Meghan, Duchess of Sussex spotted out and about

[queentim]

Recently spotted at a TSwift (allegedly), Barbie movie for her birthday, a restaurant, and then hanging out with friends in an Instagram selfie. She looks phenomenal in this photo!

Glad to see she's enjoying her life back home with her family.

Meghan summer selfie

Gosh!😁

The difficulty is that M&H do want to be seen to be philanthropists - they ARE philanthropists, to be clear so there is always an “ulterior” motive to their giving really. I don’t look at their Archewell site habitually but they do need to publicise their good works. And if one is a supporter one says that it is in order to direct further funds and publicity towards those causes. Like the BRF in fact. While pointing out Meghan wore lots of outfits, Invictus will get mentioned. While Kate rents a green dress, Earthshot will get mentioned.

I do think their PR team has buggered things up when emailing schools with pupils of a certain demographic of pupils about optics though. You can’t blame M&H personally for that (I don’t think - unless it turns out one of them said “hey, we’d like smart cushions in the background of our documentary dontcha know”) but you can hope they cut all ties with them. Who even thinks like that?

However you are the one who is posing questions asking a poster if they weren't "frustrated by the optics", questioned the timing as a coincidence, and stated you could do better PR.

But you've only just now made made it clear you think it's because you think they have ulterior motives. So no further figuring out or over analysing is needed to understand your posts. But you've replied to a post, asked questions, and are getting responses.

Yes my questions, I thought, were quite clear requiring a 'yes' I agree or 'no' I don't agree with additional supporting commentary, there was nothing that I asked that required anything to be 'figured out'. I added that I thought they don't do anything that doesn't benefit themselves but I thought that was probably obvious from my first two posts.

Anyway, you lost me way back when you said that the pushing of Meghan's Hollywood status '.... isn't needed if people are being honest'.
Now, that is a statement that needs to be 'figured out' 😉

No it wasn't obvious, you asked questions, hence posters discussing it. If it were, it would just warrant a yes or no. You, for example, asked a poster whether they were frustrated, when there's not much to be frustrated by, and you didn't offer any insight of your own except several posts later. Thought that bit was clear really.

Anyway, you lost me way back when you said that the pushing of Meghan's Hollywood status '.... isn't needed if people are being honest'.
Now, that is a statement that needs to be 'figured out' 😉

Are Meghan or Harry some sort of unknown persons now in L.A.? I think people know their names well enough that they really don't need to use a charity to give them a "Hollywood push". Hope that helps you figure that bit out 😉

Are Meghan or Harry some sort of unknown persons now in L.A.? I think people know their names well enough that they really don't need to use a charity to give them a "Hollywood push". Hope that helps you figure that bit out 😉

I don't recall saying they were a Hollywood unknown. I said they are paying WME a lot of money to escalate their status in Hollywood,(that being a large part of WMEs job) but you seemed to be saying that they were wasting their money because the couple were already there.. I think even MM would disagree with you on that😁. What person wanting to work up to A list celebrity status would turn down an opportunity, to mingle with the Hollywood 'elite'? It's exactly the reason they were at the Kevin Costner fundraising event, which as it happened ended up being dubbed 'microphone gate' and was yet another example of a PR disaster🤦‍♀️.

I do think their PR team has buggered things up when emailing schools with pupils of a certain demographic of pupils about optics though. You can’t blame M&H personally for that (I don’t think - unless it turns out one of them said “hey, we’d like smart cushions in the background of our documentary dontcha know”) but you can hope they cut all ties with them. Who even thinks like that?

I don't know much about the NY school thing so I'm going to google that whilst I have my morning cuppa.

Such desperation to find something wrong!
I'm abreast of what goes on and haven't read of any 'PR disaster'!

There's the usual twaddle in the Mail and the Express but they're just bitter they haven't got enough for open season on the couple.
Well done H&M banning them from attending any of this! Smart move

AHH yes. Cushions = Daily Mail !

Such desperation to find something wrong!
I'm abreast of what goes on and haven't read of any 'PR disaster'!

What event are you referring to? The Kevin Costner fundraiser or New York School visit?

Cushions?!?

Microphone gate?

Yes, a silly name referring to a silly segment of the presentation. I have no idea what was supposed to be happening on stage and I'm not sure anyone else did either, at best it looked like someone didn't get the memo. Anyway, I'm sure the couple will bounce back and move on.

The video footage of the Kevin Costner event shows that as Harry and Meghan were introduced onto the stage, Meghan tried to take the microphone off the woman who had introduced them, but the woman held onto it.

Then a bit later when the couple were going to present an award, a man holding a microphone held it out towards Harry. Harry indicated he should hand it to Meghan, but the man declined to do so.

(These were small moments in time, obviously, and not a big deal - I can’t imagine the people in the audience would have even noticed).

No, I don't think the audience would have noticed at the time. Watching it from the comfort of my chair I actually had second hand embarrassment for them, it was all quite awkward but at the same time I was a bit🤭.

The exchange of emails has been published if you care to google .

No thanks !

Fair enough 🤷‍♀️.
What I read made me cringe a bit .

I just watched the video clip in question.
I don’t see the big deal.
Neither cringy nor awkward. A misunderstanding at most?
You have to be over analysing Meghan to even notice it.

The emails are cringe. And you don’t even need to read the article in the DM to cringe. Just the emails themselves are awks. “Just wanted to make it a bit less promotion-ey.”

Just wanted to make it a bit less promotion-ey.

Is that cringe? Surely it’s stating the obvious from a PR perspective.

It’s pitiful. Making Meghan out to be pushy and unwanted and badly dressed etc.. And Kate, also being bashed on social media for being lazy and badly dressed and copying ‘Meghan’s messy bun’. (Insert massive eye roll here). The tabloid media started this trolling but social media run with it. No one’s ‘winning’ here. It’s just fucking awful.

The emails are an interesting read actually, particularly the fact that Archewell sent through a 2 page “release” that they wanted the participants to sign. That’s normal for people filmed by an organisation that wants to use that footage commercially- it doesn’t apply to news footage though - and of course Meghan and Harry were being accompanied by Netflix.

The release however didn’t just cover the people consenting to having their image used. They also had to agree not to mention the interaction on any platform without permission and never make any negative or unfavourable statement about it.

This clause is not normal. And it’s quite revealing. The Sussexes wanted to be able to use real people in their film demonstrating (presumably) their philanthropy and good works, but on the basis that people involved in these things were effectively gagged. Given they insisted on this in a visit to a school, it seems very likely that this was their normal procedure.

Which makes me look at other visits they conducted through a new lens. Meghan’s visit to Uvalde, for example, where she was photographed “secretly” visiting a volunteer blood bank. The director of that bank then gave a media interview, widely published, in which she said a great deal about Meghan. The chances of her not having had to sign a similar release? Tiny. The chances of her “interview” being spontaneous? Also tiny - the release specifically says the individual signing it can’t discuss the interaction at all without prior written consent. The Archewell emails show how much Harry and Meghan want to control what is said about them.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kadiagoba/meghan-markle-uvalde-interview-volunteer-secret-visit

It was the message from the school, who had said that they were not okay with their children being used for commercial promotion, so Archewell’s proposed press release had to be substantially amended.

You’re ‘reaching’ in regards to Uvalde.
IMO