Miss America 2.0 and its Failed Marketing Attempts

If you ask most people what they think about Miss America, they would tell you the pageant is outdated, demeaning to women, and may even throw out the word anti-feminist. But if you actually read the requirements for the scholarship competition you would find that it has transferred from a swimsuit contest and "world peace" promoting beauty pageant to a month long job interview for a coveted position and $50,000 scholarship. This competition includes an onstage question and interview with a panel of judges firing off questions to the candidates about current events, politics, economy, personal and anything else in a media podium setting. The candidates compete in a talent and a red carpet event which displays the personalities of the candidates. Next, they must showcase their personal platform, or what philanthropical cause they are most passionate about and how they plan to promote it during their reign as Miss America. Not to mention, the candidates themselves are all on their way to pursue higher education including Harvard grads, Stanford students, part of PHD programs and STEM scholars just to throw that out there. So if we are keeping track, these candidates must be well spoken, very well educated, up to date on current events, have a charming personality, be talented, give back to society in a meaningful way all for a shot at the job of Miss America. There is no question that the Miss America Organization has evolved so much from a beauty pageant and yet NO ONE KNOWS THIS?! WHY?!

The marketing issue:

As we move into a world where women are more highly recognized for their knowledge, eloquence and leadership skills, Miss America has evolved too, but there has been no clear message of this change. Miss America 2.0 which has been branded as the new name and marketing campaign consists of new competition portions which have been deemed "unclear" to the public and even its own contestants. The "Red carpet event" sounds like a tamer version of evening wear that many would still consider to "objectify" women. The "personal statement" portion, does not clearly state that candidates are required to promote their personal platforms and showcase the work they have accomplished for their cause. There is no real, tangible change that the public can see besides "removing the swimsuit competition" which makes all of this "change" seem inaccurate.

There could be many reasons for the lack of consistency in the Organization's 2.0 version. Perhaps it's due to the email scandal from former CEO Sam Haskel, involving inappropriate comments on the looks of current and past title holders completely going against the goal of Miss America which is to empower women. It could be that there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" on the board of directors to have a unified vision of the Organization. But I think the main reason for the lack of consistency in the Organization's messaging is that it's trying to hold onto its traditional Pageant but at the same time trying to appeal to a PC society.  The Miss America Organization cannot make everyone happy and yet here they are attempting to which makes their marketing campaign indirect and dull. The Organization needs to either ditch their tradition and turn the whole thing upside down so it is truly a different competition or they need to be OK with the fact that some people are not going to like this Organization and go on with their glamorous self. Miss America has always been known for its glitz, its fashion-forward, well spoken, graceful women. That is their brand and what makes it unique. Deviating from their core values to appease another population is unwise especially when it appears to be in-genuine. One of the most successful aspects in marketing is to be as authentic as possible and I think the American public believes that these "changes" are a poor attempt to produce a water-downed version of what they already have. If they wanted to change, they need to be bold or they need to be bold to stay true to who they are. Either way, the Miss America Organization needs to hurry up and define themselves quickly so that they are the ones narrating their story, before the public narrates their story or they are completely out of the story. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/09/what-happened-at-the-miss-america-pageant/569731/