It takes a lot to build a public profile, public identity. The struggle to be known, to be acknowledged, to be famous it is something that takes lot of years of hard work and building gradually before it amounts to something. This is simply how it feels to have any kind of presence in the public sphere. Knowing how difficult it is to build and attract the attention of the audience, especially for content creators, social media influencers, a celebrity, and all it takes to take it all away is just one scandalous event. From being the one that was loved by so many, just a bit of scandal is more than enough to turn the public against you.
Who wouldn't want to try as much as possible to maintain their reputation? In this era an age, for anyone to want to have a promising career in most field, you must be known to have a good reputation. This is not about people that knows you in just your neighbourhood, I'm talking about stepping up and holding significant position in any industry. You need the acknowledgement of the people and for you to do that you must be someone of value, someone that has something people crave. It could be knowledge, skills, talents e.t.c
The moment you have this, you suddenly find yourself in the center of every discussion. This is where is that getting pretty, the moment any organisation notice the crowd you could pull, you start getting endorsement deals and so on. Even if getting endorsement or sponsorship deals was never your plan, having the attention of the people will serve as a bonus to you wherever you seek opportunity. In this present era, fame is like a magnet. If managed properly it is capable of attracting all sort of monetary benefits.
So whenever anyone is involved in a mess or scandalous event, the next thing you would see is them trying to make amends by making an apology video. Does it hold any weight? The truth is, it doesn't really matter. It is what is needed to show the public that, he/she is taking responsibility for his/her actions. It is a method of showing remorse for whatever wrong had been committed. This kind of strategy works in court, I mean you plead guilty and the judge senses that you are remorseful for the crime committed, it is enough to earn the offender a reduced sentence.
If this strategy can work in court, imagine how effective it would be on the members of the public that acts on sentiment. This act is all about using people's ability to feel empathetic against them. It makes people feel, at least he or she feels sorry for whatever he/she has done. I think the acceptance of the apology video or message is what matters and this is what is used to measure the weight it carries.
Yeah I know, it still makes you wonder, why commit the act in the first place and come around to drop apology message. But you know what people would say to this, they would say something like, no one is perfect, no one is above mistake. So anyone can just engage in something unpleasant and then come around seeking to be forgiven or making amends by dropping some sympathetic video or message on social media. What if I tell you some people actually get involved in incriminating acts just to get noticed and still come around to apologize for it, which will still assist them in grabbing more attention.
In the chase for fame, people are capable of doing things that would even shame the devil, just to be known. There is something called negative publicity in public relations. When you use a scandal to attract people's attention to a particular brand, it makes them the talk of the town and somehow, you suddenly realise that some scandal will be used for the advantage of the company. I know how crazy it sounds but what better way to attract people's attention if not a scandal?
I'm not saying all scandalous events that occur are intentionally done to attract people's attention but majority of the ones going around on social media these seems to be following a pattern. Example of such is leaked sex tape of somebody from nowhere and suddenly people start searching for their social media handles just to get the gist. We all know that monetisation on social media depends on how many attention you are able to attract to your post or profile and this act of getting involved in scandalous events seems to be doing exactly that.
I have heard of artist that declared themselves dead just because they released an album, knowing how sentimental people can be, they would want to hear the last album the artist made before he/she died. When they notice the deed has been done suddenly, they arouse like Pheonix from the aches and what do they do next? They come around on social media dropping apology videos to clear the misunderstanding.
How can you tell that the person is genuine? You can't. We now live in a world where everything can be faked including emotions, it doesn't really matter if he/she cries while making the video. Haven't you seen enough of fake tears on tiktok videos, people intentionally cry in live streams just to prove to people that their emotions are real.
So trying to verify how genuine the apology is, is just a waste of time. While you are doing that, you might just be doing exactly what they want you to do, which is to be curious about them. The moment you are curious about the person, you find yourself reading through their profiles to know more about that, imagine a million people doing exactly same thing you are doing? In the world of monetisation, who do you think it will benefit, you or the person dropping the apology video?
Apart from the apology videos, what other method would I suggest? I wouldn't say they should be cancelled because that would be wrong. The reason is that there are people whose crime and apology is actually genuine, which means we might end up cancelling people with good intentions, who really needs a second chance. And for those who do it for fame or money, they are also trying to survive, It is a tough world. So Frankly I can't really suggest any other method that can be immune to human deceit.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Apology videos in hive learners community.
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