Unethical public relations tactics and how to avoid them
It often seems that the field of public relations gets a bum rap. How many times have you heard the term “spin doctors” used to describe those that work in the profession? We’ve even heard people mumble “public relations” as if they’re ashamed, when asked what job field they are in.
So why does the field of public relations have such a stigma attached to it? We believe much of it has to do with several dishonest, unethical practitioners giving the rest a bad name. Here are two recent examples:
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Edeman/Wal-Mart blog: In late 2006, Edelman, a large
public relations firm, ran at least three blogs praising
its client Wal-Mart, all of which were fraudulently presented as being written by Wal-Mart employees or supporters. This misrepresentation led to a lot of negative press for Edelman and Wal-Mart, once the connections were exposed. We’re pretty sure that’s not the type of press Wal-Mart thought Edelman would get them when they hired the firm. -
Misuse of Wikipedia: We recently looked up something on the site, and found that the page was overrun with quotes and links attributed to people we had never heard of. Once we checked the links, we realized that many of these so-called experts were using Wikipedia as their own personal advertising tool, clearly violating the online encyclopedia’s terms. We tried to clean up the page a bit, but the very next day all the links were back. Not only was this irritating to us as readers, but it was flagrant misrepresentation to pass yourself off as an expert when you’re not.
Of course, we can’t spend all our time cleaning up other folks’ lies, but we can make sure that we can operate in an honest, open way in our own public relations efforts. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
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Do not offer bribes to the press. Saying to an editor, “If you write a story on me, I’ll buy advertising space,” will probably lead to a quick end to the conversation. The advertising and editorial sections are most often run by completely different departments and have little to do with each other.
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If you make a mistake (An employee is hurt, a product is recalled, etc.) come clean. Staying silent only kicks people’s imaginations into overdrive and may fuel the fire. Having a crisis communication plan can help.
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Always remember to disclose your identify and relationships upfront. You don’t want reporters or consumers to dig them up later and discover conflicting interests.
Tori Brown is an Account Executive with Marx Communications, a public relations and marketing communications firm that helps B2B companies and individuals build their brands. For more information, please contact Tori tori@marxcommunications.com or 203-445-2851. To boost your business and learn more about our coaching service, email wendy@marxcommunications.com.
