PR Theory and Practice

PR Theory and Practice

1. History/Origin

   • Thomas Jefferson - 1807 first combined the words 'PUBLIC and RELATIONS'
   • PR in print - 1897
   • Edward Bernays - First Public Relations counsel in 1921
     • Wrote first PR book- Crystallizing public opinion
     • Taught PR college course at NYU
     • Believes PR involves mass psychology - Influencing the opinions of masses

2. PR Founders (3)

   • Edwards Bernays
   • George Creel - Committee of PR
   • Ivy Lee - First to practice PR publicly and stipulated importance of PR Code of Ethics. Invented the 'press release'. Clients included John D Rockefeller and Hitler (Indirectly

3. PR Uses Through History

   • Promote Wars
   • Raise money
   • Publicise people and events
   • Promote religion
   • Influence mass media

4. PR Tactics

   • Use of rhetoric
   • Symbols
   • Mass Media + Technology
   • Slogans

5. 5 Stages of PR in USA

   • 1) Preliminary
     • Development of Communication channels
     • PR Tactics eg. Publicity and promotion
   • 2) Communicating/Initiating
     • Publicists, press agents, promoters
   • 3) Reacting/Responding
     • Writers as spokespeople
     • PR on behalf of special interests
   • 4) Planning/Preventing
     • Maturing of PR as a management function
   • 5) Professionalism
     • Control over use of practice at International level
     • Body of Knowledge, Code of Ethics, Formal PR Education

6. PR Profession

   • 1980 - Present
   • Reagon Presidency = New and controlled uses of PR
   • PR began merging with Advertising firms which lead to 'full service' agencies
   • Globalisation = Global PR = Global branding = Global marketing = Global strategies and tactics

7. PR Future Outlook

   • Employment for PR specialists set to rise faster than average in 2012
   • Increase use of technology
   • New challenges: Openness, positive relationships, safety and security
   • Loss of local content due to comparison to international content = multiculturalism