The Sussexex - PR disaster

[MamoruHisaishi]

Their supporters and fans can only blame the press, social media, the royal family and racists for ‘bullying’ the Sussexes so much before the majority of people get fed up with that narrative. They had Sunshine Sachs, of the best PR teams in Hollywood, working for them, they had Sara Latham, who worked for former US president Bill Clinton, working for them, they now have WME working for them. You mean to tell me all these professionals, considered some of the best at their jobs, were giving the wrong/poor advice to the Sussexes or that these professionals were too stupid to not foresee the potential media gaffes and blunders, and that they don't know how to make the media and the public work in their favour?

Yes the press can be horrible and vicious, but the Sussexes aren't the first nor will they be the last to experience this. No matter how much their fans may insist on it, there is nothing so uniquely different about how the press treats the Sussexes compared to other celebrities, or even royals, who have been caught in controversy. The difference is other famous figures don't feed it by trying to take on the press, or think they're so special that they can force the press to only give them glowing reviews. What's been consistently reported time and time again to explain all these PR disasters is that the Sussexes never listens to the advice given to them, and think they know best, so this explains why they keep hurtling from one disaster to another. They also can't seem to stay away from the spotlight, and no being away for a few months isn't long enough. Like, when I think of the most controversial celebrities who the press loved to hate on, they either embraced their ‘villain’ role as a big eff you to their haters, or they lie low for a few years to allow the heat to die down, or they just learn to ignore it and just focus on letting their work speak for itself.

Honestly, I don't give a fig at the moment about Harry anymore, sadly. He went from being my second favourite after the Queen to being a huge disappointment. Everything I hear from and about me shows me how selfish and lightweight he is.

But I really hope the press lay off Meghan for a while. I think she likes to portray the strong image but I think she's incredibly thin-skinned and fragile. She looked like she'd lost a lot of weight in the photos published this weekend. She has two young children and I don't want anything to happen to her, for herself as well as for them.

I do remind myself that she's been unfair and cruel to the royal family, knowing they're just a sitting target that can't fight back. I don't really want go into that anymore or I'll be laying into her. And that's the opposite if what I want to do. So I have been annoyed with her. But it's clear that she asked questions of Harry about what would happen if they left, and Harry, always expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting while claiming credit for himself, told her a pack of lies that she believed. She must be wondering what is going on.

I hope she steps back and takes some time and advice before she moves forward. Maybe she has something big planned to amaze us all. So I hope the press let things die away now in case they push her too far.

Meghan has kept her head down for months, best thing to do. Just a couple of pap shots & a ‘joint’ statement about the car thing that was more H than M.

Unfortunately Harry is determined to carry on airing his grievances in public. It’s very unfair that negatively impacts Meghan’s image too. Only so much a PR firm can do when repping an idiot.

They are publicly critical of the press. I can't imagine why they struggle to get a good press?!

I don't care either way about the RF but the press are fighting for their own image in this battle.

Didn’t they accuse someone in the royal rota of calling Archie the N word but not say who? Idk. I think serious journalists should be able to rise above it and report the truth. But yeah, if you yourself are really critical of people & accuse them of random stuff, you can’t expect them not to do the same back.

Megan might be keeping her head down now but she did the Oprah interview, the Netflix show, The Cut interview, messed up with Spotify. It's a bit late too hide and let Harry take the blame.

Their PR, since leaving the RF, really has been horrible. Still, I still have empathy for them.

I'm glad people have stopped solely blaming Meghan for the rift. I've been saying from the beginning that, to me, it looked like Harry wanted to get out of the family for a while, used her as a shield and let her get all yhe backlash.

The media should leave them alone. The only people who are that obsessed with them are their supporters and the media. Regular people here in the UK don't spend their days obsessing over H&M. Social media doesn't represent the real world.
I'm also certain that the media played A BIG part in the royal rift. I 100% agree Meghan said, "they don't report the news, they create the news. For example, if you look back at the Oprah Interview, I only saw the full interview a few months ago and there are some revelations that were left out of the media to create animosity between both sides, I feel.
For example, the "The RF refused to help Meghan when she was suicidal". If you look at what the press said (both in the US and the UK btw), you would think that poor Meghan was at rock bottom and that they all refused to help her when actually, if you look at the full interview Harry did say that he didn't tell anyone in this family because he was ashamed of admitting it to them. Yet, the RF constantly (still today) get bashed because of that media narrative. It also kind of made W&K lose some credibility on their work on mental health because people wondered "how can you speak on mental health for other people but can't even help their own family member".
If I were W&K, I would be angry tbh especially considering that, at the time, both couples were living in different places (W&K between London and Norfolk, H&M in Windsor), the then Cambridges had an infant baby to take care of, while going on weekly family therapy sessions dealing with Kate's depressed, suicidal brother who had been hospitalised.

Also the Kate v Meghan "feud", the media loves pitting these two against each other ignoring that Meghan said that Kate is a good person and that their "feud" was resolved after Kate apologized and bought her flowers. I just think this whole "flower dress" drama is so ridiculous and overblown by the media which has brought tons of hate on both women. The level of filth, misinformation, bullying and misogyny on social media towards both women is absolutely disgusting and the media definitely plays a big part.

I just feel bad for them. Harry is clearly not happy and has a lot of trauma. His family definitely could've done a better job after Diana's death. Charles should've been more present for him. Maybe, he should've been protected more.

However, while the media is absolute trash and I do feel for them, they created that media circus around them. Harry hated the press but is playing the same games his mum did with the media.
I understand that Diana's death was a tragedy but at the end of the day, lots of people go through horrible things in life and they still manage to deal with their trauma without hurting other people (his family). Harry stopped being a victim of circumstance and he decided to hurt his family and letting himself be used by the media the same way his mum was.

William once said that "One lesson I've learned is you never let [the media] in too far, because it's very difficult to get them back out again. You've got to maintain a barrier and a boundary, because if both sides cross it, a lot of pain can come from it."

Clearly, Harry hasn't learned from what happened to his mum.

I’ve never heard that, there was questions over skin colour, but not that. It’s quite a heinous accusation if you can’t support it.

The only people who are that obsessed with them are their supporters and the media. Regular people here in the UK don't spend their days obsessing over H&M.
Exactly. With the exception of half a dozen posters on MN. Even that number is dwindling....

Their main problem is that they botched the departure from the Royal Family. They thought they could get away with half in half out, were blindsided by the “no”, and decided to leave immediately without a plan. If they had taken their time, a lot of this could have been handled better.

They are part of a court case against the press acting illegally. Of course that same media will publish negative stories about them. It is the press revenge.

Would agree with this.

But it’s not just in the uk. The US press is also very negative now about them. As are many people. So I don’t think it’s just press revenge, but more they keep doing stuff that results in negative press. There is little positive to say about what they do.

I think this is it. They should have gone back to the table and renegotiated a compromise rather than just stomping off. I get why he wanted to step back - no joy in being the next Princess Margaret - but they did leave without a plan and without a USP other than "we can tell you bad stuff about the RF in multi media " which has now run out of momentum.

Also Harry's moaning has annoyed everyone - the royalists are angry because he's slagging off the RF. The anti-monarchists are angry because he comes across as spoilt (my free house in SW1 is so small and I had to buy my own sofa) and not very nice (slagging off the matron from school).

The RF have also played it v well by just not responding and starving the whole thing of oxygen.

I think H&M can rescue it longer term but their "out" needs to be low key and getting involved in genuine value-add projects rather than looking to self-promote and do stuff that a lot of people can do better (podcasts etc). Whether they can afford (financially) to be that low key is another matter.

Archewell is one of MANY organisations that partnered with Kaboom. I donated £1 to the Dogs Trust the other day - clearly I partner with them…

Of course funds raised are not coming out of H&M’s own pocket, but funnelled through Archwell, and it is not clear how much is actually donated. Legal, yes. Decent? Not really.

They direct people who wish to donate, to the causes they also support. They do not have a donate button, the general public do not donate directly to them. There have been two large donations into Archewell Foundation, and most people accept this is likely from Harry. It is clear what is donated both to the foundation, and what the foundation gives grants to. I am not sure why you are stating as fact they are not giving any of their own money to their foundation. Their foundation operates like other foundations, including the one William and Kate have, which does accept donations from the public.

They should have gone back to the table and renegotiated a compromise rather than just stomping off.

A private letter he sent to his father was leaked, they could no longer trust the family or the institution to negotiate their departure without leaking it all.

The media have totally stirred things up along the way, and at times were disgusting in their treatment, but it also astounds me that with that much money and some of the best PR teams on earth they're still struggling for positive press.

They're substantially more privileged than a lot of people in the fields they say they want to be in and they have all the soft influence of their position and networks. It should have been a fairly easy transition to manage with the right team of experts.

It does seem to be a pattern that they aren't listening to advice from people who know what they're talking about in various industries.

I don't suppose Harry has read much Robert Burns, but I think of this occasionally when I see and hear him these days.

Oh, would some Power the gift give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!

To see ourselves as others see us.

They didn’t need to be the next princess Margaret. They could have been the next princess anne. A hard working diligent woman who doesn’t crave the limelight and does her duty, let’s her kids live their lives, in fact they didnt need to be either, they could have trodden their own successful path.

they were so hot and popular when they left. They scream about negative press but they were very popular when they married. That’s why they commanded so much money, but they made bad decision after bad decision, and they don’t seem to learn from it, understand they make bad decisins, listen to the experts, they just steam roll right into the next shit decision, lay low for awhile, then pop up and doing something else ill advised.

I think the bottom line is H&M don't listen to professional advice. The Palace courtiers, PR teams the best in the business and H&M still end up in a mess.

They tried to call bluff with the we can't get half in / half out thing so we are going except the RF weren't bluffing.
The RF have also starved the H&M Royal links of oxygen (candle & Anns feathers)
H&M have now ran out of steam. No more big RF events for a long time.

I really do hope for his sake he is able to build bridges with his family.

Give it a rest, seriously. You really should seek therapy.

I think what’s very sad is when they first married, even when they left, they were commanding over a hundred million. For podcasts, content. Lots of stuff . And now it seems they are reduced to leaking fake Dior deals to stop bad headlines about them being grifters.

i know they are hugely wealthy, live in a mansion, likely have their health, beautiful kids, but I am not sure they will be happy.

I don't see how it's 'unfair'.

Meghan has done very little to create an 'image' separate from her husband. They 'market' themselves as a couple, which I've always thought was a mistake. She is also very happy to 'air her grievances in public' too. In fact that's what both of them have mostly been doing for the past 3 years. They haven't really attempted to build separate 'brands' based on anything more constructive than whining about their brief royal life as a couple, and it may be too late to do so now.

Yeah that’s a fair point about Princess Anne. Maybe it’s easier to be “ one of you is king and three of you aren’t” than “ one of you is king and one of you isn’t”. That’s just me musing though.

It’s become clear that their biggest financial successes have been on discussing the royal family which they originally planned to be a springboard but I’m not sure how much they have to offer. I’m also glad that Harry is being more closely looked at for what happened his book shows the resentment he already felt before he even met Meghan. they are in between a rock and a hard place, they are rich but have ridiculous overheads so need to make money but whatever Harry does can look crass for a royal. I also feel sorry for them because of the “Sussex squad” on Twitter it is there to promote and defend but it’s been too much especially those who go after Kate because they just end up presenting themselves as in need of psychological help.