The Falsehoods of Public Relations

September 9, 2011 Jasmine

There are several people in the world who still don’t know how much of an impact public relations can have on a corporation, or an individual. Myths and preconceptions about public relations are mistaken to be facts. A myth is a false belief or idea, and a misrepresentation of the truth.

Popular preconceptions and myths are that, “Any press is good press” and “Publicity can do no harm”.

I have personally seen several tweets on my Twitter timeline and Facebook statuses on my news feed that have said “people are talking about me so I must be doing something right”, or something similar.

Under the topic of Publicity, Wikipedia stated “The theory, Any press is good press, has been coined to describe situations where bad behavior… actually resulted in positive results, due to the fame and press coverage accrued”. The Truth is this does not happen in all, or even in most cases.

What many people fail to realize is that depending on the information being said about the individual or corporation, it can either brighten or forever tarnish the name and image portrayed to the public.

The Norstar Group, a strategic marketing and creative services firm, has an article online entitled “The 7 myths of Public Relations”. The first popular myth The Norstar Group points out is that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. They went on to say that “Legitimate businesses can be totally screwed because of “bad publicity””. This proves the points that “any press is good press” and “Publicity can do no harm” are simply false accusations.

I believe myths exist about public relations because not enough people know what Public Relations is and what it is capable of doing.

No one knows who first started this myth or who started spreading it first, but we all should end it today!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publicity

http://www.norstargroup.com/download/7_MythsofPR.pdf

Entry Filed under: PRCA 2330 Fall 2011

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