Ethics in advertising and public relations is hotly debated
among professionals and for good reason. With changing technology and
advancements to everyday life the consumer is essentially laid out among a
buffet of everything an advertiser/PR professional needs to understand before
marketing their product. No matter when the times though honesty has always
proven difficult in PR. In my opinion remaining honest, whether for good or bad
is necessary to keep your organization out of hot water. Manipulating the truth
can help to further your company’s agenda and none will be the wiser, which is
why I believe PR professionals will not become increasingly ethical but instead
display a guise of ethics.
In the article “We are
Professional Manipulators” – PR Pros, are we lying to ourselves? Published
by PRWeek follows a report gathered at the 23rd International Public Relations
Research Symposium, BledCom, in Slovenia. This report yielded results of more
than 20 interviews in which 17 of the interviewees admitted to lying to the
media on a regular basis. A not so surprising yet still disappointing truth
found in the public relations field. However, this is where ethic can begin to
be challenged, one PR professional stated "Of course I lie – I lie
because my CEO expects it, I have to lie to cover my CEO's [butt]. If I don't
lie and make it all look better, he and a lot of others will suffer. So I lie.
A lot." I believe this is a direct reflection of asymmetrical
communication gone wrong…or possibly right? It is a grey area. Asymmetrical
communication’s intended purpose is to persuade the audience and do this
through one-sided conversation. Lying to media and the consumer achieves
asymmetrical conversation without interfering with laws because PR is guided
more so through a code of ethics.
In the article 7 PR
lies to avoid at all costs by Dorothy Crenshaw, deceptive stunts,
astroturfing and social hijacking are a few of the examples cited. News
hijacking is used frequently by PR people and follows an important event. The
problem with social hijacking is that it is not considered a lie but instead a
manipulation on what feels like a very personal level for the consumer. Social
hijacking can take place on Twitter or Facebook accounts and posts and often
pushes the consumer to feel a certain way they may not have before but believe
they came to on their own. PR examples of this could be Starbuck’s
#RaceTogether. Showing up later on their Twitter account but first originating
on Starbucks cups. Barista’s were encouraged to write this message on cups
being served. Missing the mark and questioning what kind of response Starbucks
would receiving from their customers. Manipulating a consumer’s perspective
both online and within their actual product does not allow for the consumer to
come to their own decisions or understand the product properly.
I believe that PR is fighting to be portrayed as ethical
when many professionals are increasingly losing their ethics, honesty and
loyalty to the consumer.
Sources:
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