PR expert reveals what David and Victoria Beckham should do now

By Olivia Stringer

A PR expert has revealed the four things the Beckhams will be doing now to salvage their image.

Brooklyn Beckham, the eldest son of David and Victoria sent shockwaves on Monday, after he posted a series of Instagram stories, in which he alleged his parents had been “controlling” him for his entire life, and that he does not want to reconcile with them.

The Beckhams have yet to respond directly to the claims, but David told CNBC on Tuesday that his children have “made mistakes” on social media.

However, despite the public silence, Dan Harry, 30, a PR expert who has worked in crisis PR for 10 years said that there will be “war rooms” going on behind closed doors, and they will be throwing at least $135,000 a month at attempts to rehabilitate their image.

Dan, from Coatbridge, Scotland said: “I think the statement will have come as a complete shock to the Beckhams and their PR team, but I think they will have been preparing for something like this for a while.

“The Beckhams will have been working with the top communications experts across the world to build a media strategy and a retaliation plan in case of something like this happening.

“They will have discussed every single scenario and thought, ‘what shall we do if they say this’, ‘what shall we do if they say that.’

“They will be spending at least $135,000 a month on rehabilitating their image.

“Their publicists will be having daily war rooms about how they can manage their own image, in ways you would never know.

“They will carefully be planting positive stories in the media and reminding the public what a nice guy David is, and what a great mom Victoria is.

“And in order to make one party look good, you have to make another party look bad.

“A good publicist will be trying to discredit the opposing party, and they’ll do this by hitting them where it hurts.

“The general public hate people who are rude to waiters, or who cheat on their partners, so the Beckhams’ publicists will be trying to dig up anything from the Peltz’ past, to make them look bad.”

Dan revealed that Brooklyn chose to put the statement out on his personal Instagram account, rather than via traditional forms of media, such as a newspaper or TV channel to allow him to control the narrative.

“If you put out a statement on your personal Instagram, no one can twist the story,” he explained.

He added that another reason he would have put the statement out on his Instagram is due to the element of surprise, as if he’d done it via a media outlet, the Beckhams may have been tipped off beforehand.

Dan revealed that although it may look like the Beckhams are taking the “high road”, at the moment, by not immediately responding to Brooklyn’s statement, there will be “war rooms” going on behind closed doors.

He explained that one way they will do this is to carefully place positive stories in the media, for example, by Victoria taking pictures of a day out with Harper, or David appearing at events promoting his charity work.

The PR expert said that he is not sure whether The Beckhams will release a statement of their own but added that saying nothing is in itself a statement.

“Saying nothing shows they are rising above it, and says they don’t air messy family dramas publicly”, he said.

As well as planting positive stories about the Beckhams, Dan added that their PR team will be aiming to tarnish the reputation of the Peltz family.

Dan shares insights into the PR industry on @danharrypr.

The Beckhams’ PR strategy, according to Dan:

• Dig up dirt on the Peltz family
• Prepare for every possible scenario
• Stay silent to take the “high road”
• Carefully plant positive stories in the media