Weeks ago on Feb. 7, Demi Moore threw a 30th birthday bash for her husband Ashton Kutcher at hot New York City club Socialista. Many celebrities attended, including Bruce Willis, Madonna, and Gwyneth Paltrow. But weeks later, it’s been discovered that one of the bartenders serving up drinks that night may have been serving a little more than the guests asked for, namely the infectious hepatitis A. It is possible that the bartender passed along the infection to guests through contact with food, water and ice. City officials are now recommending that all those who visited the club on Kutcher’s birthday, as well as the few days following, should get a vaccination immediately as a precautionary measure. As far as Hollywood PR crises go, this is a new one. I’d grown accustomed to the regular rehab visits and the occasional sex tapes. Seeing raggedy Britney on a gossip blog in the morning had become as normal as checking the weather. But an infectious disease? That’s a new one. The PR crisis for Ashton and Demi, though small, is something that needs to be dealt with. I think they should both get the vaccine, and make a public statement encouraging anyone else who could have been infected to do the same. Perhaps they could also release a statement on Hepatitis A, prevention, and how to protect yourself from becoming infected. The bigger PR problem in this situation is that of the club Socialista. Through regular reading of the gossip sites, it seems that there is a new “hot spot” every five minutes! The big clubs in New York City and Los Angeles stake their future on the celebrity patrons who attend their establishment, and the gossip columnists who write about it. I usually agree with the old PR motto that “any publicity is good publicity,” but in this situation, I would have to disagree. If this club has a fighting chance, they are going to have to do something big to get back their credibility. As a fledgeling PR student, I cannot fathom what kind of stunt would do the trick, but I do know that it needs to be fast and truthful. They need to take responsibility for the situation and apologize to those that could have been hurt. They too should release a statement about what people should do to prevent contracting this disease, and what they will do to rectify the situation. So it’s not rehab, an overdose, or another celebrity divorce, but this fresh PR crisis is happening, and if Socialista doesn’t act soon, you better believe that a new hot spot will replace it in New York minute.
