Skittles… Huh?
Ochocinco source:Google Images
So I have had an interesting week in the world of social media. I have found that if you tweet celebrities and offend them, they are more than likely going to respond to your tweets (it happened to me twice within 24 hours). One of the more interesting celebrity mentions was to Chad Ochocinco. I was tuned in to VH1 watching his new reality television show “The Ultimate Catch.” From Twitter alone, I have witnessed a lot of controversy about the amount of minority women picked to be on the show so I decided to check out Ochocinco’s Twitter page. Within the first few post of his page, I see a link titled “For those who I’ve offended, this is for you.” The link directed me to Ochocinco’s blog where he is blogging about the show.
Ochocinco attempts to start the post “My Johnson doesn’t live in a box” with a little comic relieve, he might call it:
Imagine if I bought a bag of skittles and only ate the green ones. That would be a waste of a bag of skittles. I’m gonna eat ’em all. Romance doesn’t fit in a box, and neither does my Johnson. Ok, all kidding aside, my new reality show is about having fun, meeting women and hopefully finding that ultimate catch, whatever race, creed or color she might be.
He continues…
As a kid growing up, I developed a strong sense of self-worth from the incredible women in my life, all of whom were black. I am the man who I am today because of black women, and I am forever grateful for the values and strength they instilled in me. With all that being said, I was surprised by all of hate that I got from the decisions that were made on the first episode of my reality show Sunday night. The next day, when I went on twitter and saw a lot people talking about how I didn’t pick enough black women or how they weren’t cute or I picked them all at the end…it made my stomach turn. Look….if my mama and my grandmama, the two women who raised me, ain’t got a problem with the women I choose in life, no matter what race they are, then it shouldn’t be a problem to anyone. Bottom line is that I love black women. I got four beautiful children and their mother is black.
Why is this a PR problem? You might ask:
Well, no celebrity is going to issue a statement about a situation they believe will not jeopardize their public image. Ochocinco probably felt so many people were commenting on the situation and he needed to address it.
Quite frankly, I was not convinced and decided to dig a little deeper. I took it upon myself to address the situation. The Twitter conversation (let’s not get beside ourselves, it was not nearly a conversation. haha.) went as follows:
knicol3: @OGOchoCinco nice PR stunt, but just because you blogged about your love for black women, im not convinced. lol.
OGOchoCinco:@knicol3 so
knicol3: @OGOchoCinco so what I am saying is.. if you there isn’t a problem, why take the public relations tactic and respond to the claims?
Of course he did not reply. But please allow me to clear the air. I do not want this post to seem opinion based. The purpose of my asking the question I did was to address one simple professional proposition. Chad felt the need to make a post on the claims because there is an obvious problem. If Jason Mesnick from the Bachelor chose majority minority women to be apart of his cast, there would be a lot of eyebrows raised. It’s typical, especially in our society.
My issue with the Skittles man himself:
I believe Ochocinco said what he wanted everyone to hear. “Of course I love black women, how else would I be here today.” I would have probably said the same thing without a background in public relations. He has said numerous times on his Twitter page that he enjoys controversy. This automatically sends a light bulb to my head. hmmmm. Controversy, what better way to be in the media than to stir up some racial issues. Right?
My perception is simple. If Ochocinco claims he enjoys controversy so much, why did he fail to answer my professional question? Sounds a bit shady to me. As PR professionals we learn that transparency is most important when addressing an audience. Ochocinco should just be real about the situation. There is nothing wrong with preference. Yes, your public image may be a little shot, but leave that to the cowards of our society. In the end, you will be so much more respected for being honest. Honesty makes a credible man.
Please tell me what you think 🙂
for more opinions on the situation, check out others writing on the situation.
Thanks for reading.. -knicol3
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Perception is More than Reality 