Public Relations. Two words that carry much meaning. There is the dictionary definition, of course, and Wikipedia, as always, has something to say on the matter, but it is likely that no single site, voice or idea is broad enough to truly sum up public relations. Bruce Lee based his fighting style and way of life on the idea that one should take in as much knowledge and ideas from those around you and choose what works best for you. In a way, that philosophy is perfect for this question, as to come up with a definition for PR, one must draw upon a rainbow of opinions- a “Marketplace of Ideas“, if you will.
In this class, we have drawn upon many ideas from the “marketplace”. One of the first major authors studied was Edward Bernays, whom is encountered in the first chapter of Stuart Ewen’s book.
Bernays during the 1920s
One of the first things that the elderly Bernays tells Ewen is simply “We don’t deal in images, we deal in reality.” He also said that, in general, most people act to the world instinctively, with little to no thought. Only the “intelligent few” actually have the power to think for themselves and change things. PR Professionals are among them. While such an idea, in it’s purest form, is borderline fascism (indeed, it is noted that Hitler’s propaganda minister, Goebbels, was apparently an avid reader of Bernays’ writings), it’s more mild form can probably be stated, in four blunt and impolite words: “The Masses are Asses”. People are highly vulnerable to suggestion, and PR professionals know how to explot that. Look at this movie trailer below, for example:
Even if you never heard of the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie before, or were not considering seeing it, after seeing a trailer with enough violence, ominous music and explosions the average person will more than likely want to see a movie. Now, if possible. Sherlock Holmes’ latest adventure isn’t even out yet, so I can’t say if that trailer is accurate, but the movie has gotten some pretty good reviews so far, as of 4:00 PM Tuesday. But that same formula of violence, music and explosions has convinced people to go see far worse fare. Although I have now gotten quite a bit off-topic, what this serves to show is that clearly all one needs to do to sell a movie to the majority of America is get a established character (Sherlock Holmes, the Transformers, Batman, etc.) and make a trailer that is full of violence, explosions and music. The formula, however, is entirely different if you want to win an Academy Award. To win an Academy Award, you would probably need to more appeal to those “intelligent few” that Bernays spoke of. Bernays, if he had lived to this modern age of internet and movie special effects, would no doubt agree with me. Oh, but those movies for the Oscars, for the “Intelligent Few”? Those don’t make as much money, so they are less likely to get made.
Which leads (in this increasingly over wordcount post), to Robert McChesney. Like a doomsday prophet, he believes that all forms of public relations, journalism and advertising are on the highway to oblivion due to the type of thinking described above about the Movies. As the giant megacorporations buy up more TV stations, newspapers (what few are left) and internet properties, he believes that the Marketplace of Ideas will be choked, and democracy as we know it will end. In some ways, this idea is similar to the backstory of the Pixar movie Wall-E. A single corporation named Wal-Mart “Buy’N'Large” had literally bought everything, and so with no outlets to criticize or stop it, it polluted the planet to near oblivion. They then left behind a cute little robot to fix it. Yeah, Runaway Capitalism!
Above: Cute Little Robot
Similar issues are brought up in The Corporation, about the history of the American Corporations. Like McChesney, the film essentially says that the Corporations use PR to further the company’s structure and (most importantly) profits, ethics be damned! Is your product taking too long to be approved? Pay’em off. Your investigative reporters are threatening one of your biggest sponsors. Fire them. Politicians working against you? Fund the Politician’s opponent, or make attack ads of your own. Oh, and patent the entire genetic structure of animals. I’m Agnostic and even I think that is just asking for a lawsuit from a higher power. Who, I have to imagine, the Corporations would then launch a PR attack on (“God made all the good-tasting foods bad for your health- do you want him to run the Genetic Sequences of life?”).
As a fourth voice to take from the class, I’d like to point out Peter Jacobi. While his writing is not entirely about PR, it has a quote that will lead (no pun intended) to my upcoming conclusion:
“We call them ‘leads’ in Journalism. That’s what beginnings are supposed to do: lead.”
The art of PR is supposed to do the same thing.
Finally, the fifth source I draw upon are those speakers about twitter and other media. For although they didn’t say anything truly interesting, they had the right idea, as their specialty is very much where PR is going.
Which leads to this, my DEFINITION OF PR IN THE 21st CENTURY:
Public Relations is about getting the word out. The word out about you, the word out about your company, the word out about your bakesale, your movie, your… whatever. PR and Advertising needs to reach as many people as possible (likely leading to a dumbing down to reach the “masses”), and there are many ways to do it. Even if you are facing a giant corporation, things can be done through Twitter and Facebook that would not have been possible before. That is what Public Relations is: getting the word out to “lead” people towards your opinions or wants.
Thank You,
Dan Glickman
