We have all heard it before – Scandal, shocking news, and controversy is good for business.  All press is good press, whether good or bad.  Controversial topics are the most popular articles for bloggers.  If someone disagrees with you it doesn’t mean they hate you, maybe they just have an opinion!

The lists of “truths” about controversy goes on and on.  Is controversy really good for business?  Maybe.  It’s a way to spread ideas and sway opinions with healthy debate.  How boring would it be if everyone agreed?  No room for innovation when that happens.  There are many ways to look at an issue.

But what about the motives behind controversy?  Are there people who attack others just to get attention… at your expense?  YES!  If you happen to be the one being attacked, it’s easy to get pulled into the drama and have the life sucked right out of you or your business.

The Incident
On November 24, 1997, Fox Network in the U.S. aired a show Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.  It was the first of a four part series of TV shows that explained the methods behind magic tricks and illusions.  The masked magician was supposedly a well-known magician who wore a mask to avoid the backlash from fellow magicians.

Within hours of airing the show, all hell broke loose within the magic community!  I have been hanging around magicians and street performers for over 20 years and have NEVER seen such strong reaction from magicians. They were pissed off!  The first rule of being a magician was broken – the promise of magicians to never reveal the secret workings of a magic trick or illusion.

The Motive
Fox saw an opportunity to get an increase in viewer ratings by creating controversy within the magic community.  They counted on the fact that working magicians would protest.  It worked like a charm for Fox.  I’m sure the man behind the mask came out with a bundle of cash.

The Reaction
The magic forums exploded with activity.  Everything from anger to disbelief to preaching right and wrong was covered.  Outrage and disgust were at the forefront of the discussion.  The major Magic organizations from around the world jumped
into the debate.  There were a lot of pissed off people that wanted to have their way with the masked man.  After all, he just destroyed the careers of top performing magicians.  Bullshit!

The only “harm” he did to the performers was to successfully draw them into believing that trick methods were the real “secret” to their career success.  That’s just not true.  Showmanship is what sells tickets.  An audience comes to a magic show to be entertained.  Many magicians mistakenly believe they are successful because they utilize secret methods that no one in the audience could possibly do themselves. I challenge any magician to walk into a magic store, buy a new trick  and put it into their show that night.  It won’t work.  Knowing the secret to the trick itself doesn’t make for a good performance.  Stagecraft, practice, and presentation are what is most important.

The Result
Magicians screamed like never before. Hatred and outrage consumed them. Not everyone, but the vast majority did.  Then the excuses came.  There were countless stories of performers complaining their career was ruined.  How could they possibly expect an audience to come to their show if they knew the methods?  It was the end of the world!  I wonder though, how many people actually saw the show, and did it really matter to them anyway?

New organizations were formed to protect the secrets of the craft.  Magicians were encouraged to write the TV network with threats.  Advertisers were asked to pull their ads from Fox. Self-proclaimed ‘protectors of the magical arts’ began preaching ethics and demanding all magi follow the rules.  A new wave of policing the magic forums, hunting for people that supported exposure.  It. Was. Wild!

Fox got exactly what they were looking for, and most magicians were none the wiser.  Three more episodes aired over the next eight months.  Now the ball was rolling!  Fox was getting results at the expense of the magic community.  In 2002, they cranked out another 13 episodes.

Magic careers were apparently being destroyed.  And whose fault was it?  It wasn’t Fox.  It wasn’t the masked magician.  Then who?

Magicians Were Letting Controversy Consume Their Life
It was their own damn fault.  A large percentage of working magi spent most of their time whining when they could have been focusing their efforts on being the best they could be for their audience.  Looking for new marketing.  Developing new illusions instead of doing the same thing every other magician does.  It’s always easier to blame someone else when something bad happens.  Seemed like the complainers were possessed with being right.  They wanted everyone to think just like them.

Did Fox destroy the art of magic?  Did the masked magician kill the mystery of a good magic performance?  Nope. David Copperfield still performs almost nightly to sell-out crowds.  I still see magicians at convention booths gathering crowds for their clients.  The prestigious Magic Castle in Hollywood still sells tickets every night.  Criss Angel is in his 5th season with his TV show on A&E.  Most of my friends still book corporate work every week.  Magic is alive and well.  The people still getting work are the ones who decided not to get sucked into the controversy.

The Solution
If you are the target of controversy, you have two choices.

1. Debate the issue until you win. (which may never happen)
2. Debate the issue until you realize it’s better to agree to disagree and move on with your business.

It’s really not what happens to you when something goes wrong, it’s what you do about it to keep moving forward.  Why not just learn from it?

Just so you know, when the masked wonder boy hit the scene, I was mad!  I wanted to go after the guy and frankly, I thought I had a pretty good plan to do so.  Then I realized I didn’t need to be the moral police that tried to stop something that could not be controlled.  Instead, I got together with my close friends in magic to work out new ways to book gigs and improve my show.  I let the haters hate, and the exposers expose… cause that’s what they do.

Hey, I may not always be right… but I’m never wrong!

Has this ever happened to you in your business or personal life?  How did you choose to deal with it?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.