Does anyone want a thread for people who are happy for Harry and Meghan? Thread 4

[Mummy195]

Hope you don't mind Dave.

I also don’t mind W&K, but it’s true a lot of their support comes from people kicking back against H&M. I wonder if H&M’s PR just kept fucking up? They are such a good idea for a royal couple and she had a stellar CV to be a modern princess - tbh I always thought she was stooping to marry him and into the fuddy duddy royal family. I actually do hope they have support, because the press everywhere can be incredibly cruel

I am suddenly realising why people talk about internet hate. Some of those comments are pretty vile and I cannot imagine what the daily mail is like if this is the FT.

Two points,

1. could we please separate what actually is in print from the nutters when discussing?

2. Notmyrealname855, would you mind asking for that post to be edited or withdrawn? I don’t want to report as I know you are making a point and just giving examples, but those comments are too vile to be here I think . They have no place in any factual arguments (except as in “people are awful”)...

@Morehippothanpenguin Hang on, so 'factual arguments' are important to you. The post above corrects inaccuracies in the post in responds to, which misrepresents the views of FT commenters. That is important if you're bothered about facts.

Incidentally, I thought the thread was about feelings (namely being happy) not about 'factual arguments'.

it was then it got derailed.
I have used the word "haters" as imo it describes the people who trawl the internet to find anything that they can use to have a dig. you have to have a strong feeling about someone to go to those lengths.
sadly no one is allowed to post on mn and not be critical of MM, if they do the thread gets derailed.

and yet again Suits was actually popular .

I like H&M! I liked them when they got together, I loved their wedding, I think they absolutely are going to do good stuff in future. Do I read the Daily Fail, no. I read BBC News, the FT (only for work) and tbh Grazia and Man Repeller. But H&M’s PR needs to just be more consistent or something, I don’t know - they’re losing platforms. It seems (I haven’t been following totally though) like all the UK press are miffed, the American press can be brutal too. Maybe they just need their IG page back to communicate directly - is probably the answer. Even if you didn’t like their style (I thought it was flowery but quite cute) at least they could get their messages across.

Is there anything from stopping them from setting up an IG page? Are there IP issues or something?

I hate the way anything they say and they have actually said very little, is taken out of context and grossly exaggerated. I like them very much and wish them every success.

I think those comments are important as they respond to a post that implies that FT readers are supportive of H & M because they are more intelligent, successful etc. than Daily Mail and Sun readers. Some misleading pictures were attached. I think those comments show the context of overall feeling and demonstrate how unpopular they have become with all members of the public, not just the tabloid reading public.

And is leaving the royal family like leaving employment, are they bound by some weird period where they can’t so anything for a few months? There might be loads of restrictions we don’t know about

Separately... there could be loads of NDAs they’re subject to? Especially if the royals argue a lot of that content is national security or something. I mean... imagine having to stay silent re PA and Princess Michael of Kent, ugh

I think with the FT... a lot of people are facing terrible job security, losing money, there’s so much uncertainty. It looks like a lot of commentators were using H&M as a punching bag to set out their own frustrations in life.... exactly the same as any other readership group. I don’t support the comments at all but it’s weird/ awful to see and if you were in PR I’d love to know what it means! Are people just down in a bad time?

Agree that H&M get purposefully misconstrued... I heard all this stuff about “oh Meghan thinks she understands elephants”... but I saw her interview and she never said anything close to that! And they try and help locally and people lash out again... like how can they ever (i) help a cause or (ii) make their own money, without it being construed as self promotion? Seriously?? I feel for them :(

I'm not sure the thread has been derailed.

"Does anybody want a thread for people who are happy for Harry and Meghan?" Certainly they do. I think even their critics wouldn't wish them unhappiness. I do think people would like to see evidence of some humility and maybe they need to experience disappointment first. But in the long run why would you wish misery on complete strangers?

I would like to read a lot more from posters who are happy for them and why they feel the way they do. However these posters don't seem to be forthcoming.

There is quite a lot of railing against critical observations and talk of haters, but surely this isn't what the OP was after.

I think what is sad is that H&MM's qualities have been somewhat overshadowed by their own actions.

like how can they ever (i) help a cause or (ii) make their own money, without it being construed as self promotion?
Well, I suppose they could always try helping a cause without tipping off photographs to snap them doing it. (2nd outing, not so much the first, which looked like CCTV footage).
As regards making their own money - that's a much more tricky one to handle. They are going to need media in order to have the visibility to command high fees. But they've slammed a fair few doors shut this week alone. And now, Corona Virus has put the brakes on all events that they would have been contenders for.
I actually think they're in a very difficult position. Whilst none of us know that Corona would hit like this, the Palace did try to get them to think more carefully about how it could all work aside from that before they left, but it seems they didn't listen.
Had they stuck it out longer over here before moving, they would have been in a much better position. They would have had all the privacy and protection they wanted, as we're all hiding away anyway. And no pressure to earn money for them either (how lucky!).
Still, they're grown ups (am tiring of all the "young couple starting out" nonsense - they're heading towards 40, fgs!) and they will need to mend this one themselves.

I can see why the comments were appropriate in that context (explaining general sentiment of a certain reader group).

I just think that comments are a snapshot in time and unless you make a complete analysis with a grading of the comments and sort them, it is hard to get an accurate picture of a sentiment apart from “some of the readers make vile comments” or “the last 10 comments” were vile.

I found some of them awful and not needing repeating on a thread which purports to put a positive spin on things - apart from a reference to “horrid comments”. But maybe that is just me 🤷‍♀️.

Notmyrealname, I agree, I think a lot of people take out their frustrations on M&H. I also feel very sorry for them. I do think their PR (since the leave announcement) is a disaster at least in the UK. I don’t understand why they not are being better advised.

MoreHippo I think, as has been said elsewhere, they do have access to better advice, but are choosing to ignore it.

I do think their PR (since the leave announcement) is a disaster at least in the UK. I don’t understand why they not are being better advised.

Because they have sacked their British PR advisers (from Buckingham Palace???) and are using an American company. They will be poles apart in outlook. What may work in the US won't necessarily work over here. And look, it isn't working over here! The flowery "woke" language on their statements (that I suspect Meghan has had a hand in, rather than Harry) just doesn't sit comfortably with most British readers. Neither do the thinly-veiled criticisms of British things (e.g. "certain corners of the media") sit well. I don't want to know that Harry is "proud" of us, actually. To me, he has told us very plainly what he thinks of Britain by fucking off to leaving for America. Why would we care or want to know that he is proud of us? Patronising and unnecessary, I'm afraid.

I don’t understand why they not are being better advised.

But Hippo they may well be! As OverUnder says, Meghan & Harry may be choosing to ignore what you or I would regard as good advice, as is their prerogative.

As anyone who’s advised clients before can tell you, you can take the horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Also, when the horse is paying, the deal is that they pretty much decide where they want to go, and you turn into the horse who carries them there. If they say drink the water, you drink the damn water or else you don’t get any carrots. (Provided that drinking the water isn’t illegal of course.)

I hope that makes sense

I can remember working on international PR campaigns.

You can have the same global strategy, but you MUST stick to local methods/tone of voice. Or else it all goes tits up.

Or else it all goes tits up.

Yup. And there's our answer!

I don't like them at all. However, how can somebody be happy for them when they don't appear to be very happy themselves despite their enormous wealth and privileges. That moaning interview after the Africa tour was something else. If they settled down to life in LA without publicity going about their lives quietly people would probably think ok good for them. But that doesn't seem very likely.

I don’t believe they tipped off the paps. The pap who took the photos of them delivering food is the same man who convinced Thomas Markle to do the staged photos that started the entire saga. He’s infamous within celebrity circles for being a massive stalker and for being totally obsessive in pursuing his target once he has fixated on a particular celeb. I don’t believe Harry and Meghan would choose the man who did so much damage when there’s a thousand other paps they could have called, but I do believe he is more than capable of sleeping in his car outside their house and stalking them 24/7 because he has a record of doing exactly that with other celebs.

I don't believe they tipped off the paps Hmmm...Project Angel Food had stopped all volunteers from working for them during the pandemic. All volunteers had been asked to stay at home. All food deliveries required the deliverers to wear a hair net, proper face coverings, two gloves each and an apron or gown. Harry's total protective equipment was a bandana around his mouth and Meghan's was a mask and one glove. Why did they deliver together instead of each covering an area? Why only make six deliveries? Why aren't their security in any of the photos? It's all a bit odd.

@Mummy195 I hope you don't mind but I am going to start a new thread. just got to think of the title. want one that doesn't allow people to think its ok to derail.

How about calling it the “polite thread”? Much more realistic than mandated happiness.