The “Real World” of PR February 15, 2010
Posted by Chris Yates in PRCA 3330-PR Connections.trackback
I’m wondering if anyone has seen the the new TV show, Kell on Earth. In the past couple of weeks, two of my PR classes were assigned to do an analysis on the program, so it’s likely that most people know what I’m talking about. For those of you who haven’t seen Kell on Earth, it is a reality series that follows the lives of practitioners working for The People’s Revolution, a firm that specializes in representing the fashion industry. To me, the show seems to be another “Real World” or “Big Brother,” not really my cup of tea. The situations tend to be overdramatic and contain many “reality” cliches. But despite what I think about the show, it does give public relations majors a reasonable glimpse into the operation of a PR firm. Kelly, the owner of the firm preaches about the difficulties of dealing with a high-stress job, keeping underachieving interns in line, and raising a family all at the same time. Check it out on Hulu.
Chris Yates 
I have heard so many people talk about this show and I am really interested in watching it myself. I was actually writing one of my PR connections today and I wrote about the fashion side of PR that is represented through this television show. It does seem to me like it would be another reality show type, but I still would like to watch it myself. I also think that it is interesting that they are now finally doing a reality series on the people in the PR industry. It is such a growing business and hopefully this will proved good publicity for it.
Yah man, I was in class the day we watched that show. It was an eye opener for me in terms that I’ve never seen a PR industry being portrayed as a major stressful job. That is one aspect Sex and the City fails on is there ability to show the stressful side of working in a PR firm. There are many stereotypes on Kell on Earth. Most of the individuals working in the firm are young females and they are portrayed as being somewhat “snotty”. The only guy character on the show (Andrew Mukamal) is gay and that is a definite stereotype for men who work in the PR Industry.
The event the firm was working on in the first episode turned out to be a disaster. Everyone in the firm was freaking out because they werent able to get the seating list printed correctly and they were just far behind. I think the firm needed more specialized workers. There were people with certain job titles doing jobs that other people should have been in charge of. The office seemed way to unorganized and the office environment seemed way to stressful because of that. If all their events are like that then I dont know if I could work for a PR firm, but I’m sure there’s a way around the chaos if everyone in the office is on the same page and working together.
Despite the hectic atmosphere portrayed in the first episode of Kell on Earth, I believe this show will be good for the PR Industry. It gives individuals a look at the stressful side of PR and not just the glamorous life it can bring as popular shows such as Sex and the City portray. I think a lot of people choose PR as a major because of what they see in those types of shows, but Kell on Earth show Public Relations as actual “work” with the stress involved that most jobs create.
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[…] Author: Yates, ChrisLink: https://cyates4.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/the-real-world-of-pr/#comment-5 Yah man, I was in class the day we watched that show. It was an eye opener for me in terms that […]
I can totally see how you wouldn’t like Kell on Earth. Even though it is show about a PR company, I think the target audience is females. I found it very interesting and have grown to love it. I am a fan of pretty much everything on the Bravo channel though.
I agree with you that Kelly preaches a lot about how the job is very high-stressed. If someone is really that stressed all the time you would think they wouldn’t keep pointing out the obvious. At least in my life I don’t like to talk about how stressed I am because it only makes it worse.
The show can only be so different from other reality tv shows because they are all based on “reality” or some version of it.