Tom Cruise annoys me

By Karen Thomas, USA TODAY
Tom Cruise's damage-control offensive is well underway, and just in time. Ratings released Thursday by a marketing firm indicate that his popularity has been in a free fall.
New ratings from The Q Scores Co., a firm that measures celebrities' likability and appeal, show Cruise's popularity continues to drop, particularly with women. The actor's Q Score was at its lowest since 2000 with a 40% drop in positive perception among men, who reported a 170% increase in negative perception. The outlook is worse among women: Cruise's appeal dropped 45%; negative perception is up 300%.

The data was collected in July and August, most of it before his embarrassing split from Paramount Pictures. It was Aug. 23 when Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone announced the breakup in The Wall Street Journal, blaming Cruise's behavior.

The result: Cruise, 44, "became the butt of old jokes," says Harvey Levin, managing editor at TMZ.com.

But the actor appears to be on a redemption-seeking mission, with recent high-profile plays:

•The move. Cruise with, fiancée Katie Holmes and older kids in tow, stopped at the season-opener for the Washington Redskins, whose owner, Daniel Snyder, stepped up to finance Cruise's production company.

The effect. The appearance had a "legitimate business aspect," says Christine Spines, senior writer at Entertainment Weekly. And the public sees "a regular guy going to a game." But Cruise wore a suit, and that puzzled Evangelia Souris, president of the Optimum International Center for Image Management in Boston. "Is he going to the game, or is he trying to look professional?"

•The move. An interview in October's Vanity Fair accompanying the much-anticipated photographs of Suri, Cruise's 4-month-old daughter with Holmes, 26.

The effect. That it followed Redstone's comments, Spines says, worked in Cruise's favor. "It makes him out to be a martyr. And if Tom Cruise knows anything, he knows how to be a good hero in the public eye." But Souris says 22 pages might be overkill. "He could have done it with one potent photo."

•The move. Flowers for Rosie O'Donnell on her first day on The View on Sept. 5.

The effect. It was a "direct hit in terms of wooing back the women audience, and they're his bread and butter," says Spines.

•The move. An apology Aug. 31 to Brooke Shields, whom he blasted for using drugs to combat postpartum depression.

The effect. "He's owning up to past mistakes, things that have offended people," says Souris. "And that's the best first thing to do to rebuild an image."

Cruise has a "good strategy" going, says Q Scores' Henry Schafer. "But it's going to take more than one or two public moves."