Meaning in Context – What Does ‘Notoriety’ Mean Here?

meaning-in-context

As you know the word "notoriety" often has a negative meaning:

  • notoriety :the state of being famous for something bad.

  • notoriety : fame for being bad in some way.

But it seems notoriety has a posetive meaning here:

Basically, notoriety administration is the process that is carried out
keeping in mind the end goal to track the notoriety of your
organization.
https://belowthelinemarketing.com/about-btlmg/what-is-notoriety-management/

Or here:

Bernays went on to pull off these kinds of cultural coups regularly
throughout the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. He completely revolutionized the
marketing industry and invented the field of public relations in the
process. Paying sexy celebrities to use your product? That was
Bernays’s idea. Creating fake news articles that are actually subtle
advertisements for a company? All him. Staging controversial public
events as a means to draw attention and notoriety for a client?
Bernays. Pretty much every form of marketing and publicity we’re
subjected to today began with Bernays.
(Everything is Fcked* by Mark Manson)

I wonder why "notoriety" has a positive meaning in marketing and branding area. And what does it mean here? Fame?
could you please explain it to me?

Best Answer

The definitions you give are somewhat incomplete.

From Merriam-Webster's definition of notoriety:

: the quality or state of being notorious

From its definition of notorious:

: generally known and talked of
// iron is a notorious conductor of heat
— Lewis Mumford

As you can see, this does not mean something negative.

It is correct, however, to think that notorious often is used when talking about something negative.

The definition of notorious continues with this:

especially : widely and unfavorably known
// a notorious gangster
// an area notorious for soot, smog, and dust
— Pliotron

But the fact that notorious means something negative in those examples is made apparent from context. In one, notorious is followed by gangster; in the other, notorious is followed by soot, smog, and dust.

Even if we tend to think of notorious and notoriety in more of a negative sense by default, they can still be given an explicitly positive meaning by associating them with something positive:

Florida is notorious for its warm beaches.
Charities are notorious for their goodwill.
The woman gained notoriety and acclaim for her generosity.

If it seems odd to hear those words being associated with something positive, you don't need to use them in that way yourself. However, people do associate the words with positive things in some cases; it's just not as common as associating them with negative things.

So, if you see the use in association with something positive (or neutral), it might be a little unusual, but it's not actually wrong.

Related Topic