Media fight over Gerard Butler.

Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler has four key TV chat show appearances scheduled for this month.
He has in total, two morning and two evening chat show appearances scheduled ( See bottom of this article for the list).

Each TV appearance will enable him to address a different audience / demographic, which will enable him to maximize America’s awareness of Gerard Butler as an actor and celebrity household name.

Gerard Butler has released 35 films to date, and there are 9 more films in the pipe works. Gerard Butler is perhaps most remembered for his role as King Leonidas in 300, The phantom in Phantom of the Opera, and Terry Sheridan in Tomb Raider the Cradle of Life.

Gerard Butler’s popularity will increase even more significantly, as he steps up his public appearances through every media channel available to him.

Major mens, womens, films and celebrity magazines are all fighting for a piece of Gerard Butler in order to remain relevant to their reader’s interests.

Earlier this month Esquire was given the privilege to interview Gerard Butler in person. What was quite unusual, was that Esquire assigned a reporter who had no knowledge of who Gerard Butler was, to conduct the interview on behalf of the magazine. The reporter was just given a name and address and was instructed by Esquire to meet Gerard Butler that day.

So was the decision to send a reporter who did not know who Gerard Butler was, a publicity stunt by Esquire – or just a reflection of how disorganised Esquire could be in preparing an article for their readers?

There is no doubt, that there are a lot of different on views on this. Creative opportunities and cost efficiencies could potentially be gained through such an unconventional method of preparing for a celebrity interview. Readers who had no knowledge of who Gerard Butler was, would have no issues with this interview methodology.

However, some readers believe that Esquire really did under-estimate people’s knowledge of Gerard Butler as an actor. Gerard Butler has been acting for about 18 years, in major movie titles such as Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life, The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and 300. Although it could be argued that men in general have less knowledge of the celebrity world in contrast with women, Gerard Butler’s place in the world of celebrity for men – is an exception.

Male readers generally have a heightened awareness of Gerard Butler as a celebrity and male actor largely due to (1) the success of 300 which grossed over $456,068,181 (2) That the movie 300 raised the standard of the idealized male form in terms of muscular build and appearance for all men influenced by popular film and media. Men who are not directly influenced by popular film and media are still indirectly influenced by the new standard, due to raised female expectations about the idealized male form. “The Gerry Effect” helped the whole body-building industry make notable profits immediately after the release of 300 the movie.

Although GerardButler fans are grateful for content in relation to their favorite celebrity – some just felt the interview could have added more value if they dropped the cost efficient publicity stunt in favor of an interview that was conducted by someone who (1) have not been cut-off from the world of film & media (2) have done some background research prior to conducting the interview.

In the absence of background research, it is always a challenge to maximize added value for readers.

Esquire did take a risk in the way they approached to the interview. Some readers felt the approach was disrespectful towards Gerard Butler. After all, it is fairly standard for any journalist to do some background research prior to interviewing any high profile celebrity.

The potential impact that this publicity stunt has had on Esquire is that some celebrities may be more reluctant to accept interviews with the magazine, because granting a magazine title access to exclusive content is always a privilege that should be valued. Esquire could have out of common courtesy, mentioned the planned publicity stunt prior to the interview.

The potential impact that this publicity stunt has had on Esquire from a readership perspective is both positive and negative. Points for publicity – but penalties for compromising on traditional journalistic research methodologies needed to deliver articles with maximum added value for readers.

So, back to the topic of Gerard Butler’s upcoming TV guest appearances.

We most certainly hope the hosts will do their homework prior to the interviews.

Conan O’brien clearly did his home work prior to his interview, which is reflected in the entertaining way in which he engaged with Gerry and the audience.

Craig Ferguson have interviewed Gerard Butler before, therefore we expect the interview to continue from their previous dialogues. We not sure who will be interviewing Gerard Butler on Good Morning America, however, if it is Diane Sawyer, we to expect the dialogue to continue from their previous interview.

We are not to sure what to expect from Gerard Butler’s appearance on Regis and Kelly as this will be the last of all four chat show interviews scheduled for this month. The interview will slightly more challenging for the hosts Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, simply because they will need to differentiate their interview from the other three recent chat show interviews.

It would be interesting to see what topics the Chat Show hosts will select for discussion and see the resulting discovery of insights that will come from their choice of questions.

So the fight for Gerard Butler in the media and press continues.

We have attached below, links revealing more information about Gerard Butler’s upcoming tv appearances. Included are video footage of previous interviews. Enjoy the catch up!

Gerard Butler TV chat show schedule for July 2009:

16 July 2009 – Gerard Butler interview on The Tonight Show with Conan O’brien 2009
21 July 2009 – Gerard Butler interview onThe Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 2009
23 July 2009 – Gerard Butler Interview on Good Morning America with Christopher Cuomo 2009
24 July 2000 – Gerard Butler interview on Live! Regis and Kelly with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa 2009
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