Public relations specialists are sometimes labeled deceptive and unethical, but are they doing more good than they are harm?
According to an article in Forbes magazine, there has been a decline in the necessity of public relations professionals in recent years, because many companies are beginning to manage their own public affairs through utilizing the skills of already existing employees. For example, the job responsibilities of a public relations specialist align closely with that of a marketer and/or advertiser.Not only do we see this reduction due to the thought of unencessity, but there have also been others who have questioned the ethics of public relations specialists, and therefore, question why we would we would need people in the workplace in whom we can’t fully trust. We will address the arguments of why some people do feel this way, because if looking in from the outside, it does raise questions when you see someone working for a campaign or business they don’t actually support. Although these arguments do exist and public relations specialists have been seen as deceptive or unethical for this reason and others, they are doing much more good than they are harm, and therefore are necessary in the workplace.
We all have certain words stored in our brains that we “know” what they mean, or at least we think we do, but when asked to define them, we stumble finding the right words to do so. For many people, public relations could fall into this category. When I was accepted into the public relations program here at BYU this last semester, I was ecstatic to tell others about this opportunity. Those that I told reflected my same excitement, but almost every time, they would also ask me “now what exactly is public relations? I can't quite put my finger on it.” This experience got me thinking about how it isn’t completely fair to those who are working in this field to be dismissed into the box of deceptive and unnecessary professionals when people don’t even fully have a grasp on what they do and who they are.
To illustrate who public relations specialists are, think in your mind back to a time when you withheld information from a certain individual. Why did you do it? Were you trying to be deceptive? Or helpful? Trying to hurt them? Or protect them? One simple but age old example is when a woman asks a man if she looks good in her new dress. Whether she looks good or whether she doesn't look good, he is going to tell her that she looks beautiful. (Or at least that is what he should say!) In withholding information about the fact that he really isn't the world's biggest fan of her plaid dress, he obviously is trying to protect her from feeling bad because there really isn't a need for her to. Now, in the context of a blog post about public relations, how do the two correlate. Well, as mentioned above, public relations have gotten a bad wrap for being unethical because they don't always disclose full information. However, public relations professionals are all about improving society, and that can, at times, involve not disclosing full information.
History of Public Relations
Let’s begin by remembering why we’ve needed public relations professionals in the past, and where the art and profession originally stemmed from. Public relations, from what I understand, has been around since humans could communicate. We as humans like to get our own way, and in order to do that, we must know how to persuade our audience. Public relations at the core is the art of persuasion. Now, don’t take that in the wrong way thinking that it’s all about getting your own way all the time through trickery. But rather, it is knowing how to communicate with your target audience in an effective and efficient manner.
Ancient Greek philosophers and master communicators, such as Aristotle and Plato, are excellent examples as they aided public speakers in their ability to persuade people by expounding on rhetoric. They knew that knowing their audience was crucial, appealing to emotion would generate a response, and even choosing the correct form and style for the occasion would go a long way. In knowing how people want to be addressed, they had the power and ability to influence the masses.
The Digital Age of Public Relations
The influence of those who were well-versed in public relations didn't stop in Ancient Greece but continued on. Some noteworthy examples of the continuation of public relations is seen with Saint Paul who created some of the earliest Christian ideas and spread them by writing 13 of the 27 books in the bible, Johannes Gutenberg when he created the printing press and in turn revolutionized the spreading of information and ideas, the Protestant Reformation which utilized the recently created invention of the printing press for spreading Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the of spreading Catholic beliefs to non-Catholic under Pope Gregory XV through propaganda, and the separation from Great Britain through documents that influenced the public such as Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
The necessity of public relations specialist spread with the birth of internet. The invention of the internet effected the strategies and tactics, and gave public relations specialists even more influence. If you are familiar with the job description of a public relations specialist, you understand they are confronted daily with high-stress situations, and it is their job to calm the nerves of the public.
There is a great amount of sprezzatura that goes into this profession, as those that work in the field must remain calm and natural, and must convey these feelings to the public. Sprezzatura isn’t about being fake to your audience, but rather it’s about being dynamic and tuning into your authenticity. This in turn yields a positive response from the audience, regardless of what the crisis going on is. Without public relations professionals, who would calm the nerves of the public during an outbreak of a food borne illness? Or get individuals on board for a worth and respectable cause?
The art of public relations has been around since the beginnings of ancient Greece, as previously discussed, because they were necessary at that time. Who is to say that our world is that much different that we no longer have a need for them? If anything, due to the continued advancements in technology, we are in a greater need than ever for public relations professionals in the world. Having a better grasp on who they and what they do, will hopefully help us stop and think about the crucial role they play before we automatically assume them to be unethical or deceiving.
Image credit:
"Professionals at Work" via Wikipedia public domain
"Parthenon, Athens" by Mark Cartwright in Ancient History Encyclopedia
"Age of Digital Media" via The Museum of Public Relations
Sources:
Why You Should Never Almost Pay for PR
Museum of Public Relations
To illustrate who public relations specialists are, think in your mind back to a time when you withheld information from a certain individual. Why did you do it? Were you trying to be deceptive? Or helpful? Trying to hurt them? Or protect them? One simple but age old example is when a woman asks a man if she looks good in her new dress. Whether she looks good or whether she doesn't look good, he is going to tell her that she looks beautiful. (Or at least that is what he should say!) In withholding information about the fact that he really isn't the world's biggest fan of her plaid dress, he obviously is trying to protect her from feeling bad because there really isn't a need for her to. Now, in the context of a blog post about public relations, how do the two correlate. Well, as mentioned above, public relations have gotten a bad wrap for being unethical because they don't always disclose full information. However, public relations professionals are all about improving society, and that can, at times, involve not disclosing full information.
 |
| West facade of the Parthenon, Athens, 5th century BC |
History of Public Relations
Let’s begin by remembering why we’ve needed public relations professionals in the past, and where the art and profession originally stemmed from. Public relations, from what I understand, has been around since humans could communicate. We as humans like to get our own way, and in order to do that, we must know how to persuade our audience. Public relations at the core is the art of persuasion. Now, don’t take that in the wrong way thinking that it’s all about getting your own way all the time through trickery. But rather, it is knowing how to communicate with your target audience in an effective and efficient manner.
Ancient Greek philosophers and master communicators, such as Aristotle and Plato, are excellent examples as they aided public speakers in their ability to persuade people by expounding on rhetoric. They knew that knowing their audience was crucial, appealing to emotion would generate a response, and even choosing the correct form and style for the occasion would go a long way. In knowing how people want to be addressed, they had the power and ability to influence the masses.
 |
| The invention of the printing press, Mainz Germany, 1440 |
The Digital Age of Public Relations
The influence of those who were well-versed in public relations didn't stop in Ancient Greece but continued on. Some noteworthy examples of the continuation of public relations is seen with Saint Paul who created some of the earliest Christian ideas and spread them by writing 13 of the 27 books in the bible, Johannes Gutenberg when he created the printing press and in turn revolutionized the spreading of information and ideas, the Protestant Reformation which utilized the recently created invention of the printing press for spreading Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the of spreading Catholic beliefs to non-Catholic under Pope Gregory XV through propaganda, and the separation from Great Britain through documents that influenced the public such as Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
 |
| The Digital Age with the boom of the internet, 1969 |
There is a great amount of sprezzatura that goes into this profession, as those that work in the field must remain calm and natural, and must convey these feelings to the public. Sprezzatura isn’t about being fake to your audience, but rather it’s about being dynamic and tuning into your authenticity. This in turn yields a positive response from the audience, regardless of what the crisis going on is. Without public relations professionals, who would calm the nerves of the public during an outbreak of a food borne illness? Or get individuals on board for a worth and respectable cause?
The art of public relations has been around since the beginnings of ancient Greece, as previously discussed, because they were necessary at that time. Who is to say that our world is that much different that we no longer have a need for them? If anything, due to the continued advancements in technology, we are in a greater need than ever for public relations professionals in the world. Having a better grasp on who they and what they do, will hopefully help us stop and think about the crucial role they play before we automatically assume them to be unethical or deceiving.
Image credit:
"Professionals at Work" via Wikipedia public domain
"Parthenon, Athens" by Mark Cartwright in Ancient History Encyclopedia
"Age of Digital Media" via The Museum of Public Relations
Sources:
Why You Should Never Almost Pay for PR
Museum of Public Relations
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