Public Relations and Politics: The Image Industries  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Chapter Outline  History  Industry  Controversies

 Public relations is ▪ The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public.  Public relations is different from advertising.  Can anyone tell me how these two things are different?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Both public relations and advertising, however, are persuasive endeavors and work together in integrated marketing.  Internal publics ▪ Those within the client’s organization and include employees, stockholders, and members.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Precursors of Public Relations  People have always had opinions and others have always tried to influence those opinions. ▪ Ancient Greeks hired Sophists to help fight their verbal battles in public forums.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Precursors of Public Relations ▪ Ancient rulers employed spies to keep in touch with public opinion and spread favorable rumors ▪ Most people in the colonies were indifferent to the cause of American independence. ▪ Patriots used PR techniques, such as the Boston Tea Party of 1773, to gain public support for the war.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 In the new U.S. quick-witted people from sideshow barkers to Broadway press agents worked to generate publicity for their clients.  The dramatic means they used was known as hype. ▪ P.T. Barnum planted stories filled with lies about his attractions, ▪ Named his circus “The Greatest Show on Earth.” ▪ What are some recent examples of “HYPE” today?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

▪ In the 1800s, public relations techniques were used by ▪ Land speculators and railroads to entice people west with glowing reports of fertile land and cooperative natives. ▪ The railroads encouraged the westward migration ▪ Why would railroads want people to move west?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 A popular eatery that you enjoy has caused numerous people to get sick,  Local authorities say its due to undercooked or tainted meat  This has resulted in the death of two children  Would you still eat there? Why/Why Not  What would have to happen in order for you to go back or continue eating at the restaurant?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Public Relations As a Profession  Ivy Ledbetter Lee ▪ The father of the modern public relations industry. ▪ A former newspaperman, he was hired in 1906 to rebuild the tarnished images of U.S. coal mine owners, including John D. Rockefeller.  Lee believed that the goal of public relations was not to fool or ignore the public. ▪ Often credited with being the originator of modern crisis communications  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Edward Bernays coined the term ▪ “public relations counsel” in his book, Crystallizing Public Opinion,  He also taught the first university public relations course at New York University.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 FDR established the Office of War Information ▪ Promoted WWII bonds, encourage work productivity and the rationing of food, clothing, and gasoline.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” Program ▪ Started off as a reporter’s request to name their most-wanted fugitives.  Subsequent positive publicity after the story culminated into the “List.”  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Today, countries with expanding economies such as  Korea and some countries of the former Soviet union, ▪ Hire PR firms to improve the perception that international investors have of them.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 After September 11th, 2001 attacks on the U.S. ▪ Our government established media specifically designed to sway anti-U.S. sentiment in the Arab media: ▪ “Al Hurra” is a slickly produced Arab-language cable television network. ▪ Radio Sawa is an Arab-language radio service. ▪ Radio Farda is a Farsi-language radio service. ▪ Hi Magazine is a geared towards Iraqi elites.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 After poisoned Tylenol capsules in 1982, ▪ President of Johnson & Johnson and company execs had a teleconference,  600 reporters in 30 cities ▪ Allowed the company to explain the extraordinary precautions that Johnson & Johnson was taking to protect consumers.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 News reports indicate that there is a spike in muggings and assaults at the local community college  You find out several students were robbed at gunpoint after an evening class  You are in charge of developing a solution to this problem and calming community outcry  What are some things that you can do?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 PR Activities  Research that occurs through the public relations process is used to: ▪ define problems, ▪ identify publics, ▪ test concepts, ▪ monitor the progress of a campaign, ▪ evaluate its effectiveness when it is over.  PR practitioners are involved in decision-making and organizational policy-making of companies and politicians.  This includes ▪ Coaching clients on how to behave in an interview, offering grooming advice or teaching how to avoid answering direct questions.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 PR Strategies  News management techniques include: ▪ publicity stunts to create human-interest stories, ▪ creating news hooks to interest media gatekeepers in the information that clients want to publicize, ▪ developing media relations, or press relations, that maintain contact with reporters, ▪ using leaks and trial balloons to test public reaction to a major policy, ▪ granting exclusives to just one news outlet to increase the impact of publicity.  PR maintains good community relations by giving corporate aid to schools, charities and nonprofits.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Crisis management ▪ Is the action used to repair a client’s public image following an emergency, such as a major error, accident, or sabotage.  E. coli poisoning leads to Odwalla juice recall (1996)  Wendy's restaurant patron found finger in bowl of chili (2005)  Multi-State Outbreak of E. coli Infections From Spinach (2006)  Companies will use PR Agencies to calm the public and attempt to restore trust in their products/services ▪ What company is currently working to repair their tarnished image?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Lobbying is any attempt to influence the voting of legislators. ▪ The name comes from the practice of PR representatives speaking to lawmakers in the lobbies outside their hearing rooms. ▪ U.S. companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually in their lobbying efforts. ▪ Multi-million dollar industry associations are set up purely for the purpose of influencing how laws are written.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Some Public Relations Tools  Press releases, or news releases, are short documents, written in standard news form, for insertion into news reports. ▪ Canned news and editorials are digital files to be inserted verbatim into feature or editorial sections. ▪ Audio news releases include interviews and sound bites ready for insertion into news reports. ▪ Video news releases (VNRs) are ready-to-broadcast tapes. ▪ For example, a drug company might distribute a VNR that provides interviews with experts who have developed and tested a new drug along with satisfied users.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 You are the account executive in charge of a new account  The client wants to generate a buzz for their new shoe line  You don’t have enough money to run ANY ads  What are some things you can do to get the word out?  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Some Public Relations Tools  VNRs have become controversial in recent years, ▪ Often called Fake News, when used without attribution.  A 2006 Center for Media Democracy study ▪ Found 36 VNRs that had aired on 77 stations.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Ethics of PR Tactics  Many PR professionals and journalists have a “love-hate” relationship.  Neither respects the other’s job yet they need each other.  Journalists call PR people “spin doctors and “flacks,” ▪ Derives from the term for WW II anti-aircraft fire.  spin is ▪ Providing an interpretation of an event or campaign ▪ Persuading public opinion in favor or against an organization or public figure  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Ethics of PR Tactics  To some, spinning is the practice of twisting the truth so that what is said puts the best possible face on the facts. ▪ Critics contend that most spinning is a type of lying, or a half-truth at best  “The Big Lie” occurs when people state something they know to be untrue and stick to it ▪ In spite of all evidence in the hopes that the press and public will become confused by the issue and forget about it.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Greenwashing  Covering up environmental problems caused by the client by associating that client with beneficial environmental actions.  Many critics believe that freebies ▪ Including junkets, meals, and gifts designed to curry favor with reporters and magazine writers, amount to bribes.  © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved