all jokes about Merc's marketing aside, a competent marketing team and PR management team would take a look at the situation and determine that what they need in order to get on top of the favouritism and sabotage allegations would be to take control of the narrative and make it look like George has more control in this situation than he does. this is not just important to soften the blow to their imagine, but also because it does not look good for Antonelli to have this narrative floating around, as it undermines his own image as a prodigy (and let's be real, Antonelli is their priority right now). it is also only a matter of time before Dudley's competence starts to be called into question too (even though a lot of the better-informed fans already know the man sucks), so if Mercedes wishes to maintain their image as this genius team whilst also refuting the idea that George is being sabotaged behind the scenes, they need to close the spaces that allow these rumours to circulate, the gaps in the picture, if that makes any sense.
ideally how they would achieve this would be with a statement from George himself that says some bullshit about "bad luck" and "looking at what went wrong" and "learning" and "coming back stronger" (remember that awkward video with him and Toto after Japan?), more light-hearted media appearances in which he looks happy (which they've done a little of by releasing the farm video), and a lot of him assuring fans, thanking the team, and taking responsibility for what ultimately were team decisions (which after Monaco he didn't do, which is good for him, and not for them). and we must also remember that Mercedes could benefit from the way George is perceived by the media, so a couple tweaks from them can easily turn his own image against him (aside from being a shit thing to do, this is also a dangerous strategy as if executed badly it will backfire as Mercedes have worked to support women in motorsport, and a lot of George's criticism comes from the fact that he is perceived as feminine, and therefore judged by the public similarly to they way they judge women and belittled for being effeminate ("princess George", joking about him wanting a hairdryer when trying to get showers on the track for drivers, being called "whiny"). and especially as a team who has Susie Wolff and Rosberg in its legacy, so you see why this isn't something they should even consider if they want to be true to the values they promote).
so all this leads me to believe that Mercedes have actually asked George to give a statement and film more bits for their socials in order to smooth things over, and that he has refused to do so (which also strengthens what he said in Monaco if he doesn't retract it, so again, good for him), which is why they're suddenly posting about loving George on their socials cause that was actually plan C. staying silent (like they had been doing prior to this) is no longer an option for them as George has now started to point fingers at his team ("car is suddenly undriveable", "it is built to suit Antonelli's driving style", "the problem with the rear still hasn't been fixed"), and so they are desperately trying to subtly suggest that George is the ungrateful son as blaming him in reaction would only serve to further confirm what is being speculated. it looks like damage control, and to an extent is it, but it is also indicative of a silent war being fought between George and the team.
anyway no one asked for a marketing analysis and i am sometimes bad at explaining stuff but i hope someone finds this as interesting as i do
