Before you read the whole article, use the verbs in brackets in either Past Simple or Present Perfect.

 

It’s painful to watch Prince Harry inadvertently commit brand suicide with his new book Spare in hopes of building his own brand.

As I said on BBC World News today, a whopping 64% of Britons now have a negative view of Prince Harry. Thanks to Spare, Prince Harry 1. ……. (become) Britain’s most unpopular royal (after the Epstein-linked Prince Andrew.) Even younger audiences, who generally 2. …… (hold) more favorable views of Prince Harry, are turning against him. And the media sentiment in the USA seems to be following suit.

Now, if that’s not a brand in crisis, I don’t know what is. (…)

I 3. …….. (be) so gung ho about Meghan Markle and her initial departure from the British Royal Family that, as a person of South Asian descent, I 4. ………… (overlook) the fact that Prince Harry was caught on camera calling fellow cadets the racial slurs “Paki” and “raghead” and then in December of 2022 accepting the Ripple Home award in New York for “fighting structural racism” in the British Royal Family.

Nevertheless, we learn from our mistakes, and Prince Harry teaches us crucial lessons to avoid our brands going bust.

Firstly, I believe brands must generate positive sentiment. Buzz for the sake of generating buzz isn’t enough today – for savvy audiences with highly tuned authenticity detectors – it 5. ……… (not be) for a while.

And yet the overwhelmingly negative sentiment that Prince Harry is generating both in traditional and social media, on both sides of the Atlantic, by disclosing family feuds shows no signs of slowing down. So much so that it reminds me of the vitriol that Trump generated as President (…) Secondly, brands need to be influential. I believe the real test of a brand is whether or not anyone is buying into what you’re saying.

Are you changing people’s perceptions?

Michelle Obama certainly 6. ……….. (influence) other people with her memoir “Becoming.” It 7. …… (be) inspiring and 8. ……… (tap) into an enormous cultural movement of growth, self-empowerment and forgiveness.

Can we say the same for Prince Harry’s influence ability? Not really.

Despite all the negative stories Prince Harry 9. ……… (share) about the British Royal Family and his family members – and all the resulting news headlines – attitudes towards King Charles III and Kate Middleton remain unchanged. And while Prince William’s image 10. ……  (take) recently a slight hit, the future king is still adored. It’s no wonder the palace continues to have a no-comment position on Harry’s claims against them. Over the past two years of Prince Harry sharing his truth, turns out he 11. ………. (have) no meaningful impact on the perception of the British Royal Family that 12. ………. (build) clearly an enormous amount of brand immunity over the years. (…)

 

In order to check your answers/ read the whole article, go to: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeetendrsehdev/2023/01/10/prince-harry-a-brand-in-crisis-with-spare-in-2023/?sh=1960cc5f7c17

 

Key: 1. has become; 2. held; 3. was; 4. overlooked;  5. hasn’t been; 6. influenced; 7. was; 8. tapped; 9. has shared; 10. has (recently) taken; 11. has had; 12. has (clearly) built

 

Glossary

 

• inadvertently – not deliberately, and without realizing what you are doing
• whopping– very large
• romp – something that, in a noisy way, makes you feel happy and excited
• to pan – if something such as a film or a book is panned by journalists, they say it is very bad
• gung ho – extremely enthusiastic about doing something, especially going to war
• vitriol – If you refer to what someone says or writes as vitriol, you disapprove of it because it is full of bitterness and hate, and so causes a lot of distress and pain
• hot off the heels -if you say that one event follows hard on the heels of another or hot on the heels of another, you mean that one happens very quickly or immediately after another
• laugh all the way to the bank – to make a lot of money easily
• to implode – to fall towards the inside with force

 

Practice makes perfect

Fill in the gaps in the video extract with the words in bold below:

fiercely      feud           explosive     siblings           infected

split             bent           infected             interacting           sides

In the years before World War Two, a pair of brothers worked together as shoemakers in the German town of Herzogenaurach. But during the war, the 1. …….. had a terrible argument – a fight so 2. ………….. it 3. ……….. the family business in two. At first, the 4. ……… only 5. ……….. their newly competing personnel. But over the coming years, this disagreement divided all of Herzogenaurach. Residents became 6. ………….  loyal to one brand of shoe. Local businesses chose 7. ……….. and marriage across lines was discouraged. Herzogenaurach eventaully became known as „the town of 8. ……… necks” because its residents looked down to ensure they were 9. ………….. with members of their group. But could such a serious divide really be about shoes? Doesn’t it take more significant cultural differences to produce this degree of confict?

You can check your answers /watch the whole video here: 

Key: 1. 1. siblings; 2. explosive; 3. split; 4. feud; 5. infected; 6. fiercely; 7. sides ; 8. bent; 9. Interacting

 

Discuss:

 

• What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘sibling’?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of being the oldest and youngest sibling?
• Which is better? Having siblings or being an only child?
• Is there anything you’d like to change about your siblings?
• Who’s more important in life? Friends or siblings?
• Did your parents have a favourite or were all siblings treated the same?
• Has your relationship with your siblings changed since you were a child?

 

Explore more to create your own teaching-learning experience!

 

Is Only-Child Syndrome Real?

Children without siblings have long been thought of as spoiled and selfish. Are the claims true?

 

Read:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-only-child-syndrome-real/

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