Anderson Cooper Comes Out: A CNN Ratings Push or PR Ploy?
By Ben Piper, President, Ben Piper Consulting
I must confess that I don’t watch Anderson Cooper and haven’t in a couple of years, but I do keep up with the news and Cooper’s ratings have been in the tank for about that long.
Marketers often talk about the importance of being authentic. The philosophy is that if you are just yourself and convey that to people, they will flock to you. Perhaps Cooper’s public announcement of his sexual preference is a ploy by the marketing folks at CNN to boost ratings by having him suddenly come across as “authentic.” Couple that with the fact that he is currently trying to boost interest in his daytime talk program, Anderson. Before you respond with negative comments here, let me point out that Forbes ran a piece claiming that Anderson Cooper’s coming out “Will Help His Brand.” So why couldn’t this have been actively planned?
And if it were, what’s the problem with that?
The problem is that authenticity can’t be faked.
Authenticity Must Be, Well, Authentic
Part of being authentic is being consistent. Abruptly going from being deafeningly silent about his personal life to dropping such a personal bombshell on CNN’s viewing audience after his two-decade long career in broadcast journalism hardly qualifies as being consistent. Cooper’s “coming out” only serves to cement his image as a person who will do anything for ratings.
There is a lesson here for individuals who are in the public eye: Authenticity is an all-or-nothing proposition. You either present yourself publicly the way you really are, or you try to convey a particular image. The line gets blurry when you are trying to represent your employer publicly while still letting “you” shine through. But blurry lines are unpleasant to look at, and people will not deign to look for long when there are much clearer figures with a much clearer message.
CNN’s overall image fares no better. Cooper has long been one of the primary faces identified with the CNN brand. While everyone knows that Cooper is not the official face of CNN, consumers nevertheless judge media outlets by the company they keep. If CNN will resort to such pathetic and transparent attempts to boost ratings, can viewers really rely on them? Viewers expect Hollywood to resort to shock tactics to boost the bottom line. But respectable news media outlets are expected to offer better, more compelling and relevant content to their viewers. Failing this, CNN has dredged the bottom of the barrel by rousing people’s curiosity about what Anderson Cooper will say and how he will act differently now that he’s “out.” And people will watch, for a time. Then the novelty will wear off, and Cooper’s ratings will continue to decline.
Making the Shift
I don’t know what CNN’s motivation was, but assuming it was to make Cooper more authentic, they went about it all wrong. If you’re going to make the shift from canned delivery to an authentic personality, you can’t just make the leap in the way CNN did. You have to follow some common sense guidelines:
First, communicate clearly and often. Your audience wants to know what is happening and more importantly, why. CNN made a mistake by failing to explain why Cooper’s announcement was relevant to the viewers or the network. Consequently, they left the reasons to the public’s imagination. That’s never a good idea.
Second, don’t offend your audience. CNN did not consider that some viewers might be offended by Cooper’s public pronouncement of his sexual preference. Many viewers who subscribe to traditional values received it as a slap in the face. Slapping your own viewers in the face is never a good idea either.
Finally, but most importantly, have a good reason for everything you do, especially if the public will see it. This is almost as obvious as not offending your audience, but it needs to be said. Wanting to boost ratings is a fine rationale, but the steps to achieve that objective that should be executed haphazardly. If you are the least bit unclear on your objectives, your audience will be utterly confused.
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Ben Piper helps transform information technology organizations into investments that deliver unprecedented returns. He is President of Ben Piper Consulting and can be reached on the web at benpiper.com; via email at ben@benpiper.com; or via telephone at 678-561-4236.
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It is hard for me to conceive a more befuddled, uninformed or offensive commentary than Mr. Piper’s.
None of us can say with confidence why Anderson Cooper chose now to disclose his sexual orientation (Note to Mr. Piper, it is not a “preference” as you oddly insist.)
The fact is that Mr. Cooper did not work very hard to conceal his identity for the past few years. Like many celebrities, he already was hiding in plain sight.
Despite wild speculation as to his motive (or oddly to CNN’s which likely played no part at all in his personal decision or its timing), it is encouraging for us all to know that Cooper believes being authentic and open are ways to strengthen his professional standing, rather than diminish it. That’s a bet I would take too. It is inconceivable, at least to me, that CNN management had any say over his truthfulness.
Worse yet is Mr. Piper’s bizarre suggestion that a journalist’s candor about his sexual orientation “offends his audience.”
I remember growing up in Virginia in the 1950s when some ancients vowed never to watch black faces on television. For most of America, and for news organizations like CNN, these concerns are long ago settled.
If audiences with so-called “traditional values” cannot stomach even seeing an honest and open gay person on television, I suppose they will learn to love radio again or perhaps silent films.
Mr. Piper, I am reminded this is 2012, not 1962. LGBT people and gay men in particular are everywhere in American society, including on air and that also explains why most Americans seem to yawn at this so-called “bombshell.” It doesn’t really get any more authentic than that.
Ben Piper,
I have read your write up now 11 times and I fail to understand and find myself more confused in concluding if you are a homophobe or just an extremely jealous teenager who would write a commentary that seems to originate from our ignorance and lack of understanding what sexuality is, straight or day.
It looks like you seem to believe sexuality is an ‘outfit’ one can wear or take off to gain or lose public attention. I have to ask, when was the last time you turned gay or straight (not knowing your sexuality, and is not my business either, unlike your ignorant sniffing into other’s personal matters) to get attention?
Did you turn from fish to chicken, if you know what I mean, to get attention at work, in family and in general life? If you are capable of that, I salute you! If not, I wonder what else could be the reason for such low-standard attack on a person you don’t know nothing about, given you claim you don’t even watch Anderson Cooper’s show.
I can only point my finger at one thing and as non-judgmental I am about aesthetics, I am sorry to say is it the lack in the looks department and consequential sad sex life that has frustrated you so much that you thought this might bring you some hot chicks/dudes in the kitty?
Whatever your reason be, homophobia or jealousy, for a person who’s bio states “Ben Piper helps transform information technology organizations into investments that deliver unprecedented returns.” you are a big risk to the community for it appears despite being technically smart, you somehow managed to skip common sense classes at school, not to mention several stylists committed suicide looking at your poor attempt of self presentation …..
I pity you!
Be Well, Do Well and Spread Smiles
Szebastian-One
PS: Kudos BOB WITEK, I hope I can find you somehow as your views are that of an educated person, the better creed this world prefers.
Perhaps this article was a ploy to get people to read your column.
I think it’s cute that you simultaneously accuse Anderson’s public announcement as being a planned publicity event designed to get ratings, and also something that was “done incorrectly” if it was designed to get ratings.
Your three points–do it earlier, don’t offend, give a reason–are three things that I’m sure CNN and Anderson WOULD have done… if this had been a deliberately planned publicity event.
Your very criticism itself, the fact that they did not do these things, suggests that it wasn’t a planned event, but a spontaneous personal announcement.
I suppose you COULD argue this: “Anderson Cooper and CNN spend days and days meticulously planning a PR stunt that then happened to be executed so poorly that it came across as if it was not a planned publicity stunt!”
But isn’t the simpler explanation simply that Anderson didn’t “give a reason” or worry about “offending the viewers” because…. well…. the motivations WASN’T a PR stunt to begin with?
Greg,
You’re missing my point. If this were not a publicity stunt, Cooper would have kept quiet about his sexual preference. If Cooper wants to be cathartic, he can do so on his own time, not on CNN. The fact that the PR stunt was poorly executed doesn’t mean it wasn’t intentional. He was desperate for ratings, so he acted desperately.
If being truthful is a “publicity stunt,” Ben, I hope that more people will follow Anderson’s example. It would be a healthy model for all of us.
Since you explained you do not watch Anderson Cooper on CNN, you also seem abundantly ignorant of the fact that he did not disclose his sexual orientation on the air. He did so in a message to a friend and colleague, and then gave consent to make public. There is zero evidence that CNN played any role at all.
While you seem to believe what you believe about Anderson Cooper’s motivations, I think I safely join many others here baffled by your motivation, either personal or professional. Your discomfort with openly gay people is apparent, and begs why?
Can you explain ‘WHY would you expect/want/prefer him to keep quiet about his sexuality?’
When was the last time you asked a straight man to refrain from appreciating women and expressing love for his girlfriend, wife, women in general?
And as Bob Witeck said (thanks again Bob, well done!) the disclosure was neither made on CNN or FOR CNN, not to mention you claim to have never watched Cooper’s show. For a man who has never watched/experienced something, claiming how it all went down, how bad the show/experience is and what show/host/people should do … its beyond a bit rich!
Not that I have control but I do wish and hope, your own children turn out to be Homosexual and read this post of yours and hopefully you can answer THEM what were YOUR intentions behind his post.
Ben Piper, a word of advice, hire a stylist, a life coach and a spokesperson – until you are unfit for social interaction.
That Is All!