Mike King is back on the Joffrey Baratheon path, Welcome to Pop Culture PR.
It’s (not always) Good to be the King – Episode 2
Our outsider with a cause, Mike King, seems to have found himself wealth and comfort inside the palace walls of I Am Hope Foundation NZ, and it shows. After a $24 million government funding boost and $527,000 in executive pay, the rebel with a megaphone looks more like the monarch behind his walled gardens.
Think Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 4, ‘And Now His Watch Is Ended’. This is Joffrey at his most self-satisfied, waving from the balcony as the people below start to murmur. He mistakes applause for authority, flattery for loyalty, and forgets that power borrowed from the people can just as easily be revoked.
It’s a classic PR tragedy story arc (believe me, we’ve all seen this one before).
The voice of the everyman becomes the wielder of power. The lines blur between service and self-importance. And those who once trusted you start keeping the receipts. Or perhaps not entering them into the books correctly for various reasons.
Like Joffrey, King seems like he might be believing his own origin story, that moral conviction excuses extravagance and that good intentions outweigh good governance. But the moment money enters the frame (and you know I love framing), transparency becomes the only real currency that counts. Lose that, and no amount of goodwill or good PR will save you from the mob.
For those of us in comms, it’s a fascinating, if predictable, transformation. Power alters people. When the person who once threw stones at the castle walls lives behind them, they change. Ask anyone in tech and startup PR.
Make no mistake, this episode is over but the season ain’t. Not so bold prediction… the money-story will escalate. There is more dialogue and discovery to come, likely from regulators, and if we’ve learned anything from Westeros, it’s that the crown always exacts a price. Which Crown will extract it is the question.
PR Pro Tip: Public trust is a fragile alliance, it’s hard won and easily lost. When you trade the language of empathy for the comfort of the court, don’t be surprised if the people stop cheering and start sharpening their swords.
Fabulous reporting in Stuff!
https://lnkd.in/g3hRKsHX