Was Kanye West and Taylor Swift VMA’s incident Staged?

The moment was “shocking” as Kanye West came on stage to take the microphone from Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for best female music video, but was this real??

Seconds after it occurred the twitter/Facebook world exploded with tweets and status  updates about the incident and I’m sure tons more people turned to MTVas a result and more will soon watch the show and event as the VMAs are re-run over and over again for the next few weeks and on the internet.

You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect dramatic event to boost ratings and PR for Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Beyond and the VMAs.  It happened early in the show and the action of Kanye West would leave a plot line running through the show…would Taylor Swift respond or would someone stand up for her?   What would happened? You had to stay tuned to find out!

Then, with a perfect Hollywood ending, Beyonce wins best music video at the end of the show and brings out an awaiting Taylor Swift from backstage to finish her acceptance speech.   The crowd goes wild, Beyonce looks great, Taylor Swift gets super amounts of sympathy and I’m sure additional record sales and ratings for all involved.   Kanye plays the role of the bad guy, but  does he really mind?  He apologizes later and now has has  days of a viral storyline with him in it sure to be discussed all week on news stations and gossip sites with new twists and turns sure to come…stay tuned!

Too perfect, no? And, MTV has shown a history of  staging events in the past such as when Sacha Barron Cohen landed on Eminem’s face with his butt during another award show.  During that show,  Eminem walked out looking angry and it turned out just to be a publicity stunt.  Besides, it’s MTV’s MO these days to stage things.  Just look at there “reality” shows  they run which are all scripted and staged.

There is too much money on the line to just let a show happen without ensuring there will be some drama or water-cooler viral stories that occur.  Drama=ratings=money.    The people doing these shows aren’t stupid and they have all the data and experience to know what kind of things will add to ratings.   This is PR 101 these days and a great lesson for those looking to learn how to generate viral media.   

A lot of what we see these days on TV is staged.  Who knew that WWE wrestling was only the start of fake “real” TV?

Regardless, I enjoyed the drama staged or not, but its important that we look at this stuff with a critical eye as television continues to be such a strong manipulator of society and people’s lives.  We certainly play right into their hands, I know I was quick to twitter and call my friend right afterwards.  Either way,  well played MTV.

Fashion Night Out: My 25 Events “Experience”

I was born and raised in New York City, but fashion week was always something I just viewed afar.    Not anymore!

Last night was Fashion Week’s Fashion Night Out and with friends Emma Snowdon-Jones and Courtney Dawson I ventured out to explore about as much as NYC Fashion as humanly possible in a four hour period!

How can I best describe Fashion Night Out?

It seemed to be the equivalent of a bar crawl except instead of irish pubs we bounced around fashion retailers and instead of beer people drank champagne. 

If the goal  of the evening was to sales, I’m not sure that was accomplished although the stores were packed and it seemed to be a great night in the city, but most people seemed to be just enjoying the free drinks and the spectacle of it all.

Playing fashion designer Chris Benz in Wii Fencing at Saks 5th Ave...sadly, I lost!

My favorite moments included playing fashion designer Chris Benz in Wii fencing at the Saks 5th ave store and chatting with designer Tommy Hilfiger.   (Tommy Hilfiger dressed me for the evening so a special thanks to him and all the folks on their staff!)

With Tommy Hilfiger at their Bleeker Street Store

Trying to go to 25 events was definitely a challenge especially with the traffic in NYC last night!   During the course of the evening I developed my first case of “Fashion Rage”.  It’s similar to “road rage” but instead of having anger at other drivers, you have anger at well dressed people. 

I imagine that during the course of Fashion Week  for those involved on a daily basis that this fashion rage affliction strikes many people! (The only known cure for this is Pizza so we quickly detoured for a slice which cured me)!

Over the course of the evening we stopped at Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Bergdorf, Armani, Saks 5th Ave, John Varvatos, Valentino and Burberry to name a few!  

Our evening ended at the Oakley’s pre-VMA party…so much going on between US Open, VMAs, Fashion Week….yowser!