Ashley Wagner has a good PR team | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Ashley Wagner has a good PR team

Jammers

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Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Seems like someone is getting a bit of a attitude with all the praise that she is getting. Maybe Ashley needs Gracie to beat her to make her a bit more humble.
 

Eislauf

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 26, 2012
It doesn't really matter whether they were fans or not. When you are a public figure, you just have to suck it up sometimes. Tweeting accusations or complaints is not a good idea for anyone, especially not for celebrities. This doesn't mean you have to be phony, there are still ways to communicate in an interesting way.

Agree 100%.
A) I hope that she feels grateful that people want her autograph in the first place, regardless of what they do with them. Even if they sell them it indicates that she has fame, success and popularity, all good things for her career. I bet someone like Caroline Zhang might be thrilled to have someone ask for her autograph, as would thousands of young skaters dreaming of accomplishing what Ashley has. If Ash is so upset about people making $ from her autographs, then she shouldn't give them. As you said, when you're in the public eye you have to take the good with the bad. If you can't stand the heat....

B) Maybe she was just tired and didn't think clearly about what she was tweeting. Maybe the autograph-seekers were tired/embarrassed/tongue-tied and that's why they didn't say anything.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
I don't think Ashley has a PR team. I think it's just her.

I agree! What does it say about the times when somebody doing a good deed or exhibiting a good attitude is seen as simply being opportunistic or pandering to a crowd? :disapp: I was appalled (though not surprised) when Obama helped that pregnant woman from fainting, and people suggested he staged it.

If Ashley supports the gays she's opportunistic, if she says nothing, she's Davis/White and receives criticism, if she says something counter-productive like Abbott she faces even more criticism. There's no pleasing people, eh. :laugh:
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Enough with the pearl-clutching over Ashley's autograph tweets. If they were really fans, they would've thanked Ashley and also tried to talk about something other than SIGN SIGN SIGN!!!

Anyone who has been to a baseball game can smell the Ebay autograph sellers from a mile away. I'm sure the same thing is for figure skating autograph sellers. Slimey, bottom feeding, mouth breathers.

exactly, you don't go with handsful of things to sign if you're just a fan... it's an olympic season and she's being touted as one of America's hopes for a medal. She's maybe not Angelina Jolie, but the autograph is free, anything they get is pure profit.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Seems like someone is getting a bit of a attitude with all the praise that she is getting. Maybe Ashley needs Gracie to beat her to make her a bit more humble.

Or better yet, some unknown Canadian or supposedly overweigth American has been. :)
 

lcd

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
I don't think Ashley has a PR team. I think it's just her.

Almost all of the top skaters also have agents and associated publicists
That said, most of the agents and publicists have little say over how each athlete handles themselves on social media (and nor should they IMO)
 

Eislauf

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 26, 2012
I suspect Mr. Nicks may have tried to teach gracious, good sportsmanship to Ashley. After Gracie had skated her triumphant long program during Nationals this year, and before Ashley was due to skate hers, NBC TV caught Mr. Nicks saying to Ashley: "Grace just had a good skate so why don't you go over and congratulate her".
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Almost all of the top skaters also have agents and associated publicists
That said, most of the agents and publicists have little say over how each athlete handles themselves on social media (and nor should they IMO)

David Bagden represents her at IMG. I only follow him on Instagram, but he seems to be just as taken with himself and his opinions. I enjoy watching him get upset in response to some of my posts on Instagram. :laugh:
 

noidont

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
People seem to forget about the Ashley Wagner before she won that national. She was not considered the most PR-savvy person, in fact, quite the opposite. That's why black swan really made her name. I believe she's got a lot of characters, which is possibly a good thing. Both Gracie and her. I absolutely fear for the girls who look too nice (Christina Gao, for one). There is a good chance they are gonna lose out.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
I think the issue is, based on her tweet alone, it is unclear if they were sellers or just fans as tired as she was who were too tired to try to make much conversation and forgot to say thank you. More info about A LOT of things would be useful, which is why tweets can be so dangerous.

.
A) ... I hope that she feels grateful that people want her autograph in the first place, regardless of what they do with them. Even if they sell them it indicates that she has fame, success and popularity, all good things for her career. I bet someone like Caroline Zhang might be thrilled to have someone ask for her autograph, as would thousands of young skaters dreaming of accomplishing what Ashley has. If Ash is so upset about people making $ from her autographs, then she shouldn't give them. As you said, when you're in the public eye you have to take the good with the bad. If you can't stand the heat....

B) Maybe she was just tired and didn't think clearly about what she was tweeting. Maybe the autograph-seekers were tired/embarrassed/tongue-tied and that's why they didn't say anything.

(1) Unless anyone here is a public figure who receives autograph requests out of the blue when just trying to quietly go about her/his daily life, NONE of us have walked in Wagner's shoes and none of us have experienced firsthand what degree of super-saintly tolerance can be required in order to "take the bad with the good" (or vice versa) on that level. Not fair for any of us to criticize Wagner's tweet, IMHO.

Her tweet indicates that although the autograph sellers were exploiting her "celebrity," she did accommodate them. In return, they were rude. I have no problem with her calling them out for bad behavior.
To me, the notion that a person in the public eye should be pleased that s/he is expected to enable a total stranger to make a profit off of her/his autographs is absolutely absurd.

Refusing to give autographs to anyone (if that is what Eislauf is suggesting?) penalizes the true fans, and many celebrities (to their credit) would not feel right taking that kind of hard-line stance. I have no doubt that signing autographs for sincere admirers is gratifying to Wagner and to most other skaters.

(2) Being tired, embarrassed, tongue-tied, and/or forgetful is NO EXCUSE whatsoever for failing to thank Wagner.

- If the autograph seekers were true fans who had the energy, assertiveness, and presence of mind to make their requests, then they should have been capable of adding one simple word: "Thanks." How difficult could remembering and uttering that one extra word have been?

- And if the autograph seekers were true fans, they should have been sufficiently respectful to realize that Wagner is a human being who esp. at midnight might have been exhausted and preferring privacy. If they still could not resist approaching her, they at least should have been bending over backwards to be polite and appreciative.​

Almost all of the top skaters also have agents and associated publicists
That said, most of the agents and publicists have little say over how each athlete handles themselves on social media (and nor should they IMO)

:agree: I strongly agree that the publicist-in-chief for Ashley Wagner is none other than Ashley Wagner -- not only on social media, but elsewhere.
As with any types of public figures, different skaters might choose to depend less heavily or more heavily on professional advice and input.
Wagner (again, to her credit) seems to know her own mind very well and to steer the ship of her own messaging to a large extent.

David Bagden represents her at IMG....

Wagner's agent is David Baden at IMG. (Toni's post has a little typo.) He is the agent for many other skaters as well.
 

Eislauf

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 26, 2012
(1) Unless anyone here is a public figure who receives autograph requests out of the blue when just trying to quietly go about her/his daily life, NONE of us have walked in Wagner's shoes and none of us have experienced firsthand what degree of super-saintly tolerance can be required in order to "take the bad with the good" (or vice versa) on that level. Not fair for any of us to criticize Wagner's tweet, IMHO.

Her tweet indicates that although the autograph sellers were exploiting her "celebrity," she did accommodate them. In return, they were rude. I have no problem with her calling them out for bad behavior.
To me, the notion that a person in the public eye should be pleased that s/he is expected to enable a total stranger to make a profit off of her/his autographs is absolutely absurd.

Refusing to give autographs to anyone (if that is what Eislauf is suggesting?) penalizes the true fans, and many celebrities (to their credit) would not feel right taking that kind of hard-line stance. I have no doubt that signing autographs for sincere admirers is gratifying to Wagner and to most other skaters.

(2) Being tired, embarrassed, tongue-tied, and/or forgetful is NO EXCUSE whatsoever for failing to thank Wagner.


I was giving both Ashley and the autograph seekers the benefit of the doubt for their behavior. Who are we to decide why someone acts the way they do and judge them for it? On the one hand, one could argue that all parties could have behaved more graciously - the autograph seekers could have thanked Ashley or Ashley could have simply dismissed the experience as no big deal and not tweet about it. On the other hand, maybe the autograph seekers were star-struck and simply forgot to say thanks? Maybe Ashley felt tired and cranky? My point is, we have, as tulosai already commented, insufficient information and don't really know the whole story, nor what the parties involved were thinking.

If Ashley is deeply upset by people not thanking her for autographs, then she could, as an option, politely and sweetly decline to give any autographs at all. Many celebrities do this, in fact. My point is that no-one's putting a gun to her head to do anything. She's not a victim. And to look at the matter in a positive way, just the fact that people want her signature, be it for themselves or to sell it, is a positive indication of her success. If I were Ashley, i'd be worried if people didn't ask for my autograph!

Finally, I agree that it's unfortunate that some people get autographs just so they can sell them. I'm not justifying their behavior, but just to keep things in perspective, I'm not sure we're talking about that much money from autograph sales! Ashley isn't Michelle Kwan; she's not Dorothy Hamill, and I doubt people pay a lot of $ for autographs from either of them. Let's not forget that Ashley is well on her way to becoming a multi-millionaire from her endorsement deals with Nike and Pandora and probably others if she skates well in Sochi. Yes, it's a shame people get autographs just to sell them but is that really such a huge financial loss for someone at Ashley's level of fame? I may be wrong, but I doubt it.
 

ryanbfan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 27, 2011
I just wanted to add that there are definitely ways to know when someone is an autograph scalper. First of all, I collect figure skating memorabilia and ebay is one of my favorite places to get it. There are TONS of autographs for sale on there, I saw quite a few of Ashley's on there today for $50+. Mao's and Yu Na's sell for $100+. I didn't see the Yu Na autograph on there today, so it probably sold. There is also one of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva's for $90. They're all multiples of the same picture pretty much and from the same sellers.

When I met Mao at Skate America this past weekend I was waiting for my turn with her in the hotel lobby and this man came up, butted in front of me, held out two of the same glossy pictures, and while nice, it was obvious what he was going to go home and do with those pictures. It makes me mad that people do this because it takes away from the fans getting some time with their favorite skaters.

Ashley may have been in the same situation. When someone asks you to sign multiples of the same picture, I don't think it's just because. I don't have any problem with her calling people like that out.

I know when I met Volosozhar/Trankov this past weekend, Tatiana had a stack of small photos they had autographed for the fans and she was giving them to people. They also signed my program, but I thought that was pretty cool she had those. Instead of having to say "no" to signing multiple things for people, you could always hand them a pre signed picture like Tatiana did.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
I was giving both Ashley and the autograph seekers the benefit of the doubt for their behavior. Who are we to decide why someone acts the way they do and judge them for it? On the one hand, one could argue that all parties could have behaved more graciously - the autograph seekers could have thanked Ashley or Ashley could have simply dismissed the experience as no big deal and not tweet about it. On the other hand, maybe the autograph seekers were star-struck and simply forgot to say thanks? Maybe Ashley felt tired and cranky? My point is, we have, as tulosai already commented, insufficient information and don't really know the whole story, nor what the parties involved were thinking.

If Ashley is deeply upset by people not thanking her for autographs, then she could, as an option, politely and sweetly decline to give any autographs at all. Many celebrities do this, in fact. My point is that no-one's putting a gun to her head to do anything. She's not a victim. And to look at the matter in a positive way, just the fact that people want her signature, be it for themselves or to sell it, is a positive indication of her success. If I were Ashley, i'd be worried if people didn't ask for my autograph!

Finally, I agree that it's unfortunate that some people get autographs just so they can sell them. I'm not justifying their behavior, but just to keep things in perspective, I'm not sure we're talking about that much money from autograph sales! Ashley isn't Michelle Kwan; she's not Dorothy Hamill, and I doubt people pay a lot of $ for autographs from either of them. Let's not forget that Ashley is well on her way to becoming a multi-millionaire from her endorsement deals with Nike and Pandora and probably others if she skates well in Sochi. Yes, it's a shame people get autographs just to sell them but is that really such a huge financial loss for someone at Ashley's level of fame? I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

I don't see Ashley suddenly becoming a star even if she skates well in Sochi unless she pulls a upset and gets on the podium or even wins. Otherwise a 4th place finish won't mean anything it will just mean another Olympics where the top US Lady didn't get on the podium.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I just wanted to add that there are definitely ways to know when someone is an autograph scalper. First of all, I collect figure skating memorabilia and ebay is one of my favorite places to get it. There are TONS of autographs for sale on there, I saw quite a few of Ashley's on there today for $50+. Mao's and Yu Na's sell for $100+. I didn't see the Yu Na autograph on there today, so it probably sold. There is also one of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva's for $90. They're all multiples of the same picture pretty much and from the same sellers.

When I met Mao at Skate America this past weekend I was waiting for my turn with her in the hotel lobby and this man came up, butted in front of me, held out two of the same glossy pictures, and while nice, it was obvious what he was going to go home and do with those pictures. It makes me mad that people do this because it takes away from the fans getting some time with their favorite skaters.

Ashley may have been in the same situation. When someone asks you to sign multiples of the same picture, I don't think it's just because. I don't have any problem with her calling people like that out.

I know when I met Volosozhar/Trankov this past weekend, Tatiana had a stack of small photos they had autographed for the fans and she was giving them to people. They also signed my program, but I thought that was pretty cool she had those. Instead of having to say "no" to signing multiple things for people, you could always hand them a pre signed picture like Tatiana did.

:clap:
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
I was giving both Ashley and the autograph seekers the benefit of the doubt for their behavior. Who are we to decide why someone acts the way they do and judge them for it? On the one hand, one could argue that all parties could have behaved more graciously - the autograph seekers could have thanked Ashley or Ashley could have simply dismissed the experience as no big deal and not tweet about it. On the other hand, maybe the autograph seekers were star-struck and simply forgot to say thanks? Maybe Ashley felt tired and cranky? My point is, we have, as tulosai already commented, insufficient information and don't really know the whole story, nor what the parties involved were thinking.

If Ashley is deeply upset by people not thanking her for autographs, then she could, as an option, politely and sweetly decline to give any autographs at all. Many celebrities do this, in fact. My point is that no-one's putting a gun to her head to do anything. She's not a victim. And to look at the matter in a positive way, just the fact that people want her signature, be it for themselves or to sell it, is a positive indication of her success. If I were Ashley, i'd be worried if people didn't ask for my autograph!

Finally, I agree that it's unfortunate that some people get autographs just so they can sell them. I'm not justifying their behavior, but just to keep things in perspective, I'm not sure we're talking about that much money from autograph sales! Ashley isn't Michelle Kwan; she's not Dorothy Hamill, and I doubt people pay a lot of $ for autographs from either of them. Let's not forget that Ashley is well on her way to becoming a multi-millionaire from her endorsement deals with Nike and Pandora and probably others if she skates well in Sochi. Yes, it's a shame people get autographs just to sell them but is that really such a huge financial loss for someone at Ashley's level of fame? I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

Wagner's tweet has sufficient information for me to stand by my original post. (I did not say that Wagner was a victim.)
I agree to strongly disagree with the slack that you are cutting the autograph seekers -- and I agree to strongly disagree with your spin that Wagner should be happy that she is "worthy" (my word) of exploitation by autograph sellers.

And BTW, let's get real:
If Wagner politely declined to fulfill any and all autograph requests, you and I both know that she would receive a HUGE amount of criticism -- no matter how sweetly she stated her across-the-board policy. I'm not saying that she would be criticized to her face, but she would get reamed in one or more GS threads; and on FSU; etc. (I do not think that she would deserve such criticism. But she already is getting criticized for one tweet.)

I think we are talking about more money (potentially) from autograph sales than you imagine.
ryanbfan noted in her/his post (which I have attached below) that autograph sellers are asking $50+ for a Wagner autograph. They can get their hands on an unsigned photograph for much less. Wagner reluctantly "provides" her "labor" for free. I don't know what their "overhead" is, but the bottom line is that the percentage of profit for each autograph that is sold would be quite handsome.
If sellers are waiting until after Sochi to put some of Wagner's autographs on the market, and if she earns a spot on the podium, the value of her autograph will rise.

I hope that your prediction that Wagner is destined to become a multimillionaire living in the lap of luxury comes true. Unless she wins gold (not silver or bronze) in Sochi, I find that prediction overly rosy -- by at least one order of magnitude.
This past summer Wagner had accepted an invitation to perform in The Ice show in Japan -- at least partly because she needed the money. Eventually backed out because other shows (the paychecks of which were much needed as well) had taken up too much of her training time. (Yes, Wagner had tweeted about this situation.)
The best-of-the-best coaches and choreographers on her team presumably do not come cheap (and they are justified in asking for fair compensation for their expertise).

I just wanted to add that there are definitely ways to know when someone is an autograph scalper. First of all, I collect figure skating memorabilia and ebay is one of my favorite places to get it. There are TONS of autographs for sale on there, I saw quite a few of Ashley's on there today for $50+. Mao's and Yu Na's sell for $100+. I didn't see the Yu Na autograph on there today, so it probably sold. There is also one of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva's for $90. They're all multiples of the same picture pretty much and from the same sellers.

When I met Mao at Skate America this past weekend I was waiting for my turn with her in the hotel lobby and this man came up, butted in front of me, held out two of the same glossy pictures, and while nice, it was obvious what he was going to go home and do with those pictures. It makes me mad that people do this because it takes away from the fans getting some time with their favorite skaters.

Ashley may have been in the same situation. When someone asks you to sign multiples of the same picture, I don't think it's just because. I don't have any problem with her calling people like that out.

I know when I met Volosozhar/Trankov this past weekend, Tatiana had a stack of small photos they had autographed for the fans and she was giving them to people. They also signed my program, but I thought that was pretty cool she had those. Instead of having to say "no" to signing multiple things for people, you could always hand them a pre signed picture like Tatiana did.
 

Rachmaninoff

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
If Ashley is deeply upset by people not thanking her for autographs, then she could, as an option, politely and sweetly decline to give any autographs at all. Many celebrities do this, in fact. My point is that no-one's putting a gun to her head to do anything. She's not a victim.

I'm not convinced that being displeased by a stranger's impoliteness and commenting on it equals being "deeply upset," so very upset that she should stop signing autographs entirely for the sake of her own emotional stability. No, it's not some severe crime to neglect to thank a skater for an autograph, and there's no indication Ashley thought so either. She thought it was impolite and she said so. So she's a human being, and like the rest of us human beings, she sometimes gets annoyed by other people's attitudes and behaviour. So what? Do we still expect female figure skaters to be cartoon princesses who don't get irritated by anything, or at least never say so? I don't get how what she said is some big faux pas.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I'm not convinced that being displeased by a stranger's impoliteness and commenting on it equals being "deeply upset," so very upset that she should stop signing autographs entirely for the sake of her own emotional stability. No, it's not some severe crime to neglect to thank a skater for an autograph, and there's no indication Ashley thought so either. She thought it was impolite and she said so. So she's a human being, and like the rest of us human beings, she sometimes gets annoyed by other people's attitudes and behaviour. So what? Do we still expect female figure skaters to be cartoon princesses who don't get irritated by anything, or at least never say so? I don't get how what she said is some big faux pas.

It's the hypocritical nature of the skating fandom. Some skaters (male or female) are allowed to say whatever they want how ever they want and fans praise them for going against the norm. Others get a good thrashing if they even think about going off script.
 
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