Is Fair Trade fair?

When I first went into UK supermarket and tried to buy some chocolate, there was an interesting logo which caught my eyes. The logo looks like yin-yang in Chinese culture, and “fair trade” is written below it. Thus I want to know more about fair trade, and I found out something interesting.

Fair trade is an organisation which aims to help producers in developing countries. Its market-based approach advocates the payment of a higher price to producers and as well as social and environmental standards.

It seems that fair trade knows how to catch publics’ attention. People, including me, tend to purchase more products with the logo on it through the image fair trade has been sending to us. However after I look in depth, I keep finding something against “fair” trade.

Marc Sidwell, from Adam Smith Institute, questions that is fair trade fair? In his essay, he points out fair trade is unfair, because it only offers a small number of farmers a higher, fixed price. Also it only helps landowners, not the agricultural labourers who suffer the severest poverty.

Furthermore, most farmers helped by fair trade are in Mexico, a relatively developed country, and not in place like Ethiopia. However, the campaigns we see on the TV or posts are filmed in Africa mostly.

More dark side of fair trade is coming out. Four-fifths of the produce sold by fair trade-certified farmers ends up in non-Fair trade goods. At the same time, it is possible that many goods sold as Fair trade might not actually be Fair trade at all. In that case, who can guarantee that everything with the logo can be really produced by fair trade?

People purchase fair trade products in order to help farmers in developing countries. Before buying them, make sure the fortune goes to them not retailers’ pocket.

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Malcom Tucker as face of the bad PR of PR

Though Malcolm Tucker, the extraordinarily abusive and hilarious creation of Armando Iannucci, who appears in the series ‘The Thick of It’ and the film ‘In The Loop’ is very entertaining, his portrayal also an interesting take on how the world of PR is perceived by society. Because criticisms of PR as a profession have often centred around the connection with propagnda and, more recently since the years of Tony Blair as Prime Minister, 'spin', it is something that we, as students of PR, should think about.

‘The Thick of It’ is a political satire – created for the purpose of entertainment - and so therefore should not perhaps be taken wholly seriously as a reflection of the inner workings of the public relations profession. However, there is such a ringing truism of how the general public (or should I say the media?) seem to perceive the profession of PR in the actions of Malcolm Tucker (played brilliantly by Peter Capaldi). An example of the character's histrionics is when the Minister (played by Rebecca Front) accidently lets slip that her department have lost immigration files in front of a freelance journalist, he yells at her, ‘It’s a f***ing newspaper office, it's not the f***ing sanatorium for the f***ing deaf.’ A link here may not be appropriate seeing as this was one of the quotes which included minimal swearing.

Comparisons have been made between the character Malcolm Tucker and the real ‘King of Spin’, Alistair Campbell, who served as Director of Communications and Strategy from 1997 to 2003. He responded in ‘The Guardian’ and, naturally, denies any true reflection of the inner workings of Downing Street. The Labour government has been plagued by accusations of spinning everything which could be spun, though there is no denying David Cameron's efforts at this particular style of public relations have been picked up by the media. This rasies questions about how successful the public relations of public relations is and how the political 'spin doctor' image has tarred the whole profession, but mainly what can be done about it.

There doesn’t seem to be much mention of Armando Iannucci's unflattering portrayal of spin in the recent PR blogs, but this image of PR should perhaps not be swept under the carpet but faced before the PR of PR itself is to be improved.

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Too smug for good PR

Was it the wrong pr advice, or no pr advice at all that landed the Maclaren company in an invidious backtracking position this week?

After 12 children in the USA had their fingertips cut off when their fingers were trapped in the hinges of the Maclaren pushchair, Maclaren USA said that they will issue kits to parents in the US to safeguard the pushchair.

Their UK company (Maclaren UK) and trading standards Northamptonshire however, insisted that the same action was not necessary for UK consumers. A statement the company had to make a U-turn on and revise a few days later. British parents will now also being issued by “safety kits” for the pushchairs.

Let’s hope it was no advice at all and that there is a pr position available for one of the 2009 pr students.

Or maybe it was a textbook case of press agentry or publicity? One way communication and the company know the best what people (their public) need or want?
A stance that left them with their reputation in tatters and exposed the company’s poor understanding of the importance of safety to all its customers.

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The knowledge of celebrity endorsement

From an article from PR week, Cathy Wallace has provided some tips for PR practitioners to find the suitable celebrity to endorse their campaign.

Undoubtedly, the celebrity industry is heavily influenced modern culture. Many organisations use celebrities to promote their products. If you choose a right endorser will win credibility for your campaign, if not, the wrong person may ruin the whole campaign, even the relationship between your customers.In this article, Cathy Wallace highlights some prepositions for choosing the right celebrity.

First of all, the credibility. She quotes Max Clifford, an experienced celeb PR points out the partnership or endorsement if it believable and natural. Moreover, she also reminds PR practitioners should aware of the exposure/overexposure balance of celebrity. Because overexposure might lead the public feels dreadful.

The most important thing is: whoever you choose, be aware there are sometimes circumstances that you just cannot control. Because celebrities are people, they are living and there is always a risk.

Although the profit brought by celebrity endorsement may considerable, PR practitioners should notice that their responsibility is not only get the right person, but also need to react and respond to any changes in the environment immediately. Moreover, PR practitioners should involve their clients, meeting their requirements in a realistic way.

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Back to basics: PR the right stuff

Confronted by breaking reports of reputation-damaging issues, pr and communications managers can either do the right stuff, or get it wrong and stay in the news headlines, exacerbating the issue.

How refreshing to see a UK government department getting it right this time:
A Sky News “breaking news” report that a further claim of UK troop involvement in rape, torture and physical assault against Iraqi civilians has been served on the Ministry of Defence could have been a news story for several days.

I suggest that the way Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell (and his communication/pr team) dealt with the alleged revelations should be benchmarked by pr students of how to deal with allegations and reputation- damaging issues.
So what did he do? He:

•  acknowledged the issue – “formal investigations” would be carried out. ”
  
  
• did not make hasty judgements without proof, and antagonising anybody - “without judgements made prematurely.”
  
  
• gave credit and appreciation to the “good people” and not alienating them - “Acknowledging the massive operation in Iraqi and that in the majority of cases, they adhered to the highest standard of behaviour.”

•  acknowledged that the allegations are serious and that if proven, action will take place - “but where, in a tiny minority of cases there has been abuses, it is absolutely right that it is investigated and if proven ...action takes place.”

The sting has been taken out by sound PR principles with the result that it is not a news story anymore - all the issues were addressed succinctly and to the point.

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Insight into NHS new organ donation campaign

According to an article from The Guardian (2nd November, Mon), NHS is lauching a television campaign to emphasize the fact that three people died every day owing to shortage of donors.

The campaign features a health-looking boy is watching TV with one of his family. He than gets ill abruptly as the ad notes that we would donate immediately if someone we loved is suffering from disease.

This shocked ad points out the urgent need for organ donation, particularly aims at those who believe but have not registered. As to those people who refuse to do organ donation are not the target. According to the book “Exploring Public Relations, (2006)”:

In persuasion campaign, one of the essential elements is that people must believe that they are capable of making the change required by the campaign. This is called self-efficacy. Campaigns that expect more of the audience than people are able to achieve will fail.(Tench, R., Yeomans, L., 2006)

In this case, NHS is focusing on the gap between the numbers of people who would accept an organ if they needed one and the number who have actually joined the register. But it is worth mentioning that by using shock tactic, it may reinforce negative attitudes and scary myths of organ donation.

The campaign will runs until the end of March next year, also includes an online game, developed by PR firm Munro & Forster based on giving the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz a new heart.

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The Noughties... Entertainment PR Boom Time

Last night BBC 3 repeated a television programme called the noughties… was that it? Basically it was a rundown of the main cultural, political and economic events which have characterised the period 2000–2009.

Two of the cultural phenomena highlighted by the programme were the rise of the reality TV show and Simon Cowell. This got me thinking. How has this impacted upon the PR industry?

With special reference to X-factor we can see that every year new “celebrities” are churned out, all of them desperately hopping to further their fledgling singing career. All of them in need of someone to promote and package them into a respectable brand. Surely then the noughties have been a boom time for entertainment PR companies?

To pick out a prime example, the entertainment specialist PR agency, Hackford Jones, has handled the media enquiries account for X-factor 2007 winner Leon Jones, 2008 winner Alexandra Burke and now has Louis Walsh on its books.

With Jedward proving a topic of controversy they too will almost certainly be looking to sign onto the accounts of a PR agency – Hackford Jones perhaps.

Whilst it is evident that a strong connection exists between X-factor and Hackford Jones, we mustn’t forget that there are a whole host of other reality TV programmes pumping out new celebs every year. The entertainment PR industry as a whole has got a bigger piece of the action than it ever has.

But does the winding up of Big Brother mark the end of the golden age of reality TV and thus the end of an entertainment PR boom time? Perhaps not, celebrity culture is now firmly ingrained in our society and has crossed into new realms. Politics is a prime example. First MP’s started asking questions in the House of Commons about X-factor evictees and now we have a campaign slogan built upon the unpopular Jedward.

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