Comm Media

Reaction to Chapter 12

I am not surprised that there were PRs like PT Barnum who used gross exaggeration, fradulent stories, and staged events to make his clients famous. His story kidn of reminded me of the old-school "freak-show circus" because some of his clients were the mighet General Tom Thumb, and Jumbo the Elephant. It's not surprising that Barnum would exaggerate and make-up stories to make these people famous.
Ivy Ledbetter Lee's life interested me as well. I like that he counseled his clients that honesty and directness were better PR devices than deception. It pleases me to read that he started one of the first NY PR firms, called Poison Ivy. I liked how theo Pennsylvania Railroad wanted him to help them downplay an accident that made teh Railroad lok bad, but instead, Lee told them to admit their mistake, promise to do better, and tell everybody about it. I thought it was kind of crazy how Lee worked for the Rockefeller family. He improced conditions for worked, and helped the Rockefellers contain the publicity when 53 workers and their family members died during a violent strike at a fuel and oil company. I remember reading about the Rockefellers in History class last year, and I never really thought about who was in charge of helping them to keep a good reputation. It's kind of interesting to think about it now.
I understand that PRs need to put a spin on the facts. However, it is very saddening to know that in 2000 survey of PR professionals indicated that 25 percent lie on the job, 39 percent exaggerate the truth, and 44 percent were uncertain of the ethics of the task they were required to perform.
I did not realize how important PRs have become. Sadly, many journalists do not start following up a story until after a hitn from a PR. That's kind of silly if you ask me.
It's disheartening to read that many times today, PR firms mislead the public when a mistake is made. PR firms, a lot of times, are hired to alter the image of a company rather than to admit the mistake. The Exxon Valdez oil spill off of the Alaskan coast was very upsetting. Not only did Exxon react slow to the crisis, but Exxon changed the name from Valdez to Mediterranean. It was one of the biggest environmental crisises in the 20th century, and Exxon, with the help of a PR firm, chose to do virtually nothing to help the situation.
PRs are extremely helpful to people and companies. It is their choice to whether they chose to be honest with their work, and sneaky and deceitful. PRs can either be the best of people or the worst.

posted by maggie @ 8:17 AM 0 comments

PR Video

"The future sin't in telling the stories; it's in selling them."
It's very sad that journalists have such trouble finding jobs, while PRs have no problem whatsoever. What makes it sad is the fact that society no longer cares as much about the truth, but rather companies prefer to just sell their items. Companies hire PRs to make their product appealing to society, so that they can sell it. Journalists that will tell the truth, and do not care about selling won't be hired. That stinks.
I was somewhat surprised to find out that the root of public relations is finding out what the community wants. I never really thought about how they knew what the community wants; I sort of supposed that PRs based it on their own opinions, and assumed that it was the same as most people. In actually, it is kind of all about statistics, and waht the majority of the people want or want to happen.
It's a very difficult job as a PR. Most of it is subjetive, the audience can change their mind perhaps, but the main problem is that people make mistakes, people misquote, and people create a boulder in a PRs path. PRs need to be smart, inventive, creative, and a people person. They also need to be patient when teaching the people of the company how to sell their product.
the result of PR is evident everywhere. Whether I like it or not, I constantly (both intentionally and unintentionally) view magazines covers and tv segments, billboards, and I simply hear things by word of mouth. I am affected and influenced by what result of what PR consultants do, and I believe what I hear (usually). They do a very convincing job.

posted by maggie @ 8:33 AM 0 comments