Slur of the moment

Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice recently lost her sponsorship with Jaguar when she tweeted a spur of the moment comment following the Tri-Nations game. The tweet was described 'out of character' by her team mates, however Jaguar found the comment to be inappropriate and dumped the gold medalist late afternoon on September 6.


The swimmer coped a lot of angry responses in the media and later made a brief apology saying:

"I made a comment on Twitter on Saturday night in the excitement of the moment. I did not mean to cause offence and I apologise."

Jaguar's statement in regards to the termination of Rice's sponsorship could be seen as a tad over-reaction, however I think Jaguar's decision is justified. When somebody like Stephanie Rice, an Australian Olympic hero, comes under such scrutiny by the media and Australian public the company has to ensure they aren't also given bad press.

When she was made ambassador for Jaguar Australia, the swimmer is expected to hold a good public image. Spur of the moment comments that may offend many Australians can't be accepted by such a large brand company.

As a celeb on a social media site such as twitter, speaking your mind isn't always the way to go.

'Fashion ideas from the hardware store'

Article:

Dresses accentuated with cable ties and reticulation hose, handbags and shoes made from palm fronds and a chandelier constructed from marzipan are just some of the weird and wonderful creations on display at the Beyond Garment exhibition at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Part of this month's Perth Fashion Festival, the exhibition gives 20 young Perth designers the chance to showcase fashion accessories as works of art in their own right. Exhibition curator Anne Farren said the pieces ranged from the wearable to the conceptual and represented a journey through fashion as seen through the eyes of jewellery designers, artists and sculptors. "It is really art for the body," she said. "These are beautiful objects that can be acknowledged as works of art in themselves." Sarah Pauley, this year's face of the Perth Fashion Festival, posed in several of jewellery designer Alister Yiap's spectacular creations, including a dress accessorised with cable ties and acrylic pieces and chunky 3-D acrylic jewellery that would not look out of place on pop star Lady Gaga. "I think people become more adventurous when you break down those boundaries," Yiap said. "I am really interested in using different materials." The exhibition runs from Friday until November 28. Entry is free.

The West Australian newspaper article, written by Lindsay McPhee, highlights one of the exhibitions that are part of this month's Perth Fashion Festival. The exhibition will be held at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle and display 'weird and wonderful' fashion created with hardware store inspiration.

The article features comments from the designers about the display, and doesn't contain any of the journalists opinions on the display, or the Perth Fashion Festival itself. The journalist has included where the exhibition is, when and the entry fee.

The statements and opinions included in the article are those of the fashion designer and the exhibition curator. The article is based on the facts of the exhibition and seems relatively unchanged by the journo from the press release.

I don't think the journo has visited the exhibition herself before writing the article, as I think this would have caused more of her opinion on the exhibition, rather than just the facts.

What I hope to achieve...

I hope to get as much out of this course as I possibly can. To learn new things and to improve skills I already had. This course will open so many doors for me and give me the potential to grow in the PR industry, or whatever comes next. That’s what I’m most looking forward to, the whatever comes next part. Knowing that there are so many opportunities next for me, there is so much that could come next.

I chose to do public relations because it seemed like the best way to go, and the most interesting. It took the skills I had previously developed at tafe, and allowed me to further develop them in a whole new industry. The public relations industry is growing fast, and with so many closely related industries it allows me to develop skills that can open more opportunities of many different careers.

I want to get the most I can out of this course, and hopefully continue through into the diploma level. Job opportunities are what I hope to look for from there, but I’m up for going though to university if that’s what it’s going to take. It doesn’t take much for me to change my mind on careers, but this time I’m going to stick with public relations. Even if it’s a career related to PR then this course will give me the appropriate skills I can apply to that job role too. To me, these are huge goals and to just complete this course would be a great achievement.

My goal for now is to do everything I can to achieve the best results in this course that I possibly can. To ace assignments, contribute to each class, to apply and learn new skills each week and to give every task my best shot. This goal is what I think it takes for me to continue in my public relations studies, and if I continue to focus and go hard, I know I am capable.