Public relations as ‘tour of duty’: ‘Dis’embodying PR work in Criminal Minds

In this chapter, the television crime drama, Criminal Minds becomes a locus for analysing the fluid nature of occupational identity in the promotional professions. The fictional character, Jennifer Jareau or ‘JJ’ engages with specific artifacts of public relations (PR) work for the first six seasons of the show, before moving out of her communications role to become an FBI profiler, at which point her public relations work disappears without a trace. As a career trajectory, JJ’s first embodying then disembodying of a PR role is significant. Not only does JJ’s tour of duty in PR echo many real-life career trajectories, it also complicates idealised notions of ‘who’ does promotional work. The chapter analyses scenes from ‘early’ Criminal Minds to highlight JJ’s embodying of three overlapping occupational identities and cultural typologies – the FBI agent, the PR practitioner and the female detective. The chapter concludes by offering a framework for analysing different aspects of embodiment in professional work.