just to hate on me, and now I hold the record, so I win" (to Good Morning America). About a month after the release of “Wrecking Ball”, Miley Cyrus’ documentary “Miley: The Movement” aired on MTV October 2nd providing fans and haters alike with behind the scene footage of the VMAs (because we all wanted to relive that again). Through this documentary, Miley spoke out about her VMA performance, "I'm a freak. I want to come out of a teddy bear for Christ's sake -- with a hand -- I'm just a freak. I don't think it's that I'm smarter than anyone else, it's not that I think, 'Oh, you don't get it.' It's just who I am and if I'm gonna perform, I want things around me that I like." This self-proclaimed “freak” later in the documentary referred to her “image revamp” as “a strategic hot mess,” yet again bringing us back to the PR element that has made her whole transformation feasible. Miley’s PR campaign has made it impossible for the public to forget who she is; nobody puts Miley in the corner. Instead of laying low after her provocative VMA performance (as suggested by numerous sources to save what little dignity she had left), Miley reveled in the bad press purposefully branding herself as the bad girl waving goodbye to the late Hannah Montana. A few days after “Miley: The Movement” aired on MTV, she hosted Saturday Night Live, poking fun at all of her antics thus far. Again, this prime example of Miley’s public exposure exemplifies how her team’s PR agenda is aiming to give her as much face time as possible. As if that wasn’t enough publicity, Miley’s new album “Bangerz” was released October 4th, 2013 adding to the fanfare of Miley related press. This is another prime example how Miley and her team devised a PR agenda to keep her twerking booty in the limelight for as long as possible. Just think of how popular the many looks of Miley will be for Halloween! The thought of copious amounts of girls donning whitey tighties whilst wielding a sledgehammer is quite alarming, however, it is a tribute to how Miley’s transformation truly rocked our world. Whether or not you support Miley’s new image or yearn for the glory days of Hannah Montana, there is a huge lesson that we can all learn from Miley’s team in regards to PR; a strategic agenda is essential to conveying a desired message to a targeted public. In Miley’s extreme case, she may have burned quite a few bridges, but I have a feeling the she will be the talk of the press for quite sometime now, and if not, I’m sure her PR agent will find someway to get her there. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/howard-bragman-says-miley-cyrus-killed-hannah-montana-2013-8#ixzz2iCOYcfDb Edited by Melanie Ford, Webmaster and Editor-in-Chief 2013-2014
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