The Truth About Media Exposure: How Integrity Is The Price Some Pay
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Putting a controversial message out into the world is an easy way to attract lots of media exposure and name recognition. In this episode, Bill Stierle and Tom discuss how some politicians say ridiculous things in their attempts to garner the attention of going viral. These people are willing to sacrifice their integrity in order to increase the likelihood that you will recognize their name and vote for them. Ted Cruz attacking Big Bird is an example of someone attempting to use controversy for his own advantage. That’s not what America needs: We need somebody who cares about integrity and accountability and is a good person who actually wants to help America. Don’t miss this episode!
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The Truth About Media Exposure: How Integrity Is The Price Some Pay
Bill, I'm interested to talk with you about media exposure, the truth behind it and what the real goal is of people that it may seem counterintuitive at first that getting exposure for something that on its face might make you look bad is still the point and more important than what that bad news might be.
This is such a difficult discussion take. In our last episode, we focused on how do we get branding works, exposure and how does a company do a better job of getting their product or service in front of people. A lot of times, the negative exposure will rise to the top of the equation or to the view, even though it’s, “I'm going to get enough eyeballs to get my name recognition high.”
There was a joke that Bill Maher made one time that says, “Kylie Jenner made her millions of dollars and has not done a sex tape.” It was funny to the audience because many people get their eyeballs by that and then all of a sudden, they're at that status of exposure or that status of popularity and things. It's like, “That's a tough way to get exposure.” Bad news or even controversial news, even if it's stupid, irrelevant or even damaging, is still okay.
That's disappointing in some ways, but it's true. Depending on your goal, especially for political candidates, national office, what you need more than anything is name recognition.
The goal is to be seen.
It doesn’t matter what you are known for. When we see some people being amplified by the media and you might think, “That's not good for him,” maybe not so fast. Being amplified by the media accomplishes that goal of name recognition. That may be the ultimate goal of a lot of people.
For example, if Al Franken would have given a huge, hard pushback about his picture as a professional comedian, getting a bunch of soldiers to laugh by taking that picture, this is not to justify the picture or the intent, but all of a sudden it's like if that picture was handled the way Donald Trump or some of these other characters, it's like, “I was at there. I did that. I'm a comedian. That's my job. I was making people laugh. It was poor taste, but it does not have anything to do with the integrity I have as a US senator. I have integrity. I'll take my lumps on this because I was a professional comedian then. I was not thinking about running for office and being a person that holds integrity. Integrity is a moment-by-moment thing. It is not something that I should be held accountable for a way back then fully and clearly.”
All of a sudden, the Brett Kavanaugh thing comes up. It's like, “I was a fifteen-year-old.” Clearly, accountability didn't work with that traumatic thing that he caused that woman. It seems like it's okay for the court, but it's not okay for democrats or the senator. This is where people are going to give us pushback because we're creating a conflict. The conflict is, “What are you going to stand for? What are you going to make words and actions mean? Is it something that you're going to be trialed in the Court of Public Opinion or the criminal court? Which one of those things are you going to be trialed in?”
The prime example of the last few years is the Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump on the bus with Billy Bush. Clearly, that was trialed in the Court of Public Opinion. The reality is we've talked about before in debate Hillary Clinton could have.
One line gives her the presidency. That's not what we need. We don't need a fifteen-year-old being a president. Are you going to be a locker room guy when you're a president? Is that the kind of guy you're going to be? Is that the level of respect that it's okay to joke about women's genitals like that? If she raises her level of forcefulness here, whatever he says next that digs back about her husband, she then gets to counter that by saying, “I have him in line. He and I have worked it out. How about you? Have you worked out your stuff from the past?”
Do you know how powerful that would have been? What she is saying is she has gotten a former elected president in line. What kind of power does that put on her, that she has the power to get him in line?
“That's why I'm more qualified for this job than you are. I know how to have a long conversation with somebody rather than talk in soundbites. I string together 3 or 4 sentences that become press coverage.” “Hillary Clinton said this.” What does that get her? Votes. She shouldn't even have to travel anywhere because the press travels.
One of the weird things about TV and our current media environment is that if something goes viral, it goes viral. It sets somebody's career up. It sells somebody's books. It puts somebody on Oprah just because you do this one viral thing. You get to move to the top of the list because people want to see the thing that went viral that everybody else is looking at.
It's a weird environment. The question is, “How do I get my name recognition? How do I get more exposure? When I get that exposure, what am I going to do with this? What are the new ways I can get exposure?” Think how dark this one is, “If I get exposure by rejecting vaccines, if I get name exposure, so 100, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000 people die in my state. I don't care. I'm just getting exposure. I'm okay with that.” These are unnamed people. These, “I'm not held accountable for that. All I'm accountable for is getting a person’s limbic brain to agree with me. I got to get their validated point of view to say, ‘Your name is something I will vote for because you stand for something similar that I do.’”
It's unsettling because politicians know how expensive it is to buy an ad on TV, to pay for clicks on the internet, to advertise in newspapers when you can find them. People still read them, but it takes a lot to get that group of people. You need to be there because there are still people that read newspapers and don't want to see them. They want to read it. It's faster. I don't want to sit around and watch my cell phone.
It is faster and honestly seems much more effective. The interesting thing is it doesn't matter for the most part. Obviously, somewhere out there, there's a line that if you cross, it might be the third rail and you get in trouble, but we seem to be pushing that line further and further off in the distance. The goalposts keep getting moved as to where that line is. Putting some message out there that's controversial is such an easy way to get all the media to give you this free exposure and get that name recognition.
That’s what somebody running for national office is always trying to do. We've seen politicians do this every week. We have an example related to this vaccine issue that I want to share with our audience. Ted Cruz came out and attacked Big Bird and so the other Republicans. Ted Cruz is the ringleader. He's the tallest voice at the microphone who's trying to use this controversy and he's doing it masterfully. I was telling you before we started this episode, Donald Trump is probably like, “Ted Cruz is getting more media exposure than me because of this.”
What's next, “What did he say now,” thing that's going to take place? He ran a presidency on shock and awe of, “What is this guy going to say next?” It was a traumatic and exciting time. It would have been an exciting time if he would have been in alignment with things that were valuable to the United States, but he didn't do it for that motive.
He stayed close to what his brand is, which is, “How can I keep in front of the press and get acknowledgment and recognition to go in my what and my way?” Congratulations. You are going to be known for the person who, by getting elected, gave a huge tax break to rich people. That's what you've known for. He was only one vote away from bringing the healthcare system getting rid of things. He would have been known for that.
If not, for the late Senator John McCain.
He said, “There are too many of my people that are going to get crushed by this,” but he still voted for the thing.
Let's return to the Ted Cruz here. I have to admit, I originally thought, “What a blender?” He stepped on a landmine and self-inflicted a wound. Big Bird is this beloved character who, by the way, has been supportive of vaccines for children since 1972. I'm one of those first generations that were raised on Sesame Street. It started six months or so before I was born. I grew up with Sesame Street and so each of my kids. We all love Big Bird among all the other Sesame characters.
When somebody like Ted Cruz attacks Big Bird, we're like, “Really?” It may seem puzzling and we may think, “That guy doesn't have any understanding of what he was doing and who was attacking.” However, the school of Bill Stierle has taught me that, in fact, Ted Cruz knows exactly what he's doing, and he's writing this controversy all the way to the advertising bank.
What's important here is that the politicians have got to start taking money, capital or resources out of the advertising bank, “I've got to create the shock and awe that Donald Trump did so I can get name being seen.” Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis are in the front line of things. They are the possible 2024. They're just getting themselves ready for 2024. That's what the two people are doing. They're the ones that are ahead because the brand damage has been done in the Republican mindset and voters about Democrats being bad.
There's not so much in the swing voters, but in the Republican base, the words socialism and communism have been spraypainted on the democratic chart on the imagery. That's what this group wants to do instead of thinking of the party of doing more towards civil rights, equality, and trying to create balance in society by holding a middle class in place.
They're not being thought of in that way. They're thought of as, “You just want to take taxes and waste money spending.” It's like, “Have you ever seen a Republican president spend things? Do you need that much military from the thought or the idea?” There are 48 aircraft carriers, and we have 24 of them in the world.
The thing is, people don't pay attention to that stuff, but what they do pay attention to is Ted Cruz attacking Big Bird and who Ted Cruz is.
The fact doesn't matter. They're not seeing where their money is being spent and who's getting it. They're yelling about Big Bird. It's like, “That's all your party's got?” It's troublesome because when one party steps all the way off the truth and integrity train, it's hard for them to run after the truth and integrity train.
How are they going to take a step back towards science? Think about how difficult that is. They can't take a step back towards science. They've got to maintain the path of getting the level of eyeballs. Chuck Grassley said, “I’ll be silly not to take the endorsement of President Donald Trump because the voters are with him. I'm where the voters are.”
The integrity left the Republican station years ago. This is true. All the established Republicans, Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, and Lindsey Graham, are the primary case in point. They've changed their positions on pretty much everything they've needed to stay in alignment with whatever the Republican base believes at the time. Their integrity means nothing anymore in certainly in the Republican party.
Unfortunately, the Democrats, who at times do try to stay in integrity, those are the facts that don't matter. People aren't paying attention to that. Certainly not the other side and not all the swing voters. If you're a Republican politician, you're trying to stay, be the king of the mountain, which is what they're all trying to do is climb to the top and be the king of the mountain, you insult somebody like Big Bird, and you entice all the media, not just the right-wing media.
I'm sure that Fox News and Newsmax were talking about it too, but NBC, CBS, all the other media and the late-night comedians. That's the video that we have in the blog post from The Late Night With Stephen Colbert. He did a great little musical number at the beginning, which I thought was hilarious. I was laughing hard when I watched that. I was thrilled when I found it on YouTube. I was enjoying that moment saying, “Ted Cruz is such an idiot,” until we talked.
That's not what it was for. It's not Tom Cruise is an idiot. Tom Cruise got millions of dollars of free advertisement for name recognition against Ron DeSantis. Keep your eye on the ball. The ball is Ron DeSantis has been getting eyeballs because he's been talking against vaccines and killing people in his state. The dark way to look at it is he is not a public servant. He's in a public servant position. Is anybody want to have any outrage about this? He is elected to a public servant and he is killing the people that elected him. It's a dark moment.
I saw a stat about that. To put a number on it, and I know the facts don't matter, but there was a report that came out in counties across the United States where there are more people that believe in the vaccine, that only 7.8 people per 100,000 have died from the Coronavirus. In counties where people are not getting the vaccine or not believing in it, it's 25 people per 100,000. They've been studying and seeing it along party lines and party affiliations.
You're talking about counties where there are more blue counties than red counties. This is the reality of America, but you would think life and death would be something that people care the most about. These Republican governors like Ron DeSantis are advocating against mass mandates in schools, vaccines and all sorts of things that are purely health and safety measures. Because people are listening to them, people are dying.
If there was a hit-and-run car accident that killed somebody, the car drives away, the police would be all over that to find the car that hit this person and that person got killed. There would be a man who saw a lottery charge or whatever the charge would be for killing somebody, running and all the charges that would go with it. How are we going to hold these government officials accountable when 40% to 45% is okay with a hit and run person because it's their party or person on their team?
“The person is Republican and I voted for him, so he gets a pass. He's on my team and I'm going to give them a pass.” If somebody has less of our name recognition and there's not a certain loyalty or belovedness behind or enjoyment in watching this public figure, we're not going to give him a pass. If there is a certain amount of joy in watching this person, this is how Donald Trump got elected. There was joy in watching him being the big boss and running The Apprentice. There were millions of people that loved The Apprentice.
“I was a fan. I watched that show.”
We're waiting to see who anticipation. It's all sales, reward, anticipation, uncertainty, “Who is going to get fired this week? What is the good reason why Donald Trump can say, ‘You are fired?’” Donald Trump comes up with the reason. Not to put them in too much in the same boat, but Simon Cowell on American Idol, “I didn't like that. You weren't good. It was average. It didn't take me there. It wasn't extraordinary. Your performance was this.” The other judges are going like, “Are you going to be kind?” He goes like, “No. I'm just being truthful from my viewpoint.” People say, “I can respect that. It’s his viewpoint. I might not like it, but at least he is able to speak up without impunity.” No one will give him pushback because he's above.
He's not name-calling. He's just being honest. He was not kind, rude and disrespectful for the effort. He's still been speaking his truth. I would never say that because what would people say if I said that? Can you imagine you sitting in the Simon Cowell thing or you come against Big Bird? Everybody goes, “Stay away from Tom at a party. There's Tom spinning his Big Bird propaganda narrative. Keep Tom's children away from my children.”
The hard part about it is what does a party do? What does an individual do when they step so far off the truth and integrity train? They can't run to catch up with it. Is that what the nation is going to do overall? Are we going to completely step off of the truth and the integrity train and not be a people of nonaccountability? Are we going to be a nation that's not accountable? I feel disheartened, but we're not. We don't regulate plastics to keep them out of the ocean. We do a military base and leave all the ammunition and stuff behind and don't clean up after ourselves.
We are not a nation of strong we pretend that we are. We're not a strong nation of integrity. We do not pay for mistakes fully. We let other people pay for mistakes. That's our climate problem. Can integrity and accountability come back up and means something again in politics? I don't know. I'm feeling a little doubtful, skeptical and hesitant about who is going to be accountable.
I'm doubtful and skeptical about that as well and because of my experience with you about language and communication, I'm like, “The Democrats are bad at marketing. They're so bad at doing exactly the things that Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis are doing and Donald Trump has done for years in terms of getting the eyeballs and getting people to be aware of them to like them, regardless of the fact.” I've been thinking, “We need somebody who does care about integrity, accountability and is a good person who wants to help America, who also is just an incredibly shrewd, brilliant marketer because if you're not that you're not going to win in America.”
If you don't create a series of moments that lift you above the others. Barack Obama had a series of moments that lifted him above Hillary Clinton. His first moment is, “Why are we concentrating on Iraq? Why are we not doing this in Afghanistan? That's where the terrorists were.” Everybody's going like, “Yes.” Everybody else was trying to follow him, then he pivoted again, stayed above the media. They kept carving, “This is what Barack said this time. This is what Obama said this time.” All of a sudden, Hillary Clinton started falling.
Look what happened to his Republican opponent in the general election. When John McCain did not get off of the integrity train. He's on that debate and the woman says, “He's a Muslim. I can't vote for him.” John McCain could have let that hang out there and not have contradicted. He not have agreed with it out, but let that moment hang there to wonder and then develop their own doubt and skepticism, “He's a Muslim? I didn't know that.” John McCain could have just stayed away from it, instead he went after truth and integrity and said, “No. He's not a Muslim. He's somebody that I happen to disagree with on policy.” John McCain lost the election right there.
People's limbic brains want to be validated that they're right. It's like trying to have an argument with your parent. It's like they're dealing with their experiences from the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s. They're in that those experiences and past things. All you got to do is put something in front of them that's familiar to that and they're going to say, “That's true.” It's like, “No, it's not. I have a cell phone. I can look it up. I can find fifteen examples of that. True and false.” It doesn't say it that way. We do have a bit to go here.
If people just remember that to do the best you can, if you're a business owner or a politician to weave as much integrity and truth in, as you can, and try to make that the impacting item, learn how to take the truth and make truth a home run, learn how to make integrity a home run, swing for the fence with it. When you do, you will have those moments where you rise above your opponent. Try not to take the opposite, which is a way to get walked and try to get walked enough.
All of a sudden, you get on base enough and your name's out there. You don't have any integrity, truth or respect, but you got the votes. It's going to be interesting to see this next run over 2022. As we come up to the midterms, it's going to be interesting to see the campaigns. It'll give us a ton to talk about. As well as look at ways that we can be more creative and have a greater impact on our own media imprint.
It will certainly be something to watch. I look forward to that.
Thanks a million, Tom.
Thanks, Bill.
Thanks, everybody.
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