What do you think of the increasing popularity of third-party image-makers?

I dislike it, because it’s not real. It’s constructed.

I don’t like nor dislike it. People who need it and can afford it can use it. People who don’t need it or can’t afford it will do without. Personally, I would never have thought about it if it weren’t for this question, and I really don’t care who does it or doesn’t.

I don’t think they can all be lumped in together. Interior designers may know some things the homeowner won’t, but someone tweeting to celebrities seems more fake than paying someone to decorate your house. Some people can’t do their hair on their own as well (are they considered third party image makers?).

If your image is your commodity, it’s really important to maintain the right impression in this age of instant information. One misinformed or angry Tweet will circle the globe in seconds and destroy a career or reputation. People who are not good at controlling their own words have every right to hire a spin doctors to do it for them. No, it isn’t honest but we’re used to it. Since when are any corporations or politicians honest with us.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so appalling. Have we no shame? It’s blatantly disingenuous.

It’s like Coaching. Once upon a time, if you needed someone to beat you up, nag you, tell you what a loser you are and kick you in the ass – you went to your mother in law. Everybody’s so damn lazy nowadays.

I guess if someone is insecure about their image, or is so high profile that their every move is scrutinized it’s OK.
I was furnishing a house and went to all sorts of furniture stores. I went into an Ethan Allen store and said, “We are looking for a coffee table and we are looking for something modern.”
The pompous sales person said, “We are mixing modern and traditional these days.” She went on and on about what “WE are doing, as if I would be wrong to follow my own instincts.
I never said it, but I really, really wanted to say, “I really don’t care about what YOU are doing, I am concerned with what I am doing.”

Dislike.

This Q reminded me of this example of what can happen when people mismanage their own online reputation. Now, this is a business owner who could have benefited from having a professional PR manager.

As far as I’m concerned, there has always been the third party “publicist” so to speak. Even Mozart didn’t tell the world what he was doing next. It’s all under wraps. It’s part of the exclusiveness of a show, or a creative process.

I dislike it because I’m not currently getting paid to do it.

how in the hell do you get that job?

Uhhhh @Blondesjon, you have to be an expert in tact and diplomacy. ~

what?!? hell, i have tact falling out of my ass.

It’s from all the leather you eat. no offense. It takes one to know one.

@Blondesjon It is actually a real job. Requiring work. With performance measures and all that shit. It’s not like driving a truck off a cliff. Or climbing flagpoles. Or even testing mattresses. To name three random jobs that require little labor or thought.

@wundayatta . . . I posit that I would be well qualified for the job the OP is describing.

Consider me officially insulted by your demeaning, thoughtless post. I have worked, hard. my entire life. This site is an outlet for me not an autobiography, a place to cruise for young chicks, or a hiding place from my wife who doesn’t understand me.

@Blondesjon My mistake, then, I thought you were making fun of the job and saying it didn’t require any talent or effort to do.

@wundayatta . . . Exactly my point and your point as well.

How about… All of the Above..?