by Thinus Ferreira
Disney PR and marketing is not making the new Lucasfilm miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi available to media for review purposes before it launches with a double episode on Friday 27 May - at least not for South Africa's "regional" press where Disney+ just launched last week.
After multiple requests to Disney South Africa media reps for access to a digital screener of the series, Disney PR finally responded on Wednesday evening, saying that "feedback from regional" is that "unfortunately no screeners will be available until the day of launch".
It means that Disney doesn't want to show the media Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ and any of the actual content, despite doing media junkets and interviews globally and within America for it.
There are various reasons as to why Disney doesn't want to show the upcoming show to media - and it could be that just journalists and TV critics outside of the US are locked out, or that American media are also not privy to a preview to do reviews.
It could be that Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ is bad. Studios and distributors notoriously don't do media previews or a screener for content they don't believe in, perceive themselves to be sub-par or want to limit exposure to, fearing, or trying to limit bad reviews, articles or media coverage.
It could be that Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ is good or excellent or that Disney considers it themselves to be of such quality that it doesn't feel it needs to do publicity or show the content.
In this case, Disney's calculus would be: We don't care about the professional critics, Disney+ subscribers will watch it and word-of-mouth about its quality will carry the viral workload that media reviews would have performed.
It could be that Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ contains so many, or some, spoilers that Disney PR decides that in order to limit spoilers, it's keeping the show away from any prior preview/review by media.
If this is the case, it raises another important issue: With journalists and media signing strict non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) beforehand before digital screeners and links are issued - used by everyone for series and certain films from Netflix to whoever (and specifically stating from when reviews and articles can run) does Disney not trust the media it is dealing with?
If Disney doesn't feel it can trust the media with whom the Mouse House has press relationships with to keep content secrets and spoilers a secret, what does it say about Disney's media management and depth and quality of the commercial and transactional PR relationships with the press it is dealing with?
Surely, if Disney asks media "please agree not to spoil this inclusion, appearance, surprise or plot twist", Disney's PR and marketing reps and publicists in regions the world over should be able to say with certainty and confidence that these media and journalists' behaviour are above reproach and that they can really be trusted to keep to agreements?
A lot of Disney+ subscribers and pirate viewers are going to watch Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi from Friday the moment it becomes available globally, irrespective of reviews or what the TV critics have to opine about it.
What is interesting, and important, is that Disney, when it sells content through marketing and publicity efforts, actually shows that Disney itself believes in that content by showcasing it and making it available to the various which Disney deems trustworthy enough.
Launching a show with a PR effort but not actually showing the media the show, is like opening a restaurant and having food critics over, without actually serving any food, or doing a car show for motoring journalists without having any car in the showroom.