One of my favourite blogs to write each year is our top five Pink Elephants.
Important people saying things which were both unnecessarily negative and highly visual.
So much so that, like a bright pink elephant, you’re unable to get it out of your mind.
And the very thing the speaker didn’t want you to think is now the only thing you’re thinking about.
For example:
And yet your mind still thought about being hungover, Big Ben, and being overcharged.
That’s what we’re highlighting in this blog.
And it’s what we discuss in each of our media training courses.
So, who made our 2022 list?
Image from BBC News
We kick off our list with a tweet that hit the headlines.
Novak Djokovic, arguably the greatest tennis player of all-time, had a turbulent year.
He was banned from competing in the Australian Open (which we wrote about).
He defended his position on vaccines in a high-stakes BBC interview (more analysis here).
At times, his fans were unsure if he’d even continue playing.
But play on he did. And in November, he was in the headlines again.
All thanks to a tweet about him from his wife.
A video from Novak’s Paris Masters semi-final had gone viral, hitting more than 15 million views.
It appeared to show the Serb’s physio mixing a drink while being shielded by his team.
Hitting back at the footage, Novak’s wife Jelena tweeted:
“I don’t see anything dodgy.”
The headlines wrote themselves.
And now we have the words Djokovic and dodgy in the same sentence.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II was one of the biggest news stories of 2022.
It dominated the agenda for weeks.
And even football fans got dragged into it.
Scotland were due to play Ukraine in the Nations League just days after the monarch’s funeral.
Since the Queen was patron of the Scottish Football Association, a minute’s applause was announced.
However, similar tributes the previous weekend had been disrupted by some supporters jeering.
The Scottish Football Supporters Association were asked about the risk of a repeat from the Tartan Army.
Speaking to the BBC about the fans’ behaviour, chairman Andy Smith said:
“We are not going to be sour-faced and have negative banners.”
That quote became the headline.
Reinforcing the idea that the Tartan Army may disrupt the tribute.
And sure enough, some fans booed.
Image from ITV’s This Morning
We’re staying on the theme of the Queen with our bronze medal position.
The hosts of British daytime programme This Morning are well-known celebrities in this country.
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have presented the programme together since 2009.
Viewership has consistently been high, with many moments going viral on social media.
But their popularity took a steep dive in September.
It was after images and articles appeared to show the duo jumping the miles-long Lying-In-State queue.
The duo were forced to respond on an episode of This Morning.
Speaking in a voiceover about the Queen’s funeral, Holly said:
“Please know that we would never jump a queue.”
Then, seemingly to bolster their defence, the programme’s broadcaster ITV published a statement:
“They did not jump the queue, have VIP access or file past the Queen lying in state.”
So to be clear, they did not jump the queue.
And they certainly didn’t have VIP access.
Now what are you thinking?
A list like this would only be complete with a Boris Johnson quote.
The former British Prime Minister churned out Pink Elephants at an astonishing rate.
And he was at the heart of denials in early 2022.
Boris was under pressure to resign over multiple parties held at Downing Street while the country was in lockdown.
There were photos. There were leaked emails. The evidence was stacked against him.
The Prime Minister had to respond.
You’d think, as the man in charge of instigating these lockdowns, he’d know the rules inside out.
But when asked by Sky News about a 100-person Downing Street garden party in 2020, Boris said:
“I’m saying categorically that nobody told me.
“Nobody said this was something that was against the rules.”
And the Prime Minister pleading ignorance of his own rules was met with a mix of anger and rolled eyes.
Remarkably, it was only in July that Boris Johnson finally announced his resignation.
I’m confident we’ll see him again in future editions of this list.
British politics, as you’ve read, provides us with a glut of Pink Elephant quotes every year.
And as soon as this one was uttered, it sealed its place at the top of our 2022 list.
Both for its highly visual nature and for the events that followed days later.
It was October 17. Liz Truss, the then Prime Minister, was absent from the House of Commons.
Her Conservative colleague Penny Mordaunt had taken her place at the despatch box.
Labour MP Stella Creasy was puzzled, and asked about the PM’s whereabouts.
Where was Ms Truss? Was she “cowering under her desk and asking for it all to go away?”
Ms Mordaunt replied:
“Well, the Prime Minister is not under a desk, as the honourable lady says…”
At this point, the House descended into laughter and heckles.
The ‘under a desk’ headlines spread around the globe.
And two days later, Liz Truss resigned.
The only question I still have is: was Ms Mordaunt’s highly-visual response done intentionally?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Each of our top five pink elephants could easily have been avoided.
They simply had to tell us what was happening.
Rather than painting the vivid picture of what was not happening.
For example, how much better would these sound?
If you’re eager for more annual lists like this one, here’s the 2021 and the 2020 edition.
We’re always on the lookout for any soundbites we may have missed, too.
Spotted a pink elephant quote in 2022?
Let us know in the comments below.
Colin Stone is the Communications Lead at Pink Elephant.
You can read more about him here.
Photos in top five pink elephants blog by BBC Sport, ITV, Dom Le Roy from Pexels, and Pink Elephant Communications.
Top five pink elephants blog edited by Andrew McFarlan.
1st February 2023 Featured in: Blog By: Pink Elephant
Some media trainers knock you down…and leave you down. Our media coaches show you how to deal with each knock…and still win through. So you have the presentation skills to perform – with confidence.