The untimely death of Michael Jackson will not disappear from our newspapers overnight. From time to time, new evidence will come to light over the custody of the children, his fortune and his misfortune. Celebrity is the Room 101 of PR. Because of the impact the icon had on its audience, the myth can permeate to such an extent that it never completely dies with the person.

Elvis physically died in the 70′s but we are still hearing of sightings and the conspiracy theories over 30 years later. We don’t wish to know that The King had the veins of a 70 year old man and died straining on the loo thanks all the same.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are quite few books in the publishing pipeline as I read this.” The Jackson I Knew” by his cousin twice removed on his ex wife’s side of the family maybe. And then there’s the accusations of paedophilia. Even bearing in mind Martin Bashir’s excellent piece of TV a few years ago, I am not convinced that Jackson used children for sexual gratification. Misguided yes, but anyhow my opinion is immaterial. What will be interesting is how this rather dark period will be PR’d in the future, either by the Jackson Estate or those who feel that libel laws will give bounty hunters the opportunity to squeeze a few grand through allegations that their kids were abused by Jackson.

The next big news rush will surround the publishing rights to his songs. Bright sparks will emerge with their own legal take on who owns what. From my own personal point of view, let’s hope Paul McCartney can wrest back the rights to the Beatles songs which Jackson rather deviously acquired after famously asking Paul’s advice on ways to invest money.

In PR your paths necessarily cross with celebrities, one or two might become clients. A second hand story from Hollywood emanated from my client, Glenn Hughes who was,in the band Deep Purple, the biggest selling act in the United States at the time. Imagine for a moment you are 22 years of age at a celebrity function and in walks John Wayne. Now your experience of Big John is from those amazing westerns of the 40′s and 50′s so you sidle up to him with your equally nervous friend, none other than David Coverdale. who was later to find further fame and fortune with Whitesnake. You ask for an autograph and The Duke’s eyes light up “Deep Purple? My daughter loves you guys. Can you sign this?”

Celebrity is what you perceive not what the person is. It’s a commodity. Branding. And many people take on the brand full square on the forehead, fans and artists alike. Some, like Metallica, believed their own hype and got into all sorts of bother with drugs to keep the high high. Glenn’s story is well documented elsewhere and will be released later this year, thanks to the expert authorship of Joel McIvor (who also wrote Metallica’s). A book currently out of print is Rock n Roll Babylon by Gary Herman which contains all the morbid back stage stories. eBay is your best bet.

Michael Jackson’s branding is once again marketable after his death and will remain so depending who gets the rights to his estate and who controls his business interests. It’s as if the trial didn’t happen. Elvis didn’t fart himself to death. Similarly Jacko never got into bed with Macaulay Culkin and read comics. The brilliant dancing in Thriller. That’s what’s about right now. With Elvis and John Lennon, it was pretty straight forward. The wives controlled the branding, more so in Priscilla’s case. Slap Elvis’s image on a t shirt without permission and you run the risk of a solicitor’s letter from Memphis. Pretty damn soon the “RIP Michael” t shirts people have lovingly assembled will become law suits.

The King of Pop is Dead. Long Live the King of Pop.

Picture source: livenews.com.au

Updates

Annnd here they come thick and fast as predicted. Here’s one of the bouncers pitching in with a beauty