With a fanfare unrivaled since the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep, Angelina Jolie gave birth to Shiloh, her daughter with Brad Pitt, a few weeks ago. I’m mentioning this in case you’ve been in a cryogenic state and missed the news coverage surrounding the birth, which took place in Namibia.

It was announced not long after anticipating a media frenzy that would be similar to, well, everything leading up to Shiloh’s entrance that the incredibly attractive parents would sell the rights to the first photos of their offspring for about $4-million dollars to (what a surprise!) People Magazine and the British Hello! Magazine. Pitt and Jolie immediately announced that the money would be given to charity in Namibia, although no specific beneficiary was named.

What a brilliant stroke of public relations! Here’s something that takes the opponent’s strength and turns it against them: public relations jujitsu! This move, by two of the more visible people on the planet, could have repercussions that would change the balance of power between celebrities and the press for years to come.

Stars are always walking a very strange line. On the one hand, they want the press to pay attention to them, because that’s good business in the entertainment industry. Get your name in the paper and stay in the public eye, and you can get better jobs and higher salaries. It’s a no-brainer.

But celebrities are also people, and they are interested in having private lives, as well. Some of them want to have families, and children, and be left alone to raise those children in what they consider to be a “normal” environment. It’s difficult when, if you’re as famous as Pitt and Jolie, paparazzi are outside your door 24/7 and the public seems considerably more interested in your private life than in the work you do.

Balance shift


For many years, the press has controlled the balance: the media is polite to celebrities who cooperate, and for those who try to duck the cameras, there is something akin to stalking. The ultimate tragic expression of this condition was the death of Princess Diana in 1997. While questions remain about that event, it seems clear that the Princess was trying to evade paparazzi when her car crashed.

At other times, celebrity mania has reached bizarre heights of overkill. It’s not uncommon for tabloid newspapers to have helicopters over the sites of celebrity weddings to get pictures. Quite often, if a star won’t cooperate with some of the sleazier publications, the press will simply make up an unflattering story or compose a false photograph of the celebrity looking grotesque as retaliation.

By changing the circus surrounding the birth of their child into a major charity donation, Pitt and Jolie have turned the tables on the celebrity press. They come out looking like serious people who have transformed a silly press obsession into a sincere attempt to help the needy, and they control the photo obsession over their newborn daughter, who can’t possibly imagine the life she is beginning.

I sense a trend: celebrities who are savvy enough to take notice of this tactic might be able to apply it to their own situations, and create a positive public relations opportunity out of something that would otherwise be an embarrassment or a horrifying invasion of privacy. They can dictate the terms, the time and the details of their contact with the media, and help fashion a positive image for themselves at the same time. Whoever is advising Pitt and Jolie on this tactic deserves a huge amount of credit. It’s a stroke of genius.

Having advised top celebrities for many years, I know that the pressure has been building. Stars have long complained about the constant presence of photographers and reporters in their lives, and have wondered how more control could be exercised. It’s clear that Jolie and Pitt have realized their child’s birth would trigger a media frenzy, and planned ahead for it. They didn’t try to pretend it wouldn’t happen, they didn’t try to prevent it from happening and most importantly they didn’t complain loudly about it in public. Instead, they considered how to turn a negative into a positive, devised a plan and implemented it, and it worked beautifully.

Even though it was reported that two Web sites posted the supposedly secret photos before People and Hello! Magazine could publish them, the game was played and won by Pitt and Jolie. They could have become ridiculous figures trying to deny the attraction of their stardom, and instead are now seen in the public eye as sensible people who took an absurd situation and used it to help people who really needed the assistance.

Brilliant. More stars will follow in these footsteps.

Michael Levine is founder of the Hollywood public relations firm Levine Communications Office. He is the author of 17 books, the latest of which is

“Broken Windows, Broken Business.”