Allison 'Cat' Thomas

I saw a post on Facebook recently by a friend who had met the motorcycle champion-come-rock star, James Toseland, one of the celebrities I’d had the pleasure of working with last year. She was over the moon at meeting him at one of his gigs and having the opportunity to post a picture of her with him on her social works, as you can imagine.

It reminded me now lucky I am to move in professional circles that often bring me into contact with celebrities, like James, regularly and how easy it is to take it all for granted. Sure, the people I meet are not all wonderful…they are just human beings like you and I…but to those who are not lucky enough to meet the rich and famous regularly then it can be somewhat of a novelty and, maybe even, a lifetime’s ambition fulfilled.

This got me thinking about why this should be. Of course, there is the rarity of meeting celebrities that makes it such an event but there is also something that does set them apart…their personal magnetism that makes them very attractive to others.

This quality can be very intoxicating. Merely being in the public eye certainly makes them attractive and there have been scientific studies in the past about the effects of position and power on perception.

Perception is at the center of the way we view our individual world and, as well as PR’s role in the protection of reputation, it plays a crucial role in influencing audience perception.

So, when you’re next posting that photo of yourself with your hero on your favourite social media site, just remember…although many of the rich and famous have equally impressive personalities, a little bit of PR adds the magic ingredient to enhance things and works wonders for those where their personality is, well shall we just say, less than impressive.