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Unit Synopsis
Celebrities exist because of their high media profiles. From the cut of a dress worn on the red carpet, to an irate social media post made in a fit of anger, publicity can make or break an individual's reputation. Dealing with intense personal media scrutiny requires specialist public relations knowledge. You will explore the elements required to develop the profile of individuals, and how strategic communication techniques can be used to monitor, boost or influence reputation. You will move beyond familiar definitions of celebrity (evident in influencers, politicians, business leaders or sports stars) to consider the notion of celebrity as it impacts contemporary culture. Celebrity PR is a useful skill to develop and enhance your own professional profile, or to address issues involving the publicity of individuals. You will build on public relations skills you may have previously applied to organisations and shifts the focus to personal image and status. This unit is relevant for anyone who may pursue a career in the public eye. You will learn skills of reputation management and identity formation - either for yourself or on behalf of someone else.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Students need to have completed 36 credit points within the Public Relations major or the Strategic Communications major prior to enrolling in this unit. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Peer assessment | 20% |
| 2. Presentation | 40% |
| 3. Practical Assessment | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 50% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Teaching Staff Evaluation
There is an opportunity to revise learning content to engage with a more diverse, multi-disciplinary learner cohort
Revise learning content to engage with a more diverse, multi-disciplinary learner cohort
The unit name, focus, content and learning outcomes have undergone significant redevelopment.
Source: Student Satisfaction Survey
Clearly articulating that the assessments contribute to a professional portfolio would be beneficial
Re-categorise the final assessment as a Portfolio and clarify in the assessment description how it can support professional development and career outcomes.
In Progress
Source: Student Satisfaction Survey
A wider range of scholarly or academic readings would strengthen students' theoretical knowledge of the topic
Provide a broader range of scholarly and academic references in the E-Reading list
In Progress
Source: Student Satisfaction Survey
A guide for searching relevant readings and resources would be useful
Develop a guide with the library about how to use keywords and search terms related to the topic.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Identify contemporary examples of celebrity public relations
- Define elements of strategic communication in the context of celebrity
- Critically evaluate strategic communication techniques in the context of celebrity
- Plan and implement an ethical celebrity communication strategy.
n/a
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Peer assessment | • | |||
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | ||
| 3 - Practical Assessment | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | |||
| 4 - Research | • | • | • | |
| 5 - Self-management | • | • | ||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | ||
| 7 - Leadership | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |