Public Relations and Framing the Message ch. 12

 

·         What did people like P.T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill Body contribute to the development of -modern public relations in the 20th century?

 

P.T. Barnum used gross exaggeration, fraudulent stories, and staged events to secure newspaper coverage for his clients; his American Museum; and later, his circus. His performers became some of the earliest nationally known celebrities because of Barnum’s skill in using the media for promotion. Buffalo Bill Body was one of the first to use a wide variety of media channels to generate publicity; promotional newspaper stories, magazine articles and ads, dome novels, theater marquees, poster art, and early films.   

·         How did railroads and utility companies give the early forms of corporate public relations a bad name?

Railroad began to use press agents to receive federal fund, and successfully gained government support by developing some of the earliest publicity tactics. Eventually, wealthy railroads received the federal subsidies they wanted and increased their profits, while the American public shouldered most of the financial burden of rail expansion. Historians argued that ironically the PR campaign’s success actually led to the decline of the railroads: Artificially maintained higher rates and burdensome government regulations forced smaller firms out of business and eventually drove many customers to other modes of transportation. Utility companies PR and lobbying efforts were so effective that they eliminated all telephone companies with the government’s blessing, until the 1980’s.

·         What are two approaches to organizing a PR firm?

 

To carry out the mutual communication process, the PR industry uses two approaches. First, there are independent PR agencies whose sole job is to provide clients with PR services. Second, most companies, which may or may not also hire the independent PR firms, maintain their own in-house PR staffs to handle routine tasks, such as writing press releases, managing various media requests, staging special events, and dealing with internal and external publics.

·         What are press releases and why are they important to reporters?

 

Press releases, or news releases, are announcements written in the style of news reports that give new information about an individual, a company, or an organization and patch a story idea to the news media. Through press releases, PR firms manage the flow of information controlling which media gets what material in which order. Reporters sort through hundreds of releases daily to determine which ones contain the most original ideas or at the most current.

 

·         What is the difference between VNR and PSA?

 

VNRs are video news releases which are 30-90 second visual press releases designed to mimic the style of a broadcast news report. Although networks and large TV news stations do not usually broadcast VNRs, news stations in small TV markets regulate footage use material from VNRs. The equivalent of VNRs for nonprofits are public service announcements (PSAs): 15-60 second audio or video reports that promote government programs, educational projects, volunteer agencies, or social reform.

 

·         What special events might a PR firm sponsor to build stronger ties to its community?

Public relation practice involves coordinating special events to raise the profile of corporate, organizational, or government clients. Typical special-events publicity is a corporate sponsor aligning itself with a cause or an organization that has positive stature among the general public. For example, John Hancock Financial has been the primary sponsor of the Boston Marathon since 196 and funds the race’s prize money.

·         Why have research and lobbying become increasingly important to the practice of PR?

 

In many industries, government relations has developed into lobbying: the process of attempting to influence lawmakers to support and vote for an organization’s or industry’s best interest. This is important to be able to maintain connections with government agencies that have some say in how companies operate in a particular community, state or nation. Both PR firms and the PR divisions within major cooperations are especially interested in making sure that government regulations neither becomes burdensome nor reduces their control over their businesses.

·         How does the Internet change the way in which public relations communicates with an organization's many publics?

 

The internet offers public relations professionals a number of new routes for communicating with publics. A company or organization’s web site has become the home best of public relations efforts. Companies and organizations can upload and maintain their media kits, giving the traditional news media access to the information at any time. Also, the Web enables PR professionals to have their clients interact with audiences on a more personal, direct basis through social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and blogs.

 

·         Explain the historical background of the antagonism between journalism and public relations.

 

Journalists have long considered themselves part of a public service profession, but some regard PR as having emerged as a pseudo-profession created to distort the facts that reporters work hard to gather. Over time, reporters and editors developed a derogative term flack to refer to a PR agent. The term flack symbolizes for journalists the protective barrier PR agents insert between their clients and the press.

 

·         Overall, are social platforms a good thing for practicing public relations, or do they present more problems than they are worth?

 

Social platforms are not a completely good thing for practicing public relations. Journalists have objected that PR professionals block press access to key business leaders, political figures, and other newsworthy people. Further, they argue that PR agents are now able to manipulate reporters by giving exclusives to journalists who are likely to cast a story in a favorable light or by cutting off a reporters access to a newsworthy figure altogether if that reporter has written unfavorably about the PRs agency’s client in the past. Another criticism is that PR firms with abundant resources clearly get more client coverage from the news media from their lesser known counterparts. Social platforms cause more problems than not.

·         Considering the Exxon Valdez, BP, and Tylenol cases in this chapter, what are some key things an organization can do to respond effectively once a crisis hits?

One important duty of PR is helping a corporation handle a public crisis or tragedy, especially if the public assumes the company is at fault. PR advisors encourage a quick response, and to take responsibility, and show compassion for affected people and wildlife. As a part of the PR strategy to overcome negative publicity and to resore Tylenol’s market share, Burson-Marsteller tracked public opinions nightly through telephone surveys and satellite press conferences to debrief the news media. Also, the company set up emergency phones lines to take calls from consumers and health-care providers.

Advertising and Commercial Culture chapter. 11

1.       Whom did the first ad agents serve?

The First American advertising agencies were newspaper space brokers, individuals who purchased space in newspapers and sold it to various merchants. In the US, national advertising initially focused on patent medicine. The first full-service modern ad agency (N. W. Ayer & Son) worked primarily for advertisers and product companies rather than for newspapers. The Agency helped create, write, produce, and place ads in selected newspapers and magazines.

2.       How did packaging and trademarks influence advertising?

Manufacturers came to realize that in their products were distinctive and associated with quality, customers would ask for them by name. Advertisers let manufacturers establish a special identity for their products, separate from those of their competitors. With ads creating and maintaining brand-name recognition, retail stores had to stock the desired brands. Product differentiation associated with brand-name packaged goods represents the single biggest triumphs. Studies suggest that although most ads are not very effects in the short run, over time they create demand by leading consumers to associate particular brands with quality. 

3.       What role did advertising play in transforming America into a consumer society?

As US advertising became more pervasive, it contributed to many social changes in the twentieth century. First, it significantly influenced the transition from a producer-directed to a consumer –driven society. By stimulating demand for new products, advertising helped manufacturers create new markets and recover product start-up costs quickly. From farms to cities, advertising spread the word – first in newspapers and magazines and later on radio television. Second, advertising promoted technological advances by showing how new machines such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and cars, could improve daily life. Third, advertising encouraged economic growth by increasing sales. To meet the demand generated by ads, manufacturers produced greater quantities, which reduced their cost per unit, although they did not always pass these savings along to consumers.

4.       What influences did visual culture exert on advertising?

By the early 1970s, agencies had developed teams of writers and artists, thus granting equal status to image and words in the creative process. Visual-style ads soon saturated television and featured prominent performers. By the twentieth century a wide range of short, polished musical performances and familiar songs were routinely used in TV ads to encourage consumers not to click the remote control. Visual design had evolved to become more three-dimensional and interactive. Also, logos appeared on mobile phones and internationally.

5.       What are the advantages of internet and mobile advertising over traditional media like newspapers and television?

Many formats of internet and mobile advertising have emerged such as banner ads, video ads, sponsorships, and “rich media” like pop-up ads, pop-under ads, flash multimedia ads, and interstitials. Paid search advertising has become the dominant format of Web advertising. Companies in 2011 and 2012 continued to shirt more of their ad budgets away from newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. 

6.       How does the association principle work, and why is it an effective way to analyze advertising?

The association principle is a persuasive technique used in most consumer ads that associates a product with a positive cultural value or image even if it has little connection to the product. Advertising may associate advertising with nationalism, happy families, success at school or work, natural scenery, freedom, or humor. It is an effective way to analyze advertising because it gives them a way to link products with stereotypes. An example of this is women being portrayed as either sex objects or clueless housewives.

7.       What is product placement? Cite examples.

Product placement is strategically placing ads or buying space – in movies, TV shows, comic books, and most recently video games, blogs, and music videos – so products appear as part of the story’s set environment. An example is Starbucks becoming a name sponsor of MSNBC’s show Morngin Joe – which now includes “Brewed by Starbucks” in its logo. Product placement started out as subtly appearances in realistic settings has turned into Coca Cola being almost an honorary  “cast member” on Fox’s American Idol set.

8.       What is the difference between puffery and deception in advertising? How can the FTC regulate deceptive ads?

A puffery ad features hyperbole and exaggeration. Deceptive ads are likely to mislead reasonable customers based on statements in the ad or because they omit information. A certain amount of puffery ads are permitted, particularly when a product is “new and improved”. When a product claims to be “the best,” “the greatest,” or “preferred by four out of five doctors,” FTC rules require scientific evidence to back up the claims. An example is when the FTC brought enforcement actions against companies marketing their herbal weight-loss supplement ephedra. When the FTC discovers deceptive ads, it usually requires advertisers to change them or remove them from circulation. The FTC can impose monetary civil penalties for companies, and it occasionally requires an advertiser to run spots to correct the deceptive ads.

9.       What are some of the major issues involving political advertising?

Political advertising is the use of ad techniques to promote a candidates image and persuade the public to adopt a particular viewpoint. Political consultants have been imitating this market-research and advertising techniques to sell to their candidates. Can serious information on political issues be conveyed in thirty-second spots? How does a democratic society ensure that alternative political voices, where are not well financed or commercially viable, still receiving a hearing? Although broadcasters use the public’s airwaves, they have long opposed providing free political campaigns and issues, since political advertising is big business for television stations.

10.   What role does advertising play in a democratic society?

Our society has developed an uneasy relationship with advertising. Favorite ads and commercial jingles remain part of our cultural world for a lifetime, but we detest irritating and repetitive commercials. We realize that without ads many mass media would need to reinvent themselves. At the same time we should remain critical of what advertising has come to represent: the overemphasis on commercial acquisitions and images of material success, and the disparity between those who can afford to live comfortable in a commercialized society and those who cannot.

Books and the power of print ch. 10

Why was the printing press such an important and revolutionary invention?

1.       The invention of the printing press produced the first so-called modern books. Printers gradually reduced the size of books and developed less expensive grades of paper, making books cheaper do more people could afford them! This lead to a social and cultural transformation. When people could learn for themselves by what the printing press was producing they could differentiate themselves as individuals. A person’s social identity was no longer solely dependent on what their leaders told them or on the habits of their families, communities or social class. Information and knowledge was able to spread outside local jurisdiction. Slowly, people had access to ideas far beyond their isolated experiences permitting them to challenge the traditional customs and wisdom of their tribes and leaders.

•What has undermined the sales of printed and CD encyclopedias?

2.       Large encyclopedia companies are going digital and leaning online making them CD based. They struggle today as young researchers increasingly rely on search engines such as Google or online resources like Wikipedia to find information. Although people are using these more today, many critics consider these sources inferior in quality to the classic paper encyclopedias.

•What is the relationship between the book and movie industries?

3.       Books have a mutual relationship with the movie industry; TV can help sell books and books serve as ideas for TV shows and movies. According to a national poll, nearly 30% of respondents said they had read a book after seeing the story or a promotion on television. Oprah’s afternoon talk show has become a major power broker in selling books. The film industry gets many of its story ideas from books, which results in enormous movie rights revenues for the book industry and its authors. Examples of this are Nicholas Spark’s books, Gossip Girl,  and Pretty Little liars.

•Why did the Kindle succeed in the e-book market where other devices had failed?

4.       Original portable reading devices were criticized for being heavy, too expensive, or too difficult to read on, while their e-book titles were scarce and had little cost advantage over full-price hard covered books. Amazon’s Kindle did however catch on. The first kindle had an easy-on-the-eyes electronic paper display, held more than 200 books, and were the first to allow users to download e-books from the Amazon’s online bookstore wireless! Also, book prices were around half the cost of the normal book!

•What are the major issues in the debate over digitizing millions of books for Web search engines?

5.       The Google Books Library project started to make online books available, but only a limited portion. Companies sued them because they claimed Google did not have permission. Now Google must have full permission from authors to make them available at all. Currently, Google is trying to digitize books with expired copy rights.

•What's the difference between a book that is challenged and one that is banned?

6.       Unlike an enforced ban, a book challenge is a formal complaint to have a book removed from a public or school library collection. Common reasons for challenges include sexually explicit passages, offensive language, occult themes, violence, homosexual themes, promotion of a religious viewpoint, nudity and racism.

•What was the impact of the growth of book superstores on the rest of the bookstore industry?

7.       Superstores developed and catered to suburban areas and to avid readers. Barns & Noble is an example of this. Superstores began to dominate bookstore sales and severely cut into independent bookstore business, making the number of independent stores drop.

•What are the concerns over Amazon's powerful role in determining book pricing and having its own publishing divisions?

8.       Amazon quickly grew of the e-book market, which it used as leverage to force book publishers with comply with their low prices or risk getting dropped from Amazon’s bookstore (also done in print book sales). Amazon also has to compete with Apple’s iBook and has experienced lawsuits by the US department of justice. Bookstores responded that investigators should have been more concerned about Amazon because they have been expanding into traditional publishers with the establishment of Amazon publishing. Traditional publishers are beginning to fear Amazon because of that.

•What is Andrew Carnegie's legacy in regard to libraries in the United States and elsewhere?

9.       The industrialist Andrew Carnegie used millions of dollars from his vast steel fortune to build more than 2,500 public libraries across the US and other countries such as Brittian, Australia, and New Zealand. He believed that libraries created great learning opportunities for citizens, and especially immigrants like him.