Oh really? That’s news to the hard-working stiffs at PR firms these days who are chained to their desks and unwilling to take a reporter to lunch.
Forget about glamor. This blogger used to receive invites by the bushel to PR parties held evenings at swanky locales throughout Manhattan. That's long gone. Today's reality: this morning came an invite to a Monday morning 8 o'clock event. That invite presents itself like gold. It is not transferable, and warns "seating is extremely limited." Regrets have been sent.PR people, the salmon-colored Observer observes, used to a place where the “leading practitioners were invisible, a good PR agent never let himself usurp his client’s fame.”
Note to the Observer: they are still in hiding. It's pretty quiet out there as "mum" is usually the word when a PR person is asked about a client. Exceptions: 5W Public Relations' Ronn Torossian who hustles to put his shop on the map, and crisis counselor Michael Sitrick, a guy who must step into the spotlight to defend the likes of the Michael Vicks of the world.
The Observer heralds MTV’s “The Hills,” a program that features Bolthouse Productions, where Heidi Montag “looks pretty behind the desk of a Los Angeles publicity agency whose founder, Brent Bolthouse, is perfectly content to let the camera linger on his carefully slicked black hair.”
That's a pretty simplistic view of PR. In real life, Heidi is smiling only to cover up the fact that nobody showed up at the special event that she was working on.
Brent is still in a state of shock after losing his biggest account. He is deciding what staffers will get the ax.