Growing your mind and your EMPIRE!

So many people wonder why today’s television shows are so popular. Shows like "Power", "Scandal", "The Have and Have Nots" and "Empire" always keep us captivated...and you ask why? It is because these shows know how to stay relevant and up-to-date with what’s going on in today’s society. One of my favorites out of this bunch is the television show "Empire", because of how real it is. The first episode was like a blast from the past with Ms. Cookie Lyon and her ex-husband Luscious and their three boys. To deepen the plot quickly, they falsely diagnosed Luscious with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I am not sure if you all remember, but the Ice Bucket Challenge trend had just died down when the show aired. That trend began to give those who do not suffer from the disease a chance to feel how those who do have it feel, even if for just a moment. ALS was definitely something that had everyone asking more questions and, in turn, being more willing to donate. And because it was starting to fade out of the main focus in popular culture, the show brought it back up and made us wonder again. How did the challenges go? How much money did the campaign raise? How did those affected feel about the challenge? Were they honored? Were they offended? These are questions that we began to let slip away...Until producer, Lee Daniels, made sure we didn’t forget about what, and who, mattered.

Lee Daniels. That man is a true visionary. He portrays these situations that have happened to many of us or someone we know that make us say, “Huh, how did he know that about me?” He focuses on the LGBT community as well by making one of the sons a gay character, then shows the struggles he faces in the entertainment industry as well as his personal life. Being rejected by his father, lying about lovers and trying to force himself to be with women are just a few of the things that Lee Daniels highlights in "Empire" through that character. Honestly, the best tie-in from public relations that the show did was during one of the later episodes when Cookie was arrested. As Cookie was being arrested she shouted out the window, “If I die in police custody, I did not commit suicide.” The phrase started out as a hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody and took off from there, but if you’re not familiar with it let me catch you up. During the summer of 2015, a young woman by the name of Sandra Bland was driving home from an interview when she was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal. She was taken into police custody and days later was mysteriously found dead in her cell. Her loved ones and others found this as unacceptable and protested, and still, a year later, unresolved questions have the public wondering.

#PRNinjas #PR #Mind #Empire