1. Public Relations and Ethics
A match made in Heaven. . . Or Hell?

2. Public Relations and Ethics
Ethics and the law are attempts to restrict behavior and practices in an effort to protect the public welfare.
Ethics are enforced by personal judgment or a professional code of conduct.
The law is enforced by the government.

3. Public Relations and Ethics
The law is often interpreted in black and white. Ethics fall into a gray area because we have different standards, perceptions, values.

4. Public Relations and Ethics
Public relations professionals make ethical decisions that must satisfy:
Their employer
The public interest
Their professional organization
Their personal values

5. Public Relations and Ethics
PR professionals are often called:
Spin doctors
Flaks
What they do is often referred to as a:
Ploy
Maneuver

6. Public Relations and Ethics
A PR professional’s job is to:
Advocate
Influence
Communicate
Promote
Move others to action

7. Public Relations and Ethics
Ethics experts agree that there are three systems of ethics:
Deontology or Absolutist: every decision is right or wrong -- black or white. Consequences don’t matter. This system depends on the inner-based, self discipline of each individual.

8. Public Relations and Ethics
Teleology or Existentialist: the ends justify the means.
Golden Mean or Utilitarian: each situation is judged on what would cause the most good and the least harm -- what’s best for the majority, the greatest good or the greatest number.

9. Public Relations and Ethics
A public relation practitioner serves five masters:
The client
The employer
Your colleagues
Yourself
Society

10. Public Relations and Ethics
Are public relations professionals philosophers or craftsmen?

11. Public Relations and Ethics
The most common dilemmas faced by PR professionals are:
Gifts
Misleading Information
Promotion of Inferior products
Gain at the expense of others
Political Action Committees
Promotion of illegal products abroad

12. Public Relations and Ethics
In 1992, at the age of 100, Edward Bernays tried to have the vocation of public relations licensed.

13. Public Relations Assignment
You work for a public relations firm that has just accepted a pharmaceutical firm that manufacturers, RU-486, the “morning-after pill.” You have been assigned the task for developing a campaign to promote the product to doctors and healthcare workers.
Please write a 1-2 page paper explaining how you handle the situation, citing the specific ethical guidelines/philosophy that you would follow and why.