Blake Lively, the actress known for her role in ”Gossip Girl” and her marriage to Ryan Reynolds, recently found herself the subject of a targeted smear campaign orchestrated by her ”It Ends With Us” co-star and director, Justin Baldoni. While Lively had previously existed on the periphery of public consciousness, a vague notion of her being “unlikeable” or “problematic” began to circulate in the months leading up to her sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni. This shift in public perception, seemingly arising from nowhere, becomes chillingly clear when examined in the context of Baldoni’s preemptive PR strategy.
The New York Times unearthed a series of text messages between Baldoni’s PR team and hired crisis management experts, revealing a calculated plan to discredit Lively before she could publicly accuse Baldoni of sexual harassment. The messages detail Baldoni’s desire to ”bury” Lively, a sentiment echoed by crisis manager Melissa Nathan, who assured him of their ability to ”bury anyone.” This campaign manifested in a flurry of negative social media rumors, articles questioning Lively’s character, and the resurfacing of old interview clips portraying her in an unfavorable light. The campaign successfully painted Lively as difficult and unsympathetic, effectively preemptively countering any future allegations against Baldoni.
While it’s impossible to definitively determine the extent to which these PR efforts manufactured the negativity surrounding Lively, the unearthed text messages paint a disturbing picture of calculated manipulation. The campaign’s success demonstrates the power of money and spin doctors to shape public opinion, even against a wealthy and influential figure like Lively. This case offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a smear campaign, revealing the mechanisms by which narratives can be crafted and disseminated to influence public perception. It underscores the vulnerability of even prominent figures to such tactics.
The involvement of Melissa Nathan, who previously represented Johnny Depp during his highly publicized legal battles with Amber Heard, further highlights the potential for manipulation in these situations. Nathan’s involvement in both cases raises questions about the ethical boundaries of PR and crisis management. The tactics employed in both cases appear strikingly similar, leveraging social media and public relations to sway public opinion and discredit accusers. This pattern underscores the potential for abuse within the PR industry and the susceptibility of public discourse to manipulation.
This incident transcends a simple Hollywood feud; it serves as a stark reminder of the pervasiveness of influence operations in contemporary society. While this particular case involves celebrities, it exemplifies a broader phenomenon of targeted campaigns designed to shape narratives and manipulate public opinion. These campaigns exist on a spectrum, ranging from relatively minor disputes to large-scale political and ideological manipulations. The ease with which Baldoni’s team seemingly swayed public sentiment against Lively raises concerns about the vulnerability of individuals and the potential for widespread manipulation in the digital age.
Finally, the effectiveness of the campaign against Lively, particularly the speed and intensity with which negative sentiment spread, reveals a troubling aspect of public discourse: a seemingly inherent desire to embrace and amplify negative narratives, particularly about women. As Nathan herself noted in a text message, the campaign’s success was ”sad” because it demonstrated ”how people really want to hate women.” This observation raises critical questions about the societal biases that contribute to the effectiveness of such campaigns and the disproportionate targeting of women in these efforts. The case of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, while seemingly isolated, offers a chilling illustration of the potent and often unseen forces that shape our perceptions and the vulnerabilities inherent in our interconnected digital world.
