Fame in America - Not For The Faint of Heart

I've often thought that the last place any ordinary American (read "not a celebrity") would ever want to be is at the center of a media feeding frenzy. On a pretty regular basis, some unsuspecting American all of a sudden gets famous and most of the time it isn't pretty. Think of the newlywed man who had tuberculosis, the crazy astronaut chick, the "runaway bride," etc.

For the past few weeks, I've been watching the concurrent media firestorms surrounding two Americans who are suddenly famous - US Airways Captain Sullenberger, who landed an A320 in the middle of the Hudson River, and Nadya Suleman, the California woman who gave birth to octuplets.

If the general rule is that fame will ruin your life, US Airways Captain Sullenberger appears to be the exception that proves the rule. So far, everything I've read or heard about him is positive. That's at least partly because he performed a genuinely heroic feat. He's also personally appealing - smart, professional, humble and funny. As long as nothing scandalous or controversial about him floats to the surface to disturb his positive persona, he'll come out of his 15 minutes looking pretty good.

Then there's Nadya Suleman, now known as the "Octomom," who is the rule that proves the rule. Whether or not she deliberately set out to become famous, it's safe to say she never expected and certainly never wanted to become the most reviled woman in America. Without rehashing her story and everything that's being written and said about her, here's what's been on my mind as I watch this story play out.

From a communication and messaging point of view, did her publicists get what a train wreck this was going to be when they agreed to represent her? On February 3, eight days after the babies were born and before Nadya had been seen publicly, publicist Joann Killeen used the following words to describe her client: smart, bright, articulate, well educated, balanced and together. Huh? That's certainly not what the rest of us saw once Nadya began speaking for herself and the details of her story came to light. Killeen also said, in response to a question about how Nadya would support her 14 children, that Nadya had been a "working professional" before she had the octuplets.

According to the Killeen Furtney Group's website, Joann Killeen is an "award winning public relations executive with over 30 years of industry experience." Did she really think she could promote this client as being balanced and together, much less a working professional? Working at what, exactly? I also think she could have done a better job of preparing Nadya for the media spotlight. For example, don't go on television and say something that isn't true, such as "I'm not on welfare." It took about 17 seconds after that interview aired for information about food stamps and disability payments to show up online. Apparently Nadya doesn't consider food stamps to be welfare, but that's a subtle semantic distinction that won't stand up in the kind of shrill narrative coverage this story is getting. How about "I've never had plastic surgery." As far as I know that hasn't been proven one way or the other, but it didn't take long for some old pictures to surface, side by side with screen shots from the Today show. Not to call anyone a liar, but Nadya's face sure has changed in the last few years.

As of this morning, the octuplet story appears to be fading from the limelight, at least in the mainstream media. One of the lessons for me is that if think you want to be famous, be careful what you wish for. The media in America is a very fickle lover. If you want to come out of your moment in the spotlight unscathed, make sure you, your story and your behaviour are appealing. Otherwise, you're toast.