5 ways Edina from “Absolutely Fabulous” could have saved her PR company in Singapore

If you’ve watched the TV series “Absolutely Fabulous” or “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie,” then you’ll know that Edina is always chasing the latest fad. She might sound like a hipster, but remember that she’s only doing this because it’s popular and she wants to be seen as hip and cool, despite her age. Plus, she indulges in so many vices, it’s clear that vanity is her main motivation in life.

So “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” sees Edina trying desperately to save her PR company from bankruptcy. Maybe she ran out of SME grants to fund her small little business. Anyway, her desperation leads to a celebrity’s death, and it all goes downhill from there.

But if she were in Singapore, it’d be a totally different story! All she’d have to do is to hop on the next trending bandwagon (there’s a new fad every other week in Singapore), and her company would be saved. She wouldn’t even need to hire creatives for her PR company. Just ape the current big thing and voila! Instant clickbait. So here are some ways she could save her ailing firm if she were in Singapore.

The characters from “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” are even dressed like Pokemon characters. (Twentieth Century Fox)

1. Start a Pokemon GO campaign

While the first few Pokemon GO related advertisements were no doubt creative, now everyone is hopping on the Pokemon GO bandwagon. Their ads proclaim free gifts if you show them you’ve caught certain Pokemon, even though their products (like hand cream) have nothing to do with Pokemon at all.

It’s gotten to the point where you don’t even have to have a topical link to Pokemon — you just need to put a picture and some arrows. Edina really needs to try this out for her next PR campaign.

Talk about Joseph Schooling and you’ll have enraptured women like in “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.” (Twentieth Century Fox)

2. Leech off Joseph Schooling’s Olympics win

Then we had Schooling fever a few weeks back, when everyone was rushing to associate themselves with Joseph Schooling despite the fact that they had nothing to do with his win.

We even had pretentious bloggers listing instances where completely unrelated people and organisations leeched off Schooling’s fame in a surreptitious attempt to also ride off Schooling’s fame (come on guys, we can also see that you’re leeching off his fame too). Tsk. Edina should really try something like that. It sounds exactly like what her character would do.

They’d care as much as the characters in “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.” (Twentieth Century Fox)

3. Post insincere well wishes to famous figures who have taken ill

Most people mean well when they send their well wishes to important people who have taken ill — after all, they’ve worked really hard for our country, and we want to acknowledge their hard work (but also remind them to take care of their health).

Then there are those cheap little companies who’ve never shown any form of support for the person in question, but suddenly post like they’re completely devastated by what’s happened when they’re not. It’s a PR stunt that Edina would pull, and a rather distasteful one at that (but totally in character).

What you really thought when you ate it, like her expression in “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.” (Twentieth Century Fox)

4. Do preview articles for questionable food items by fast food joints

You’ve also got some websites who are purportedly about journalism but give the most biased reviews about upcoming fast food meal offerings.

Remember the Salted Egg Yolk Burger and all the preview articles heralding it as the Second Coming of burgers? After it was launched, there was nary a good man-on-the-street review of the item. Most people agreed that while it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t the pinnacle of flavour that all those sites proclaimed.

Edina can get in on the action, as long as the fast food item sounds suitably exotic and/or silly.

I guess they consider themselves hipsters in “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.” (Twentieth Century Fox)

5. Put the word “bespoke” in her campaigns

And finally, Edina can save her company simply by describing any PR campaigns’ products as “bespoke”.

"Bespoke” means made-to-order, but way too many companies use it out of context, justifying their use of “bespoke” by saying that the suppliers made it according to their orders, hence the bespokeness of the products.

And since the word “bespoke” attracts some people like flies to rubbish, Edina could definitely try it. It appeals to a whole new demographic!

Are there any other trends that you think Edina could jump on in Singapore? Let us know what you think!

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.