Francophile? Check.
Fine footwear aficionado? Check.
Fan of the PR power of social media? Check, once again.
Connecting these ditsy dots, I propose that the much maligned Marie Antoinette had a PR problem. It’s not easy being pretty and privileged in rough economic times. It’s not easy following through on what is expected (say – outdoing the nobles in the chateau nearby). And it’s certainly not easy being married off at 14!
So what has this to do with public relations and my fave social media tool, Twitter?
“Today I Found Out” explains that Marie Antoinette did not say “Let them eat cake,” despite attribution of this phrase to the doomed Austrian-born Royal.
While the cluelessness (indifference?) of the aristocracy (the privileged?) can certainly be established, there was no media at that time to offer free flow of communication. And certainly, there was no PR machine to allow the Queen to correct rumors and assumptions in challenging economic and political times.
Do read the article (it’s fascinating), and do imagine how Marie Antoinette might have fared with Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, and possibly her own bevy of bloggers on staff. At the very least, she could have twit-pic’d her showiest chaussures (I daresay the Roger Viviers above or luscious Louboutins would have suited nicely), Insta’d a few selfies in the magnificence of so many miroirs, and she could have repudiated constant claims of dalliances – something we’ve all been told, and which (it appears) may not have been the case.
I can’t help but think about the PR machinery we have today – the digital data points and gawking gathering spots that bombard us with bits and bites of interest.
Of course, some of the so-called news is helpful, some of it horrifying, and much of it – noise, and nothing more.
But good PR in tough times goes far in managing a crisis or preventing one, as persuasive words still poke their way into our collective consciousness.
Marie Antoinette may well have enjoyed a sequined smartphone and sassy sentiments as @LoveMyLouis or @OccupyingVersailles… And suppose Her Royal Highness had traded in tweeting on #ShoeShopping for #WorkingOnBreadReform?
Hélas, was the political climate too testy to temper? Would hashtag #HeadlessHabsburgs have been inevitable no matter what?
As I contemplate our capricious communication fails, not to mention our (manipulative?) media outlets, I’m happy for the opportunities to express ourselves through opinion and spin, aren’t you? But my how I wish our politicians were listening attentively… History tells us not listening won’t do.
Image, Roger Vivier Blouson d’Eclat, RogerVivier.com.
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I checked. This hashtag actually exists on Twitter:
#LetThemEatCake
Ah oui. But apparently it should have been #LetThemEatBrioche though apparently she wasn’t the originator of that one either. (See what I mean? Misquoted, and no one to tweet a correction.)
what a delightfully thought-provoking post……….Marie Antoinette would have made a fabulous media baron.
just an idea.
#powerfulfemalesrule
soon……
sending much love and inspirational thoughts across the interweb.
_tg xx
Occupy patisserie?
Social media is such a double-edge sword. Made up of a light and dark side! It can both prevent, manage…and yes, even create a crisis. I wonder which Marie would have used it for? 🙂
@Lisa – I wonder if she would have outsourced her tweeting… Je tweete, tu tweetes, il/elle twitte, nous twittons… 🙂
MA really did have a PR/image problem. Have you read Queen of Fashion? It’s excellent! http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Fashion-Marie-Antoinette-Revolution/dp/0805079491
We think alike! I have often wondered how great minds from the past might use the things we take for granted today. But I’m with you — I’ll bet Marie would have absolutely outsourced her tweets.