Early promotion for season 4 began just before Christmas with a 12 days of Bridgerton promotion that promised exclusive videos, never before seen photos and even giveaways. The takeaway from many fans was that there would be something new from season 4 each day, however, what they got was definitely less than the expectation. This promotion started promisingly with an in-character promotion video of Benedict and Sophie, the new stills on day 2 were soured a little with a still of Penelope forced in ahead of the still of Sophie. By day 3 expectation was high for new stills or character promo to introduce the new characters, however, the merchandising collaboration fell short of expectations, and hopes, of the fans. With more stills and a short video of Jess talking about S4 with vague references to the main story was again a little disappointing for the fans.
Video Credit: Netflix
Day 7 delivered the expected in-character promotion video of Penelope and Colin Shondaland and Netflix reinforced negative perceptions on their commitment to diversity and representation when that was followed by an announcement of the name of Penelope and Colin's baby, and a behind the scenes picture of Nicola Coughlan with the baby. This had some questioning why a white baby gets an announcement when the mixed babies have not, and this is not helped by the fact that we still have yet to see Kate and Anthony's baby on screen - or any evidence that we will see him onscreen. Most fans believe that we could have waited until the release of the season to find out the name of the baby, just as we did with Daphne and Simon's baby in season 2, but for whatever reason Shondaland and Netflix decided a self important 'baby announcement' was required, reinforcing the view that for them only the white characters matter.
The Netflix tie in promotional spots with the NFL during the 12 days of Bridgerton promotion also was a bit of a miss for the Bridgerton team, this was cringe to a lot of people, and made very little sense as a cross promotion considering Bridgerton is a show set in Regency England, not modern day United States.
Image Credit: Netflix
As mentioned above there were stills released during this 12 Days promotion, including long awaited solo stills of the leads, but the aforementioned positioning of a still of Penelope in the middle of stills of the leads, and ahead of the leading lady, was not received as well as they may have expected outside of the Polin fandom. This positioning showed that they either lacked awareness in their efforts to promote Penelope, or were uncaring of the optics of positioning a white woman whose season is over ahead of a woman of colour who is the season's leading lady. This looks bad for a show that is claiming to be diverse and representative, as the message they were sending was that the white season 3 lead was of higher importance than the Korean lead for the season they are promoting.
Image Credit: Netflix
However, there were some positives with the announcement of the season 4 world premiere in Paris, and the trailer being released.
But the issues with the early season 4 marketing do not stop there. On New Year's Day they released a 'family' promotion showing the Bridgerton family cast members giving their character's New Year Resolutions. The issues that many saw with this promotion was about who wasn't included, as opposed to who was.
First it was noted that neither Wil Tilston nor Jonathan Bailey were there to round out the Bridgerton siblings, suggesting that they don't value those they have given smaller storylines too. But additionall it was noted that Nicola Coughlan was included in the promotion, and while Penelope is a Bridgerton, her inclusion led to questions why she was the only 'spouse' to be included. Hannah Dodd was in the promotion, but Victor Alli, who plays her husband John, was not. As mentioned there was no Jonathan Bailey, which means Simone Ashley was also missing. If this promotion was meant to be 'family only' then why include Nicola and not Wil at the very least, but preferably Wil and Jonathan? But if this promotion was meant to include spouses then why wasn't Victor at the very least included, or (again preferably) Victor and Simone? If the promotion was not meant to be the siblings and spouses, or the siblings only, then why not include Yerin who is the season's leading lady? Essentially this promotion on New Year's Day was a 'terribly white' promotion (to steal a phrase from Adjoa Andoh), and has done nothing to alter the negative perceptions held about Shondaland and Netflix.
It should also be noted that there still has yet to be a 'passing of the baton' from the Season 3 couple, and most likely will not be, something that was one of the first promotional clips done for season 3. This again raises questions as to why did the gay man and dark skinned South Asian woman have to 'pass the baton' while the straight white couple do not have to? Of course promotion is just beginning, maybe this is still coming, but considering they have begun the character introductions this week I highly doubt it.
