Summer started to come to an end in August, but we are still holding on to any last bits of sunshine that we can here at PPR! Generally speaking, August was a good month on the PR front – however there of course are a few things we noticed, nothing goes under our PR radar…
Don’t worry if you haven’t caught July’s round-up, you can find it here. Here’s a look at the good and bad stories that caught both our, and the UK medias, attention!
Airbnb support the nation during a critical time
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced that the company planned to offer free temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees around the world amid the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan. The company made it clear that it would be covering the costs for the housing, using funds from contributions to its nonprofit – Airbnb.org – and a specific Refugee Fund, as well as personal contributions from Chesky himself.
The brand did a great job of utilising their influence and capabilities for good at a time that it was truly needed. It’s incredible to see such big brands going above and beyond to give back and of course gave them some thoroughly deserved positive mentions in the media and on social.
Starting today, Airbnb will begin housing 20,000 Afghan refugees globally for free.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) August 24, 2021
It’s raining them – Deezer promotes inclusivity
The popular 80s hit ‘It’s Raining Men’ has received a very important inclusive makeover that highlights it’s not raining ‘men’, but raining ‘them’ by featuring gender-neutral lyrics in support of trans and non-binary people. The campaign has been created by music streaming service, Deezer who released the tune in August with trans artist and activist, Mila Jam.
This was a great campaign from the platform as it promoted inclusivity and aimed to celebrate non-binary and trans artists, the community and music. It received rave reviews online and rightly so – plus it’s a great song if you ask us!
#WeThe15 – breaking down barriers
August saw WeThe15 launch ‘sport’s biggest ever human rights movement’ that aimed to end discrimination in the industry. Launching at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the main message of the campaign was to show that people with disabilities represent 15% of the global population.
This was a very topical and informative campaign – with a very important message that was portrayed effectively.
That OnlyFans disaster that left everyone cringing
OnlyFans performed a massive U-Turn in August. Earlier in the month, the site made plans to ban all pornographic content from the ever-popular app. But after some furious backlash from some of the creators, the adult content subscription service ditched the plans to stop the posting of sexually explicit material on the site. All is well again and OnlyFans has now confirmed that the proposed policy changes will be scrapped meaning workers who rely on the platform as a source of income are able to continue as normal – a bit of an awkward move from the platform that received a lot of backlash!
Twitter made us all facepalm
Social media platform, Twitter, oddly decided to out itself in August. The network confirmed that its image cropping algorithm was favouring attractive faces and predominantly white people. Of course people on social media and the press got wind of the news and it rightly so, received negative backlash. We wonder what steps will be taken to rectify this…
At Prohibition, we work with a range of brands across all sectors, B2B and B2C, to create innovative PR campaigns that deliver real ROI and help meet business goals. Get in touch with us today to find out how we could support you with your Public Relations. Drop us an email: hello@prohibitionpr.co.uk or give us a bell on 0113 430 4160.
