Column #13 - Is any publicity really good publicity?

From the polite runway applause to the collective headlines Menwear Fashion Week we faced this past week, the question resurfaces: is attention still a win when it comes with conditions? 

For decades, the phrase has been repeated with the confidence of a universal truth: “Any publicity is good publicity”. A sentence attributed to P.T. Barnum that has survived centuries, several scandals, and far too many brand crises. The logic is seductively simple: visibility equals relevance, noise equals attention, and attention equals success. Except reality, inconveniently, does not agree. 

Because publicity is not and has never been a neutral substance. It’s not oxygen; it’s closer to fire. It illuminates, yes, but it also burns. 

Read also >>> Column #12 - In gold we trust, in silver we spend

We need to start with something unfashionable but essential: trust. In service-based industries, trust is not “nice-to-have”, it’s the product. Recent negative media coverage in the travel sector made this painfully clear. When credibility is questioned, visibility does not help. It accelerates the fall. Customers do not say “at least we’ve heard of them”. They mostly say “absolutely not”. 

The business of being talked about

Fashion likes to think it plays by different rules. That it thrives on controversy. That outrage is just an engagement wearing a bad mood. Sometimes, very briefly, it looks that way. A campaign sparks backlash. Social media explodes. The brand trends. The stock bumps. Champagne?

Not quite. Because when the pros actually measured what negative publicity does ot fashion brands, the results were impressively unglamorous. Brand likeability drops. Purchase intention drops. Loyalty drops. Recommendation drops. Meanwhile, positive publicity barely moves the needle in the opposite direction. Bad news hit harder, last longer, and leaves fewer options for recovery. 

Read also >>> Column #11 - Squarespace, Skylines, and Designer Dreams

In short: people might look. They will not buy. And they will remember why. So, is any publicity good publicity? Maybe. Sometimes. On a very good day. And for about five minutes. Because publicity, in practice, is a bit like being loud at a dinner party. It gets attention, sure. But attention doesn’t guarantee charm, loyalty, or a second invitation. 

Going viral isn’t a business plan

The time is set to the social media craze: people scroll fast, screenshot, debate, and then forget. On the other side, brands trend, disappear, resurface, and rebrand. Markets, however, are less sentimental. They respond later, quietly, when the noise has passed, and choices are made without an audience. That is, I believe, why the saying refuses to die. 

All this to say, anyone can be talked about. Trust, on the other hand, is a much stricter club. Mistaking one for the other isn’t daring, it’s optimistic. And optimism, when left unsupervised, tends to be expensive.