Forget the royal babies and the Tony Awards and the Khaleesi’s dragon. Everyone was waiting today for an announcement from Beyonce on Good Morning America. After all, this is how they chose to hype it:

 

 

As you can imagine, the speculation ranged from a new album to a new baby…

Oh come on. Would Beyonce let GMA have the glory of breaking that kind of news? She dropped a secret album on us with no warning. She wouldn’t go from that to breakfast television. So what did it ended up being?

That vegan diet she’s been on. And it was a pre-recorded interview. Not even an interview because I’m not sure the reporter had any opportunity to ask questions that weren’t screened and scripted. So she just talked about how she’s not thin naturally and how eating vegan keeps her fit and how her skin has gotten even tighter from it.

Two thoughts:

This is how she throws her weight around now, right? I’m Beyonce. If you want me on your show, you have to take the scraps I give you – namely, I’m not getting my ass out of bed at the ass of the dawn to sit in your chair and talk to you about my business. You can put me on tape, let me approve what you air, no more, no less.

Fine. She certainly has the power. But is this the most effective way to sell a product?

Maria wrote about the recent New York Times profile on Bey’s vegan food line a few weeks ago. Click here for a refresher. You’ll recall, the journalist thought it would be a phone interview with the B and it ended up being over email.

Beyonce has put up a wall between herself and the media. Which… fine, I guess, if it gets to be too personal. But when you’re trying to reach the consumer – and that’s how a business person relates to “fans” – and what you’re promoting is FOOD, maintaining this kind of distance is off-putting. At least to me. And I feel like I might be her target market.

I don’t have children so I have some disposable income that I can spend on name brand, fancy ass celebrity-pimped salad. And I would totally indulge in Beyonce’s kale if Beyonce wasn’t trying to feed it to me from behind a barbed wire, electrocution fence.