Makena’s photo with Dougie holding hands was plastered all over social media. They had been photo shopped in various iconic movie scenes. In one image, they were holding hands in the Caribbean. The caption read, How Dougie got his groove back. In another image the caption read, Stand in the sun with me a popular phrase in ABC’s TV series Scandal. The jokes and the memes had gone all day long. They had been trending on twitter for the past 3 hours.
Makena had come in second place in the pitching competition. She had 2 VIP tickets to the Gala event held at a five star hotel. She was keen not to drag Mark to this event. Their relationship had progressed in ways she had never expected. Dougie on the other hand was not new to such events. He was always that nicely dressed guy who knew half the guest list. His work had over time brought him media attention. Once in a while, his photo appeared in the social pages on local dailies and features on local TVs breakfast shows.
Makena was awarded a year apprenticeship at the Women Entrepreneurs’ Academy. Part of the curriculum would be taken online followed by a brief stint and graduation at the headquarters in South Africa. She also won a cash award of Kshs. 250,000. The night had been magical. She had 2 brief interviews with the press but her photo with Dougie had stolen the show. Her Mom called her from Karatina that day. The whole village had seen her on TV. Her drunken father had taken over the conversation to ask her how much money she had actually won. Her Mother was especially proud, her complaints on the hustle it had taken them to see Makena through university had been immediately forgotten. She was now that kid, they always knew they had brought to this world.
“M’me Stiletto! First, congrats! I think we should fight back. They are trying to taint your success. You should read some blogs. They say, you fixed him and Dougies gay vibe is now trending.” Oti’s text read.
“Damn you internet!”
Makena turned her phone off.
So what happens when a PR firm is attacked? How do they maintain good PR?
Oti suggested we fight back with meme and GIFs. She contemplated.
“You broke the internet with one win… I mean one photo.” Mark said from inside his car. He was drunk and his car was clumsily parked at Makena’s house in Buruburu.
“Tell me why, why not me? That should have been us.”
Makena laughed. There have been enough funny images on social media that featured that regretful line.
“This could be us but…” she smiled some more. “At least, let me deal with the PR issue at hand.”
“I have the perfect plan,” remarked Mark as he washed off his face from Makena’s bathroom sink. “It’s time to come out!”
”No, I can’t force Dougie to declare his sexuality to the world. Not if he is not ready.”
“No, I mean it’s time we made our relationship public. See, I will call Tim from Mafla online paper and share our love story.”
“Is that how we solve a PR crisis? No! We are now going to brand Dougie a side kick. None of this makes sense to me. Let’s call it a night Mark.”
