There's really only one way to spot a celebrity PR stunt.

If there's one thing that moves faster than an Olympic sprinter, it's the accusation that a celebrity's headline-making movements are linked to a publicity stunt.

In most cases, these accusations have a large body of proof behind them, because ever since human beings figured out how to capture words and motion on camera and blast them onto our screens in order to tell stories, there have been people working behind the scenes using the personal lives of these stars to grab our attention in different ways.

Over time, we've become more savvy to the inner workings of the Hollywood fame machine, to the point where the scale has tipped too far in the other direction. Now everything from a clearly staged paparazzi photo to the dissolution of a long-term marriage that birthed children is dismissed with an eye roll and a 'it's just a publicity stunt' mentality.

Over time, a series of famous names have admitted to public moments that were created for the sole purpose of generating a little kick of fame for both themselves and their various projects. Most of the time, celebrities and their teams will reach for the tried and tested fake relationship route, a plan guaranteed to generate headlines and goodwill. 

And overall a much safer play than opting for the equally buzzy yet much more precarious fake feud route (this one you really shouldn't try out unless an adult is present).

As an example, if you cast your mind back to when you first heard the name 'Rihanna' mentioned, you'd probably remember that it was in the context of accusations that Jay-Z was cheating on Beyoncé with his then-protégée, a young Robyn Rihanna Fenty, in 2005.

Ten years later, Rihanna's publicist from that year, Jonathan Hay, said that he deliberately orchestrated the rumour about the two musicians in order to generate publicity for Rihanna's debut single 'Pon de Replay'.

"It was all a publicity stunt... I was desperate at the time because I wanted to have a hit record," he told Inside Edition.

In a similar vein, Kim Kardashian is currently the queen of generating a blast of global publicity when she wants to, whether it's wearing a famously misunderstood women's dress, covering her face on the biggest red carpet of the year, or lounging around her mausoleum-like mansion in very creative 'fits.

But just as the empire she has today was not built solely on quick publicity hits, her initial taste of fame cannot be waved away as simply the work of a leaked sex tape.

In 2006, Kim Kardashian went on a single date with a man whose name at the time commanded much more attention than hers: Nick Lachey.

In the 2010 book Kardashian Konfidential, out of all the headlines that were generated around her name at the time, Kardashian credited this one date with Lachey as her launchpad to fame. That's how far and wide the pictures of them leaving a movie theatre spread.

During a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Lachey acknowledged that Kardashian had been the mastermind behind this particular PR stunt, saying the pair had secretly slipped into the movie and 30 photographers were then waiting outside to get the perfect shot of them as they stood outside the cinema.

"There are certain ways to play this game, and some people play it well," he said of Kardashian, who he also inferred left the movie halfway through in order to make the paparazzi call. 

On a similar note that proves no one generates publicity better than an early 2000s It-Girl, Rachel Bilson and Nicole Richie have both spoken about orchestrating publicity stunts to give their personal brands and upcoming releases a little boost.

Richie said her highly publicised relationship with Jackass star Steve O was "just a cry for publicity" (much more on his part than hers, she clarified), while The OC star Bilson once appeared on The Bachelor alum Nick Viall's podcast and the pair explained how they had orchestrated a romance just for the eyes of the internet, hoping it would generate some publicity for a podcast they wanted to co-launch.

If you look closely at these infamous pop culture publicity stunts, one common thread becomes clear, and that is — with the exception of the fact that Jay-Z really did go on to cheat on Beyoncé — there has been no major fallout from any of these stunts.

This is because while the reach of these headlines were immense, the stakes around them remained low.

This brings us to the stars who are currently fending off accusations of orchestrating a publicity stunt: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

Listen to The Spill hosts explain the one problem Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are really facing. Post continues below.

On August 20, after two years of marriage and two weddings (one chic Las Vegas elopement and one slightly more over-the-top event featuring three dresses and three days of parties), Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck. It came after the actors rekindled their romance in 2021, more than 17 years after they initially were engaged.

Along with a legion of people sniggering that they knew the relationship would never last, there is a large chorus of voices who believe this relationship was more than just doomed from the start; they are calling the whole situation nothing more than an over-the-top publicity stunt.

Now, while we'll never know exactly what happened behind the scenes in the Bennifer camp (which is a good thing, as celebrities' true personas and the kitchen of your favourite restaurant are the two things you should never see with your own eyes), this whole situation lacks the key ingredient in any good celebrity PR stunt.

A clean exit strategy.

It's true that both Lopez and Affleck have a stream of new projects, ongoing business partnerships, and their own personal brands that require a steady stream of publicity to keep them afloat. They also have two upcoming movies that they co-produced and Lopez stars in that require some attention and media support, with the first one being their film Unstoppable, which is set to premiere at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.

So here is where you have to ask yourself a question. Did these two people, who have both been in the entertainment industry for decades, set up a three-year ruse where they were legally married (twice), pretend to live in the same home under the watchful eye of paparazzi who waited outside each day, have to carefully keep under wraps any other relationships they wanted to pursue (or just remain celibate for years for fear of being caught) — all to generate some publicity they knew would turn on them the moment they decided to give it up?

Not to mention the fact that Lopez and Affleck have five children between them, all of whom are under 18, and who would have all had to either be in on the ruse, or have their parents lie to them in quite a big way for a number of years.

Even for the most extreme type of parents out there who are monetising their children's existence on the internet, this feels like a lot, and an overall bad business plan given how children can let things slip.

Whatever level of extended fame the couple might have garnered from this would be no match for the fallout that will come from exiting it.

The legal documents around their divorce have already been made public and that is only the beginning of the private information about their family and their money that will soon be more easily accessible. This is a topic they will forever be asked about in every interview they do and on every red carpet they walk for many years to come, along with the public ridicule that is now taking place.

It seems like a high price to pay for an upcoming movie with a limited theatrical release and to sell a few extra bottles of Lopez's bottled cocktail range, especially since they had so many more options available to them when it comes to leveraging their past relationship for fame.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez at the 81st Golden Globe Awards. Image: Getty.

After all, Brad Pitt reinvigorated his Hollywood heartthrob status and made the world forget about the legal accusations from his children, simply by clutching his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston's arm and smiling for the cameras backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2020.

A trend Affleck and Lopez could easily have leveraged without her legally changing her name to his and the world bearing witness to the paperwork she now needs to file to change it back.

Recently, we've seen a number of celebrities leverage their personal relationships in order to promote their upcoming movies and TV shows, but it's always performed in a way where they can clearly exit the caper once the press tour is over. All because they never fully commit to saying it is true.

Think Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell flirting all through their press tours for Anyone But You to ensure that people would line up at the cinema to see how their chemistry translated to the big screen. Or Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton acting particularly intimately on the publicity circuit for season three of Bridgerton, while his girlfriend conveniently stayed away from the red carpet. It made audiences believe in their TV romance while ensuring there was no messy fallout once the publicity tour ended — the gold standard in (successful but very tame) publicity stunts.

So next time, before you label a celebrity's actions a publicity stunt, ask yourself one question. Have these people, who have turned their entire existence into a personal brand, really committed to a years-long lie with both personal and legal ramifications for a quick publicity win, and then subject themselves to years of public fallout, especially knowing how intense and fragile many of their egos can be?

Or in many cases, do celebrities,  — just like us — sometimes make poor decisions, get swept up in the moment, or lust after the wrong people?

The boring but inevitable answer is yes.

Laura Brodnik is Mamamia's Head of Entertainment and host of The Spill podcast. You can follow her on Instagram here for more entertainment news and recommendations.

Feature Image: Getty.