It probably goes without saying that this post will contain spoilers, so, if you haven’t seen “The Martian,” you can stop here.
At first glance, it’s clear “The Martian” can teach today’s Public Relations industry a lot about how to handle the imminent crisis that would arise should your company ever accidentally leave someone stranded on Mars. Annie Montrose (played by Kristen Wiig) showed us it is possible to stay cool under the immense pressure of explaining that mess to media.
But I think there are some hidden lessons we can all learn from astronaut-slash-botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) as he fights to survive on a barren planet 140 million miles from Earth and anyone who can help him. (And if that isn’t a metaphor for how it sometimes feels to work in Public Relations, I don’t know what is.)
1. “I guarantee you that at some point everything’s gonna go south on you. You’re gonna say, ‘This is it. This is how I end.’ Now you can either accept that or you can get to work.” – Mark Watney
OK, so maybe Matt Damon was talking about being left to most likely die on Mars because he was in a shelter designed to last a month and it was going to take four years for anyone to rescue him. But what Public Relations rep hasn’t felt a complete loss of all hope? When you found yourself in a situation where you were like, “Yep. I messed this up and I’m probably getting fired today. And no one can save me. Also, I’m out of wine.” In Public Relations, there’s no time to dwell on your mistakes. Only time to get to work.
2. “I’m still alive. Surprise!” – Mark Watney
I say this every single time I emerge from Las Vegas after being locked in a conference center for three or more days. Yes, I’m alive. I did it. I will live to Public Relations another day.
3. We either have a high chance of killing one or a low chance of killing six.” – Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels)
Again, I’m being a little dramatic here, but what Jeff Daniels is really getting at is choosing the lesser of the two evils. In Public Relations, there isn’t always a clear path to get from point A to point B and, if there is, sometimes both of them suck equally. The key is to weigh your options and choose the one that lets you sleep at night.
4. “I am going to have to science the shit out of this.” – Mark Watney
Oh, if I had a nickel for every time I had to make something out of nothing — like taking a horribly un-newsworthy story and transforming it into something people will care about — or taking something and turning it into nothing — like every Public Relations crisis that ever occurred — I’d be somewhat wealthy. But let’s be honest, some of us get a thrill from having to Public Relations the shit out of stuff.
5. “I am the greatest botanist on this planet.”
This is what I say when I do end up PRing the shit out of something, except replace “greatest botanist” with “most incredible Public Relations person” and “on this planet” with “in the universe.”
