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Chapter 12: Essay
Essay
1. Explain the major difference between advertising and public relations.
ANSWER:
The major difference between advertising and public relations is that advertising is
controlled publicity that a company or an individual buys, while public relations
attempts to secure favorable media publicity (which is more difficult to control) to
promote a company or a client. Advertising and PR emerged as professions at the
beginning of the twentieth century. While advertising drew attention and customers
to new products, PR began in part to help businesses fend off increased scrutiny from
the muckraking journalists and emerging labor unions of the time.
2. How did the railroads give the early forms of corporate public relations a bad name?
ANSWER:
During the nineteenth century, America's largest industrial companies—particularly
the railroads—employed press agents to win favorable public opinion.
The railroads began to use press agents to help them obtain federal funds. These
lobbying efforts, accompanied by favorable publicity, led to passage of the Interstate
Commerce Act in 1887. It was the first federal law to regulate private industry. It
required railroads to post shipping rates, banned special lower rates for certain
freights or passengers, and established a commission to oversee enforcement of the
law.
The railroad press agents successfully gained government support buying favorable
news stories about rail travel from newspapers through direct bribes. Another
practice was to engage in deadheading, which was to give reporters free rail passes so
that they would write glowing reviews about rail travel. The wealthy railroads
received the federal subsidies and increased their profits, all the while the American
public shouldered much of the financial burden of rail expansion. This was a problem
because it hurt the average consumer.
3. How did Edward Bernays affect public relations?
ANSWER:
The nephew of Sigmund Freud, former reporter Edward Bernays inherited the public
relations mantle from Ivy Lee. When he opened his own office, Bernays was the first
person to apply the findings of psychology and sociology to public relations. He
called himself a public relations counselor rather than a publicity agent. Some of
Bernays's client list included General Electric, the American Tobacco Company,
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Chapter 12: Essay
textbook, Crystallizing Public Opinion. For many years, his definition of PR was the
standard; he defined it as "the attempt, by information, persuasion, and adjustment, to
engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement, or institution."
4. What contributions did Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward Bernays make toward the development
of modern public relations?
ANSWER:
Both Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays thought that public opinion was malleable and not
always rational. Bernays understood how people's minds work because of what he
learned from his uncle, Sigmund Freud. They both realized that in the hands of the
right experts, leaders, and PR counselors, public opinion could be shaped into forms
people could rally behind. This they could use to move people to think what they
wanted them to think.
5. What is a pseudo-event? How does it relate to the manufacturing of news?
ANSWER:
A pseudo-event is any circumstance created for the sole purpose of gaining coverage
in the media. Historian Daniel Boorstin coined the term in his influential book The
Image when pointing out the key contributions of PR and advertising in the twentieth
century. Typical pseudo-events are press conferences, TV and radio talk-show
appearances, or any other staged activity aimed at drawing public attention and
media coverage. Pseudo-events go back as far as P. T. Barnum's publicity stunts,
such as parading Jumbo the Elephant across the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1880s. In
politics, Theodore Roosevelt's administration set up the first White House pressroom
and held the first presidential press conferences in the early 1900s. Today, many
celebrities, companies, and politicians create pseudo-events to market themselves and
their products. Sending out press releases about these events is a common way to
generate interest among journalists.
6. Why have research and lobbying become increasingly important to the practice of public
relations?
ANSWER:
One of the most essential practices in the PR profession is doing research. Just as
advertising is driven today by demographic and psychographic research, PR uses
similar strategies to project messages to appropriate audiences. Because it has
historically been difficult to determine why particular PR campaigns succeed or fail,
research has become the key ingredient in PR forecasting. Like advertising, PR
makes use of mail, telephone, and Internet surveys; focus group interviews; and
social media analytics tools—such as Google Analytics, Klear, Keyhole, Sprout
Social, and Twitter Analytics—to get a fix on an audience's perceptions of an issue, a
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Chapter 12: Essay
lawmakers. They also spend a lot of money researching what they are lobbying so
that they can competently argue their cases. Government PR specialists monitor new
and existing legislation, create opportunities to ensure favorable publicity, and write
press releases and direct-mail letters to persuade the public about the pros and cons of
new regulations. Maintaining connections with government agencies that have some
say in how companies operate in a particular community, state, or nation is very
important. Both PR firms and the PR divisions within major corporations are
especially interested in making sure that government regulation neither becomes too
restrictive nor hinders their control over their businesses. In seeking favorable
legislation, some lobbyists contact government officials on a daily basis.
7. Describe three ways public relations firms use the Internet to promote their clients' interests.
ANSWER:
The Internet, with its instant accessibility, offers public relations professionals a
number of new routes for communicating with the public. Three ways that PR firms
use the Internet to promote their client's interests are through media kits, media
access, and interactivity.
A company or an organization's website has become the home base of public
relations efforts. Companies and organizations can upload and maintain their media
kits (including press releases, VNRs, images, executive bios, and organizational
profiles), giving the traditional news media access to the information at any time.
And because everyone can access these corporate websites, the barriers between the
organization and the groups that PR professionals ultimately want to reach are broken
down.
The web also enables PR professionals to have their clients interact with audiences
on a more personal, direct basis through social media tools like Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Instagram, Wikipedia, and blogs. Now people can be "friends" and
"followers" of companies and organizations. Corporate executives can share their
professional and personal observations and seem like buddies through a blog.
8. What might be a public relations benefit of creating social media accounts for a business?
ANSWER:
The web enables PR professionals to have their clients interact with audiences on a
more personal, direct basis through social media. This includes Twitter, YouTube,
Instagram, Wikipedia, and blogs. People can be "friends" and "followers" of
companies and organizations. Corporate executives can share their professional and
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Chapter 12: Essay
ANSWER:
Public relations firms and marketers are particularly keen on working with mom
bloggers. These bloggers appear to be independent voices in discussions about
consumer products but may receive gifts in exchange for their opinions. The concern
here is that sometimes such communications appear without complete disclosure,
meaning that the bloggers don't say that they have been hired by companies to
promote their goods and services; keeping this a secret is an unethical practice. In
2009, the Federal Trade Commission instituted new rules requiring online product
endorsers to disclose their connections to companies.
10. What are some socially responsible strategies that can be used during a crisis to help a PR
specialist manage bad publicity?
ANSWER:
There is a great example of a socially responsible strategy that was used by a PR
specialist to manage bad publicity. In 1982, there was a tragedy involving Tylenol
pain-relief capsules. Seven people died in the Chicago area after someone tampered
with several bottles and laced them with poison. The parent company, Johnson &
Johnson, and its PR representatives were trying to decide whether withdrawing all
Tylenol capsules from store shelves might send a signal that corporations could be
intimidated by one crazy person. The company's PR agency, Burson-Marsteller,
decided to engage in full disclosure to the media and an immediate recall of the
capsules nationally. The move cost the company an estimated $100 million and cut
its market share in half. Burson-Marsteller tracked public opinion nightly through
telephone surveys and organized satellite press conferences to debrief the news
media. Emergency phone lines were set up to take calls from consumers and health-
care providers. When the company reintroduced Tylenol three months later, it did so
with tamper-resistant bottles. In the end, the public thought Johnson & Johnson had
responded admirably to the crisis and did not hold Tylenol responsible for the deaths.
In less than three years, Tylenol had recaptured its former (and dominant) share of
the market. The responsible strategy is to tell the truth. By responding immediately,
they can get out in front of the story, honestly addressing the problem and taking
responsibility so that the company appears in a favorable light.
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Chapter 12: Essay
between their clients and the press.
Another cause of tension is that PR firms often raid the ranks of reporting for new
talent. Because most press releases are written to imitate news reports, the PR
profession has always sought good writers who are well connected to sources and
savvy about the news business. But although reporters frequently move into PR,
public relations practitioners seldom move into journalism; the news profession
rarely accepts prodigal sons or daughters back into the fold once they have left
reporting for public relations.
12. In what way(s) can public relations influence, and perhaps in some cases almost dictate, news
content?
ANSWER:
According to Michael Schudson in his Discovering the News: A Social History of
American Newspapers, PR agents help companies "promote as news what otherwise
would have been purchased in advertising." For example, Ivy Lee wrote to John D.
Rockefeller after he gave money to Johns Hopkins University, saying that the fact
that it was "not really news, and that the newspapers gave so much attention to it, it
would seem that this was wholly due to the manner in which the material was
'dressed up' for newspaper consumption." News critics worry that this type of PR is
taking media space and time away from those who do not have the financial
resources or sophistication to become visible in the public eye. There is also another
issue: If public relations can secure news publicity for clients, the added credibility of
a journalistic context gives clients a status that the purchase of advertising cannot
offer. In addition, PR firms with abundant resources get more client coverage from
the news media than do their lesser-known counterparts. For example, a business
reporter at a large metro daily sometimes receives as many as a hundred press
releases a day—far outnumbering the fraction of handouts generated by organized
labor or grassroots organizations. Workers and union leaders have long argued that
the money that corporations allocate to PR leads to more favorable coverage for
management positions in labor disputes.
13. What is the impact of a powerful and sophisticated public relations industry on democracy?
ANSWER:
According to the text, like advertising, PR campaigns that result in free media
exposure raise a number of questions regarding democracy and the expression of
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Chapter 12: Essay
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Completion
1. The earliest public relations practitioner was the _______, who sought to advance a client's
image through media exposure.
ANSWER:
press agent
2. _______ was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with the tacit understanding that
they would write glowing reports about rail travel.
ANSWER:
Deadheading
3. _______ transformed the image of the Rockefeller family.
ANSWER:
Ivy Ledbetter Lee
4. _______ was the first person to apply the findings of psychology and sociology to public
relations.
ANSWER:
Edward Bernays
5. _______ convinced women that cigarette smoking was publicly acceptable.
ANSWER:
Edward Bernays
6. _______ opened up the PR profession to women.
ANSWER:
Doris Fleischman
7. In advertising and public relations, _______ is a communication strategy that tries to
manipulate public opinion to gain support for a special issue, program, or policy, such as a
nation's war effort.
ANSWER:
propaganda
8. _______ is a PR message used to gain public support for a special issue or cause.
ANSWER:
Propaganda
9. A(n) _______ is PR written in the style of a news report.
ANSWER:
press release
10. The visual counterpart of the press release for television news is the _______.
ANSWER:
video news release
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11. A(n) _____ is PR that is designed to mimic the style of a broadcast news report.
ANSWER:
video news release
12. A(n) _______ is a broadcast-style press release for a nonprofit organization.
ANSWER:
public service announcement
13. When celebrities or officials create situations solely to attract press attention and publicity,
this is called a(n) _______.
ANSWER:
pseudo-event
14. The phony grassroots public affairs campaigns engineered by public relations firms are
known as _______ lobbying.
ANSWER:
astroturf
15. For journalists, the word _______ has come to mean a PR person who inserts him- or herself
between a client and members of the press.
ANSWER:
flack
16. _______ lamented the influence of the PR profession on modern life.
ANSWER:
Walter Lippmann
Multiple Choice
1. The first public relations practitioners were theatrical press agents, who staged stunts to get
newspaper coverage for their clients.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
2. P. T. Barnum used gross exaggeration, fraudulent stories, and staged events to secure
newspaper coverage for his clients, his American Museum, and his circus.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
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3. Publicity is information a person, a company, or an institution pays to have published or
broadcast in the news media.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
4. In the nineteenth century, railroads rarely used bribery to get favorable news coverage.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
5. Deadheading was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with the tacit understanding
that they would write glowing reports about rail travel.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
6. Ivy Ledbetter Lee—one of the founders of public relations and often referred to as "Poison
Ivy"—actually believed that honesty and directness were better than deception in public
relations.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
7. Ivy Ledbetter Lee used PR techniques to defuse public anger over Standard Oil's part in the
Ludlow coal strike of 1914.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
8. While P. T. Barnum felt that all publicity was good publicity, Edward Bernays viewed all
public relations as propaganda and therefore unethical.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
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9. In 1929, Edward Bernays convinced women that smoking Colombian cigars was a symbol of
their independence from men.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
10. Edward Bernays believed that obtaining people's consent was not an essential ingredient of a
successful public relations campaign.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
11. Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward Bernays believed that public opinion was rational and difficult
to influence.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
12. Edward Bernays thought that in the hands of the right experts, leaders, and PR counselors,
public opinion could be shaped and public support directed.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
13. Public relations is largely a male profession, with relatively few women practitioners.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
14. Women currently outnumber men by more than three to one in the public relations
profession.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
15. Most of the largest public relations firms in America are owned by or affiliated with
multinational companies.
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a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
16. The most common type of public relations is done in-house at individual companies and
organizations.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
17. Focus groups are almost never used in public relations research.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
18. Unlike print journalists who use press releases extensively, television journalists rarely use
VNRs (video news releases).
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
19. Radio and television stations have been less willing to air public service announcements
since the deregulation of broadcasting in the 1980s.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
20. Historian Daniel Boorstin considered the press conference a classic example of a pseudo-
event.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
21. Another responsibility of PR is to sustain goodwill between an agency's clients and the
public.
a.
True
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Chapter 12: Essay
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b.
False
ANSWER:
a
22. Companies often hold plant tours and open houses to convince their local communities that
they are good citizens.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
23. It is illegal for most companies and organizations to engage in lobbying.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
24. Earmarks are spending directives in bills that are often the result of political favors or bribes.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
25. Astroturf lobbying refers to phony grassroots campaigns engineered by PR firms.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
26. The Internet presents mostly problems and few opportunities for public relations
practitioners.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
27. Some public relations firms have altered entries on sites like Wikipedia to make their clients
look good.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
