Public Relations?

When people hear that a student is dedicating four years and a future career to public relations, the following questions usually come up: what is it, and why are you studying it? While no student should let this discourage them, a PR student can not help but feel a bit of indignation. Of course we could have gone to medical or law school, and we could feel the admiration of others when we say that we save and preserve lives; but we should not view ourselves as unimportant. On the contrary PR represents, I believe, a necessary piece of life in an industrial nation, a source of mediation between public and private interests, and as an opportunity for those who need representation.

Of course, others might have a different view of PR. One that labels its practitioners as spin doctors and hacks, liars and deceivers. While it is true that many abuse the position to get false information into the public, that does not reflect what the goals of public relations are. The goal today is to put everyone on level ground. To offer an ear to the public and a voice to the organization or individual. There are some recent PR cases that the majority of the public would be familiar with.

For example, when the Exxon Valdez tanker is mentioned, people know immediately of the disaster, and associate with the incident criticism and a lack of action on the part of Exxon. While there is nothing that could have made up for the disaster, a quick response on the part of Exxon’s PR team could have helped the public understand what went wrong and why, instead of giving the company a bad name due to a lack of press information. But when PR is used to the extent of its capabilities, bad situations can be contained. When Odwalla Foods produced unpasteurized juice which caused an E. Coli outbreak, the PR response was quick and effective. Press releases were delivered, recalls were made, the company acknowledged its mistake and offered their apologies. The effects incident were kept to a minimum. While the stigma of the incident may still remain in the minds of some of the public towards the company, Odwalla is still running.

Public relations is not all associated with big corporations either. It can be a valuable forum for the populace and the individual. Grassroots efforts have been able to thrive in the past, giving a smaller community the ability to voice their beliefs. This is true also in politics. While many consider lobbyist to be a detriment to democracy (which is a valid argument in some cases), PR can be a tool for getting important issues into the mainstream.

Public Relations has several pros and cons. It can be scorned for its misleading nature, and praised for its ability to empower. However, there are good and bad aspects in all professions, and I will personally take a view towards optimism. I think that I can become an integral and important factor in either politics or industry, marketing or crisis management, whatever I feel myself pulled towards. A democratic nation is founded on the principal that every member in that country will have an equal say in its decisions, and serving in public relations will allow me an opportunity to see that more people will get their equal say. That is what I believe the importance of public relations.