The Man in The Feed

Many of my blog posts focus on how PR and social media influence our consumption habits, yet few examples feel as personal to me as the new Michael movie. At first, I became aware of it through the constant stream of clips and edits appearing all over my TikTok feed. I grew fascinated with the old concert footage, interviews, casting videos, and all the reactions of Jaafar Jackson playing his uncle. I quickly found myself stopping to watch each and every one. It suddenly seemed like Michael Jackson was back in the spotlight once more. Having grown up listening to all the classic Michael Jackson songs, I was pleasantly surprised by the resurgence of his music, becoming as popular as ever. The more I engaged with content online, the more I wanted to revisit his music.

Something that I find particularly interesting is how naturally this whole process happened. There was no conventional advertising that persuaded me to watch the movie. Instead, it was PR and social media working together to slowly rebuild the enthusiasm for Michael Jackson as an artist and cultural icon. The conversations happening online transformed the movie from just a marketing effort into a cultural phenomenon people genuinely wanted to engage in.

I am also intrigued by how effortlessly I moved from being a passive viewer to an active consumer. What started as casually scrolling through TikTok’s during my free time quickly turned into purchasing a movie ticket, revisiting Michael Jackson's first albums, and becoming obsessed with the thrill of his music again. It reminded me that PR today is often not loud or blatantly obvious. At times, good PR works so smoothly that you do not even realize you are a part of the campaign until you have Michael Jackson full blast in your headphones at the gym. 

I never expected a movie rollout to completely pull me back into the music I grew up with, but that is exactly what happened. It shows how social media and PR now work together to turn entertainment into shared cultural experiences almost overnight.

This is the evolving landscape of modern PR. Rather than just simply telling audiences what to watch, listen to, or buy, entertainment companies now depend on online discussions, nostalgia, plenty of fan edits, influencers, and short-form content to create these emotional connections even before stepping into the theater. I think TikTok, in particular, has always had a special power when it comes to reviving older music and familiarizing younger audiences with legendary artists whom they might not have encountered before. Many articles, including this one from Variety, have also looked into all the factors that helped fuel the movie's success despite having mixed reviews.