COVER UP: SM Hiding Scandals
The mark of a fabulous PR team is their ability to bounce back after any scandal, any misstep, any thing that throws their artist or company into a bad light. And damn, does SM have a pesky PR team.
Sure they're great at responding quickly to a situation, but its usually sort of obvious that they're trying to distract the fans, or its just not done well. Or hey, maybe they just have really crappy timing and all of these are coincidences, but I'm pretty sure there is something fishy going on here...
Do you think these are distractions to cover up SM's messes, or just poorly timed news?
1. Red Velvet's Debut and Comebacks Red Velvet is one of my favorite new girl groups, but there is something...odd...about the timing of their debut and the rate of their comebacks.
Red Velvet's sort of sudden debut - Happiness - came right in the midst of Kris' first real departure (he had been M.I.A. for a while, but his official departure was when the media really caught on) The whole process seemed rushed, with a short time for teasers and a promo cycle/concept that didn't seem all there. SM is famous for their teasers and debut build up and this was sort of just dropped on the fans from no where. Happiness barely even felt like a real debut track.
Then they quickly came back with another promotion during the Jessica scandals - this time with a cover song that felt out of place in the typical SM style. Overall just a 'meh' feeling.
Were these girls forced to debut prematurely to cover up the two artists leaving the company or was this just horrible timing?
2. Taeyeon and Baekhyun Dating With EXO members dropping like flies, all of a sudden it comes out that Baekhyun and Taeyeon are dating. This is HUGE news. All of the buzz from this announcement washes away any talk of Kris, Jessica, or Luhan...
And you know what's weird? No one is really talking about it. They've now been together officially (the news broke in June 2014) for more than a year! How are they keeping the relationship out of the tabloids when in reality paparazzi follow them like stalkers? If SM could pay the paparazzi to stay out of their business, why was this story leaked right when SM needed a distraction?
Again, this is all conspiracy theory but, its a little odd right? 3. Sungmin Marriage and Military Fans were pissed about Sungmin's sudden marriage, and SM knew that was going to happen (they had to!) so what better way to quell the anger then to send Sungmin off to the military to let things cool down?
This was probably the most brilliant thing that the PR team for SM has done recently. It allowed the fans to chill out and the'll probably be over themselves and ready to welcome Sungmin back right about the time when he should be getting out of the military :) What do you think? Are these cover ups or just conspiracy theories?
Have any other companies done this?
