Stars no sooner fall from their lofty heights than are their descents graphically depicted on the Internet, in the tabloids, and in the magazines. At times they are shown storming the latest hotspots with little discretion, careening down highways, and carried away by stretchers?inebriated, out of touch, and ablaze with the intensity of the moment. Other times their behavior is shown as less extreme, though nevertheless unusual enough to portend an equally turbulent downward spiral. These are the stars who once where beyond reach?worldwide brands at their zenith?now a mere glint in the cosmos of inspiration they once personified. Can stellar PR save them? Here is a sampling of clips that depict and discuss a few examples of some of the world?s brightest stars who have fallen on tenuous ground.

Tom Cruise

Britney Spears

David Hasselhoff

Publicists act as middlemen between notable figures and the media; they seek to attain positive publicity for their clients while preventing and diffusing circumstances that pose a threat to their brand equity. Assuming the stars depicted above are going it alone, it seems evident they would benefit from having a good publicist for such purposes.

The question remains however as to whether the damage caused by the bad habits, poor behavior, and overexposure of a luminary verging on the edge of extinction can be sufficiently countered with even the best PR. Is there a point of no return, and have these stars crossed it? Is there hope for these brightly burning luminaries, or have they exhausted their brand equity to the point where even the best of publicists would be at a loss to rekindle their mystique and enable them to once again occupy a high place in the expansive universe of the publics? imagination?