Poisonous PR

As we are all well aware, the issue of ethics in PR practice is a well discussed and controversial topic within this sector. Perhaps many of you have had the similar reaction of a slightly raised eyebrow and polite ‘Hmmm, I see’ upon having confessed you are studying such a “seedy” industry. Although the views expressed in this clip are from the extreme PR sceptic school of thought (I’m sure none of us enrolled on this course to learn how to make war look like a good idea!) I believe they still raise important issues and potential problems when it comes to PR methods of persuading the public.

As literature such as Toxic Sludge Is Good For You has discussed, the propagandist potential of PR has been exploited by many of those in power, be it government leaders or money hungry corporations. The granddaddy of this manipulative strain of public relations, Edward Bernays, experimented with the minds of the American public in developing his PR practice. One of his biggest ‘achievements’ was making it socially acceptable for women to smoke after the president of the American Tobacco Company recognised it could effectively double its market if the taboo could be broken. Since at this time women were striving for more self-freedom and equality with men, Bernay effectively used cigarettes as a symbol of developing female power and the number of women smokers began to rise from there. By linking products and ideas to emotional desires and feelings PR masters such as Bernays have since manipulated the public to buy into what they are selling- be it cigarettes or censorship- with the interests of the powerful, not the public in mind.

Despite the professionalization of PR in more recent years, the establishment of codes of conduct and the development of education in the sector to ensure bunches of ethically minded people such as ourselves are the future of the industry, I think it is important to keep aware of the manipulative potentials of PR practice. The increasing use of channels such as this, the blogosphere, as well as the emergence of websites such as PRWatch, is evidence of that democratisation called for towards the end of this clip which will hopefully only continue to develop and improve the reputation of this field.