By Stacey Haire
I chose to read Rethinking Public Relations: PR Propaganda and Democracy by Kevin Moloney. The author has worked in PR for 17 years and has taught and researched for even more years. He teaches at Bournemouth University, and researches into how PR intersects with politics, economics and the media. He says PR has grown and is more widely used in today’s society. Maloney argues everyone needs PR from crooks to the government. It is the low-cost distribution of information, done before large and small audiences, using multiple techniques of self-display.
This second edition sustains the view of PR being weak propaganda. This is the sequel to Rethinking PR: the Spin and the Substance published in 2000. Maloney focuses his discussion on PR in the United Kingdom. PR is part of the United Kingdom’s promotional culture in which the majority of communications are self-interested: PR always serves the interests of those who deploy it. According to Maloney, PR has become more noticeable in the UK in the last forty years. Since then there has been more awareness of the ethics of PR in the UK. The ethical PR person follows professional rules or formal codes of conduct so that they individually produce PR messages in a moral way.
I too believe PR and government co-exists because PR is used to portray a leader’s words into something believable. World War II spread the most PR propaganda when recruiting women to the labor force. PR is also used in unconventional ways against the government. During Vietnam, protestors spread their messages for free by making posters and walking with signs. Although they may not know they are providing PR, they are spreading messages to the public. Maloney’s research provides insight to how PR has grown and changed to be used in all forms of business.
I too believe PR and government co-exists because PR is used to portray a leader’s words into something believable. World War II spread the most PR propaganda when recruiting women to the labor force. PR is also used in unconventional ways against the government. During Vietnam, protestors spread their messages for free by making posters and walking with signs. Although they may not know they are providing PR, they are spreading messages to the public. Maloney’s research provides insight to how PR has grown and changed to be used in all forms of business.
2 comments:
I also agree that PR and the government co-exists. I believe that Rosie the Riveter was a key component during the WWII public relations campaign to call women into action. Furthermore, lobbying is a branch of Public Relations. In that situation, PR and the government go hand-in-hand. In addition, PR still continues to be apart of our current situation in Iraq.
I also agree that PR is frequently used in government. WWII bringing women to the workforce was a big public relations campaign. Also, during WWII a big PR campaign was pushed for buying bonds and other war time efforts. I would be interested to know what type of PR went into the efforts of each war, I am sure they each had their own individual PR tactics and strategies used to get the public backing.
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