Being a good PR practitioner has a lot to do with knowing what is right and what is wrong. I am currently reading this book called “Do the Right Thing” by James Hoggan. I have heard that this book is highly recommended for PR practitioners to read. Getting into this book has me wondering if I could tell the difference between something being ethical or not.
Going into the second chapter of the book, I ran across the words “The Dark Side of PR.” This caught my attention because I did not know there was one! This chapter talks about companies that hire PR firms to help move their product even though they product is bad. For example, in the book Hoggan talks about this company called Monsanto, which is selling this growth hormone for cows. The hormone, rBGH, causes medical problems and increases the amount of pus in the cow's milk. This hormone may cause a long-term consequence for the children who drink the milk.
Being ethical in this situation to me is the only route to go. I know that there are a number of ways to let the company know you do not want that case. For successful PR firms, there has to be room to say no. Money has a lot of say into what people want to sell, but as a PR practitioner, you must know when you should put the public’s health before the well-being of your client.
You have to sometimes ask yourself if you are doing the right thing. You have to make sure you do enough research to ensure that the product you are supporting is harmless. So the field of public relations can have a dark side. It is up to the future PR practitioners to be taught well on being moral and ethical. Being in PR, you will have to make tough decisions.
Cora,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading Hoggan's book, I, too, was startled at the fact that there were companies out there who hired PR firms to do unethical things. This really does cast a dark shadow on public relations because the external publics will begin or continue to think that PR is all about spinning information or lying to the public.