PR fakes, doorstep interviews, smoking gun emails and current affairs shows
Wednesday night saw an interesting PR story appear on both Nine’s A Current Affair and Seven’s Today Tonight.
PR man Jothy Hughes was caught hiring actresses to pretend to be angry divorcees selling their jewellery, for an item about a cash-for-gold company.
But, thanks to smoking gun emails, he was busted before his hoax on A Current Affair could be pulled off.
However, I’m not sure we’ve got the full story just yet.
I first became aware of the story when Today Tonight rang to get a comment. I appeared towards the end of their report talking about PR ethics.
What unfolded was a tale of dodgy PR shenanigans to promote so-called gold parties, where people flog their unwanted jewellery.
Odd though is his high level of cooperation with Seven in particular. Not only does he come into the studio, but he even helpfully reads out his incriminating emails.And they’re astonishing stuff. Handily, you can read them on A Current Affair’s website, where you can also watch their (non-embeddable) report.
Email 1
SHOOT: A Current Affair
CLIENT: Gold Parties Australia (GPA)
HISTORY: GPA is a brand where women host parties for their friends. Women come along and have champagne and canapes and then sell their old gold jewellery. With gold currently worth over $1000 an ounce, women are making a lot of money.
DRESS: Smart casual. Clothes they would normally wear to a lunch
STORY: A Current Affair need 10 people who are a divorced to attend one of these parties and sell their old gold jewellery from their ex husband.
I need your actors to pretend they have all been married (or maybe some have been) and some need to be bitter about their experience and really happy to sell off their old gold!
I will supply gold for all the women, however if some of them would genuinely like to bring their own gold to get assessed and then sell, that is fine too.
I’ll have lunch and champagne for all people too and they will need to be comfortable appearing in front of audiences all over Australia.
Here is a link to their website. I did a story with ACA last year, so have a look at this to further understand how these parties workwww.goldpartiesaustralia.com
Email 2
Hi Lisa,
I just wanted to run one more thing by you before tomorrow.
It’s absolutely paramount that when each person has their gold assessed they show genuine surprise at how much their gold jewellery is worth! This is the main thing i want to get across to the viewers!
I want people at home to realise how much money they can make from such small amounts of gold.
Not everyone will be filmed having their gold weighed and assessed but i’m sure everyone will feature in the piece.
Please ensure no-one lets on that they are actors, otherwise my career in PR will be over and i’ll never get another story on A Current Affair.
If your actors would mind even keeping it as low key as possible about this job, even after it’s been aired, that would be much appreciated.
If the reporter asks you how you heard of this concept, please get them to either say through word of mouth or through the internet.
If your actors have their own divorce stories, that is fine too.
As I said, Mark Gibbins will be there tomorrow and will be your best port of call.
If all your actors could look at the link I sent you also, that’d be great, just so they know how the actual afternoon will probably go.
As I also mentioned, let your actors know they are more than welcome to bring any gold they want assessed for real also!
Please call me in the morning to let me know everything is ok as this is a really important shoot and I need to make sure it comes off.
I really appreciate all your help with this Lisa-you’ve been amazingly professional and so prompt with everything.
I look forward to chatting in the morning.
Cheers,
Jothy
The quote that leaps out in the email above is the line: “Please ensure no-one lets on that they are actors, otherwise my career in PR will be over and i’ll never get another story on A Current Affair.” Damning stuff.
Yet for such a PR blunderer, in the Nine footage he suddenly becomes very professional when confronted. He admits his behaviour and is immediately apologetic, both in the Today Tonight studio interview and in the A Current Affair car park confrontation.
He used to work for publicist Max Markson’s agency Markson Sparks. I did wonder whether he indeed still does, as his LinkedIn profile states. My first theory was that both TV shows were given cooperation in exchange for keeping Markson’s name out of it. Particularly as Today Tonight refers to the infamous “Spider Man” stunt when Alain Robert scaled a Sydney tower block. That was very much a Max Markson production, although Today Tonight kept his name out of it in its report this week.
When I rang Gold Parties Australia they told me they no longer had a PR agency, but had until recently used a consultant. The CEO of the company, they said, was on a flight, but the name Markson Sparks was unfamiliar.
And Markson tells me that it has been months since he spoken to Hughes, which I do tend to believe.Hughes isn’t answering his phone, although he did send me a brief text on Wednesday night. One tipster told me that the car park scene was shot at the back of the Markson Sparks offices. Markson tells me that’s not the case.
Our offices are nearby so one of my colleageus has popped around, and it does look like a red herring – it wasn’t shot there.
Another wild theory is that the PR hoax story is itself a hoax. After all, as a result of the incriminating emails, the story has been covered on both A Current Affair and Today Tonight. The Gold Parties Australia concept has been exposed to far more people than otherwise could be the case.
I’m not sure that theory necessarily stands up either, but what I am certain of is that we don’t yet know the whole story.
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Interesting piece, seeing as I don’t watch either of those shows, it’s good to still be informed.
On another not, you’re looking good Tim. Nice haircut and a shave, and even a smart suit.
I know it’s only Today Tonight, but you’d think you would wear something more than your favourite team-building shirt from 2003 buddy…
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I’ll have you know, that’s my treasured “Play him off keyboard cat” T-shirt…
http://www.zazzle.com.au/play_.....7960105591
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Self-proclaimed “PR Maverick”… certainly lots of @maxmarkson in his Twitter feed… http://twitter.com/jothyhughes
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Speaking of your t-shirts Tim could you jot down somewhere near your Videos what they say or lose the jacket? We only ever get to see a few of the middle words and I always get the feeling they’re funny…
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So, so sad that this guys is representaing the PR profession like he is. He’s a shonky publicist, nothing more, nothing less. Hardly a real PR.
Don’t think we’ll be seeing him on the Sydney PR scene again anytime soon.
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Well I guess it’s better than this:
http://www.zazzle.com.au/the_m.....2103415097
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Although the publicist has highly questionable ethics (PR and otherwise); the client must have known what was going on as they need to sign off on any concepts during the planning stages.
The bloke can now step away from the publicity game as not all publicity is good publicity; that’s only what marketing people think!
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This guy is not a PR “professional”. He’s a self-promoting publicist. Just the type that gives PR a bad name. Stronger words come to mind.
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Can we please stop calling Publicitsts PR people. They are not. That’s like calling every blogger, tweeter and online commentator a journalist. It is wrong, it is insulting and it does nothing to help real PR people and real journalists work together
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I wouldn’t be Tim if he wasn’t wearing a tee he purchased off the internet!
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Agree with Greg and Geoff. There is a significant difference between a Publicist and a Public Relations professional.
Tim – you know I love you, and Mumbrella. But this labeling of ‘PR’ when you’re actually referring to publicists time and time again, has to stop. Please!
Publicists/Media Relations professionals – specialise in working with the media to generate publicity.
Public Relations professionals – work across a wide-range of communications to understand and respond to the needs of a business’ customers/publics.
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The most damning evidence from the email chain is the man’s utter disregard for the inviolability of the exclamation mark. Who’s out there looking after punctuation while all this is going on?
Noone. That’s who.
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it’s clearly a publicity stunt for GPA with ACA and TT complicit…
..but why would they? because the tv ‘journos’ thought it would entertain and they couldnt resist taking a dig at PRs
how sad when the best stunt a publicity man can think up features him being an idiot
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Interesting point, Karalee.
I’d argue that publicity is a subset of public relations. Certainly it’s not the only (or even main) aspect of PR, but it is one of them.
So someone who is a publicist is a public relations person, albeit in one PR specialty only.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Sven. You’re banned… inappropriate use of ellipses.
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Tim, I agree with you that media relations is indeed a subset of public relations. However, there are some clear differences between publicists and media relations forming part of a bigger public relations strategy.
In this case I’d argue (and not just because he was an idiot) he is a publicist. His online profile (Twitter, Linkedin, ties to Markson’s website) infers he only works in publicity.
Happy to argue the merits of when a publicist is or isn’t a PR professional!
Cheers
Karalee
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I had trouble keeping up with the twists and turns of this one.
Without a doubt though, that Hughes bloke has the biggest tie-knot I have seen today That much I am certain about.
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Roger. Love your work.
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The whole thing smacks of collusion – especially when the guy starts reading aloud from his emails. Nice bit of play acting.
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Chris – banned. Insufficient full stops. Schoolboy error.
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Tim,
Actually, they are all more accurately subsets of marketing. In totallity, Advertising looks after brand awareness and buys space for messages that simply would not cut it as editorial. PR looks after brand reputation and is (according to most surveys I have read over more than a decade) the catalyst for over 70% of what we read, watch and listen to in traditional and business/vertical online media. For most organisations, advertising builds the awareness, PR manages the brand and the marketing folk use these disciples, along with things like telesales, DM, eDM and the like to generate sales. Publicists on the other hand tend more towards gaining ‘publicity’ for individuals and brands (usually by employing individuals in the form of B/C-list celebs), that manifests itself in headline-grabbing mindless, ill-thought-out ploys like this. Also, the other huge difference is that publicists are not strategic – something that Ad and PR people are. Publicists are usually opportunists. As to being a subset of PR? No, they are probably another, albeit bottom-feeding, sub, subset of often unprofessional marketing departments or marketing people.
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Oh Geoff… Bad news for you my friend. ‘%’ should always be presented in a letter as two words – ‘per cent’. Also, perhaps next time, a few more hard returns please.
Anyway, you’re outta here.
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Cheesy public apology at the end. His eyes are darting all over the place. Tim Roth from Lie To Me would have a field day with Jothy!
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. Oops – there it is.
In fact, I’ve got a few spare so I will just leave them here for safe-keeping……
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Roger, I’ll keep that in mind if I ever have such as slow day that I feel the urge to write you a letter.
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CJ – Perhaps you missed our earlier lesson about how to use exclamation marks? We’re trying to keep some focus today please.
You’re warned.
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Chuffed, I seem to have missed Roger’s grammar wrath.
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Roger that.
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Here to help people… Here. To. Help.
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As Hughes is an ex-member of the PRIA (pria are confirming whether he’s Ex or not), he would know PR 101 (incl ethical right from wrong). I’ve asked them to check whether he or his employers are still PRIA affiliated.
And I’ve just asked them if this kind of stunt would see a member expelled.
As for Matt White’s setup “It’s generally accepted that PR people play with the truth…” both Jothy and TT are doing another beaut number on the PR of the PR profession.
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Roger,
You just made my day.
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Jothy Hughes, the subject of the Today Tonight and a Current Affair programs is not a member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.
All members of PRIA and any registered consultancy are subject to the PRIA Code of Ethics and, in addition if they are are a Registered Consultancy, the RCG Code of Practice.
The PRIA totally rejects any assumption that PR people play with the truth.
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The publicity game can at times be exactly that…”a game” but more importantly the average consumer today is far better informed than ever before. Has this publicity caused any harm? Are there any real victims? I don’t think so. Why not convert dated or no longer loved gold items into cash to pay a few bills or buy some new more fashionable pieces. I just don’t understand why Australian television has stooped to such lows. Maybe the publicist was short on the whole truth but I would imagine the real customers of gold party probably do not wish to be seen in any public material. Perhaps using actors is a great way to convey a message whilst protecting identities, however, in this case disclosure may have given the piece far greater professionalism and protection from the mud slinging media involved. Does anyone we really believe the Danoz direct testimonials or how about all those ab machine campaigns late at night. I don’t think so. Is Mr Hughes the victim here??? Bring on media coverage of real life important and relevant news and leave this stuff out please. We just are not interested…Shame on you ACA and TT.
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Ooooooh… Jon B… Close, but not quite good enough, I’m afraid. It’s ‘A Current Affair’, not, as you describe ‘a Current Affair’.
For future reference, you may also be interested to know that it’s ‘A Country Practice’, ‘The Courier-Mail’ and that the largest mammal in the world is a blue whale.
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Totally agree with Anonomous comment above… “The publicity game can at times be exactly that…”a game”
I absolutely think Mr Hughes made several very poor choices of judgement that as a PR professional you should not make, and there should be implications.
But did ACA present a balanced story? Did this really warrant becoming the lead item on a national news programme. I think not.
Do cash for gold hold bonifida parties? Have people benefitted from this company’s service – I don’t know but you would consider as part of a thorough journalistic report that we would find out. Needless to say, we didn’t.
In fact ACA presented a story that was sensationalist beyond belief.
Interestingly, ACA later informed Mr Hughes (off the record) that had it not been a “slow news week” they never would have considered this as news.
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Well said Insider…what is ACA’s real agenda? Mud wrestling? Get some serious content and your ratings may improve otherwise leave the intellectual inhabitants of this great nation alone.
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…after further novice investigating, it transpires that an earlier airing of the gold parties concept in October by one of the so called current affairs programs did in fact use real gold party participants…so what has been exposed here? Nothing at all other than a mindless attack. After all isn’t it about the concept of selling old gold? Shame on Australian current affair producers for being so ruthlessly destructive.
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Roger, does the correcting of other peoples punctuation really make up for the glaring failures in your life?… get a job.
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anonymous are you jothy hughes?
insider thinks pr is a ‘game’ – erm, who wants to come over tonight and play a game of pr? we might be able to squeeze in a little journalism and advertising too if it’s not too much fun to be had in one night.
Grammar Nazis – please excuse the lack of capital letters, misused punctuation, sporadic hyphenation and the obvious interjection.
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just watched the video – he’s still lying to today tonight and they’re still buying it. this just keeps getting better and better!
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pr professional – While PR, journalism, and advertising may all be absolutely necessary careers in today’s society, no-one can deny that there is an aspect of “game” in any one of these industries.
I take my job in PR seriously, as I have for the past decade, but lets face facts (and to borrow a quote that I despise but is perfectly true), none of it’s brain surgery.
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No I am not Mr Hughs but I reckon if I was exposed in the way ACA exposed him on a so called quiet news night and treated the way he was treated my eye’s would twitch too. I would definitely prefer to be in Mr Hughs shoes right now as opposed to being a misguided host of ACA…more plastic surgery anyone?
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Wow, the PRIA is upset. Oooh. That’s like being flogged with a wet lettuce.
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I remember interviewing Jothy for a job many years ago. Seemed like a nice young man. Shame to see him commit professional suicide like this.
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What can I say “gold” !
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James – think Roger may have a few comments for your use of the exclaimation mark.
Roger – brilliant. love your detail. I even have to applaud your correct use of ‘noone’ vs. ‘no one’.
The people arguing PR vs. publicists – seriously. this is about the bigger picture, at the end of the day, an idiot did something idiotic. end of story. doesn’t really matter if they are a PR person, publicist or Madonna’s leg waxer.
also you have just created more “publicity” about the gold parties company. Who’s the real winner in the end?
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Has anyone questioned whether Today Tonight or ACA was involved received advertising dollars off Gold Parties? Maybe Jothy is a clever PR man after all…
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For goodness sake, he is not, not, not a PR person. He is a publicist. Please read earlier posts. I’m out of here!
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Roger Ramjet,
I’m afraid the Squadron have to pick you up on your misuse of the term ellipses (n : a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it; syn: oval). The correct term for the character ‘…’ is ellipsis (n : omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences; syn:eclipsis).
Take a Proton Energy Pill and a short lie down, should set you straight.
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Roger. Gold.
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Aye aye General. Alas, the Squadron’s dictionary apparently doesn’t extend to plurals.
You’re demoted.
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