Bad Romance?

When someone calls their album, Reputation you can be sure they are aware of every aspect that goes in to sculpting one's reputation?

Of course I’m talking about the one and only Taylor Swift.?

She made the news last week (which is a truism because she always makes the news) when a document from Travis Kelce’s PR agency outlining the impending break-up of her and Travis' relationship leaked.?

The response was perfect. Taylor ignored it while Travis said he would get his lawyers involved and that was that. You never want to protest too much and bring the Stresiand effect into play.?

It was labeled as fake and everyone moved on.?

Maybe the reason people moved on so quickly was?

1. From Day 1 people said the relationship was staged
2. Showmances aren’t new

They’ve been happening for over 100 years and are still happening today as fake relationships protect the wholesome values of the celebrity’s brand, keep the celebrities relevant by making sure they stay in the public eye or reset and reboot their individual narratives.

The poster boy for this in more recent times is Tom Cruise. Everyone was adamant that his marriage to Katie Holmes was for publicity purposes and him jumping all over Oprah’s couch confirmed this.

People will say - how can this be staged? What about the fact that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a baby together?

Where there's a will or something with a $ and a lot of 0's attached, there's a way.

Also, a lot of these people act for a living - pretending to date someone is just playing another role.?

It supposedly also happens a lot in music .

So the question should be, why does it happen at all? The answer is simple - it happens because it works. It allows the couple to take control over the narrative and/or public perception. This is misdirection 101- give everyone something else to focus on.?

People love reading the gossip magazines and getting the tea.The celebrities whose private lives are public can take advantage of this.

When people are in the public eye, the public feels invested in them and thus has an opinion on a range of things they’re not qualified to give.?

But a word of warning, being a public figure cuts two ways. At the start, the attention and hype can be fun and exciting, but after a while it can get tiresome and exhausting. Then because your name is clickbait - things you do and say will become news when you don’t want them to.?

So you have to play the game - although you can always quit, give up the fame and fortune, and take yourself out of the public eye .?

As for Travis and Taylor no doubt the relationship has been beneficial for both of their brands.?

Would people feel cheated if it turned out it was fake? Only if these things matter to them. If the answer is yes, they should ask themselves why.?

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