Chapter 333
Jasper practically growled with rage. “When did I ever tell you people to publish positive stories about Stella? Are you all brain-dead?”
He slammed his hand on the desk, his voice rising with each word. “Delete every single flattering article about her-now! Post anything negative you can find, I don’t care if it’s true or not. And hire some trolls to stir things up online. Damn it, there’s no way I’m letting her get away with this!”
His assistant hesitated, anxiety flickering in his eyes. “But, Mr. Wilkinson… Stella just made a massive donation-ten million dollars. She’s gained a ton of new fans, and even some major media outlets have praised her generosity. Are you sure it’s wise to go against them?”
Jasper’s face twisted in fury, his jaw clenched so tight it looked painful.
“I said what I said. Get those damaging stories out there, now!”
The assistant could only sigh in resignation. He’d graduated from a reputable journalism school and understood the situation all too well. Spreading dirt on Stella now would only turn public opinion further against them. It was a terrible
move.
“Mr. Wilkinson,” he tried again, “with Stella’s current popularity online, those smear pieces probably won’t have any effect. If anything, they’ll just make people hate us more. The public’s opinion of her is overwhelmingly positive now.”
He continued, “We used to be able to spin her donation, maybe hint at some shady motivations. But after that tough question from the reporter during the livestream, Stella got the chance to clear her name in front of everyone. If we hadn’t pushed for that, we might still have some room to maneuver. But now… we’re boxed in. There’s just no way to discredit her anymore.”
“My suggestion? We should hold off and rethink our strategy.”
Jasper went silent, stunned. He was the one who’d told those reporters to hit Stella hard in the livestream, to drag her down in front of everyone. Who could have guessed he’d end up shooting himself in the foot-and actually help Stella’s reputation instead?
He wanted nothing more than to slap himself across the face.
“Pull everything,” he barked suddenly, “Get those negative stories offline. Tell the influencers and bloggers to cancel their posts.”
His assistant finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Understood. I’ll take care of it right away.”
But before two minutes had passed, Jasper’s phone rang again.
This time, it was the PR manager who’d called him earlier.
“Mr. Wilkinson, I’m afraid your order came too late. The positive articles about Stella-they went live almost ten minutes ago…”
Jasper exploded. “What the hell is wrong with you? I told you to smear Stella, and you go and build her up instead? Are you out of your mind?”
The PR manager sounded close to tears. “Mr. Wilkinson, I was just following your instructions! When Stella’s donation started trending, I called you right away. You told me it was your doing and asked me to cooperate…”
“I thought it was your new strategy to stir up controversy by trashing her first, then flip the narrative and promote her good deeds. After all, you were the one who posted Stella’s livestream from your own account at the start…”
Jasper’s relentless campaign against Stella had convinced the PR manager that their boss had a personal vendetta, that he genuinely wanted to destroy her career. But after their last conversation, he wasn’t so sure anymore. This kind of ‘black-then-white’ publicity stunt wasn’t unheard of; they’d pulled it off before.
But this time, it was unprecedented an absolute masterstroke, the kind nobody could hope to repeat. For a moment, the manager had really believed Jasper was a genius, following the advice of some PR guru who’d shown him a whole new way forward.
He’d even worried he’d misunderstood, so he’d kept a close eye on the
livestream. But when the reporter tried to back Stella into a corner-only for her to turn it all around-he realized he hadn’t misunderstood at all.