PR An Institution

Jimena Carrasco
CMN 377
December 13, 2018
PR Efforts: A problematic, useful institution
Public Relations is an institution that was first introduced at the beginning of the 20th
century. With Ivy Lee as “The Father of Public Relations,” a lot was achieved for corporations
and organizations to have a relationship with their publics and strong credibility. Over the years,
corporate public relations have created campaigns to influence consumers. These campaigns
have also made them very powerful with little to no government involvement. Some of these PR
efforts are cause marketing and creating doubt to influence citizens and consumers. This has led
me to believe that Public Relations is an institution that is problematic, but also useful.
According to the reading by Professor Stole, cause marketing is defined as, “a business
strategy that integrates a social issue or cause into brand equity and organizational identity to
gain significant bottom-line impacts,” (Stole, 133). This PR effort was first seen in 1983 with
American Express and their plans to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. A great
example of cause marketing is corporations partnering with Susan G. Komen, a fundraising
organization for breast cancer research. 16 large corporations form a part of the Komen
Foundation’s $1 Million Dollar Council Elite. Besides these companies paying $1 Million to
have their names displayed, they also create small marketing efforts to support the cause.
“Yoplait, for example, pledged to donate 10 cents to the Komen Foundation for each of the first
15 million yogurt lids it received from customers,” (Stole, 134). This helped out corporations
increase their credibility with the publics and have their products sell. The issue with cause
marketing is that these nonprofit organizations are not financially supported equally. “Most of
the products and campaigns provided limited and/or general information that answered one or
two questions. If included, a great deal of donation and cancer charity information was vague or
incomplete,” (Mart & Giesbrecht, 1545). During these campaigns, not a lot of money
accumulates. By the end, some foundations receive less than $25,000 which does not help for
cancer research or treatments. If corporations decided to equally help these nonprofit
foundations, cause marketing would have a bigger impact. It would also persuade other
organizations to partner up with the corporations more often. Other changes that need to be
implemented is helping out nonprofit organizations that are not as popular. Brest cancer
awareness does bring a lot of money, but there other organizations that could benefit from cause
marketing as well. With cause marketing, I believe that this PR effort is very beneficial for both
corporations and nonprofit organizations, but there has to be changes to balance out the scale and
make it an equal partnership.
Another PR effort that I find interesting is creating doubt. Corporations will use corporate
front groups, public relations firms, and conservative think tanks to foster doubt on predictions of
prevalent issues that will impact their profits (Beder, 113). By fostering doubt, they hope to
persuade consumers and citizens to side with them and discredit the scientists. A current issue in
which oil and coal corporations try to discredit science is global warming. “When nonsense and
charlatanry are tolerated as legitimate rivals alongside sense and scientific research, calls for
action to protect the environment can be easily thwarted. And there is no greater misinformation
weapon that uncertainty about underlying science. Science deniers and contrarians now operate
as ‘merchants of doubt’ paid to help polluting industries fend off proenvironmental legislation,”
(Maxwell & Miller, 294). Because of fostering doubt, since 2012, the number of people who
believe that global warming is man-made has dropped to about a half in just four years (Climate
of Doubt). People who are unsure if climate change is man-made will be easily influenced by
corporations who also have scientists. If fostering doubt continues, it will be harder to create
proenvironmental laws. This is not the first time that corporations use fostering doubt. Other
corporations like the tobacco and sugar companies have used it to discredit health illnesses in the
past. Fostering doubt is a great PR effort that influences citizens and customers, but I believe that
it is not morally correct. It leads customers to believe that what they are consuming is safe but in
fact, it is the opposite. In the last 30 years, the amount of sugar consumed has doubled (Sugar
Coated) because of sugar companies lying and saying sugar was healthy. Now, many adults and
young children experience health issues like diabetes or obesity.
These two PR efforts, cause marketing and fostering doubt, are very successful in
influencing the publics to buy products and support their corporations. However, they do
showcase Public Relations as a problematic institution. Public Relations is an institution that
promises the publics transparency with corporations. In some cases, this is not the case because
they hide information that can later backfire. “Edelman is a serial perpetrator of such fraud
across many industries. In tobacco, it dedicated decades to combating medical science,
encouraging smokers to continue their deluded indulgence,” (Maxwell & Miller, 295). Edelman
is a PR firm that decided to side with corporations instead of following the PRSA Code of
Ethics. They later had to use PR strategies to fix their misdeeds (Maxwell & Miller, 295).
Because there are no regulations or laws for PR practitioners to follow, it is easy for them to
foster doubt and help corporations, making Public Relations a problematic institution.
Although Public Relations can be a problematic institution, it is also useful. Ivy Lee was
able to spin the Colorado Iron and Fuel Company’s image after the Ludlow Massacre of 1914
(Ewen, 78). He changed the perception of Rockefeller by writing editorials, photo opportunities
and having Rockefeller publicize his philanthropic activities. The photo opportunities excited
many of the minors and their families, giving them confidence in the company once again.
Another reason as to why Public Relations is a useful institution is because it promotes
community engagement. With the creation of cause marketing and Corporate Social
Responsibility, corporations must contribute to the communities whether it is by promotions,
facilitated giving, volunteering or social marketing. In 1989, “Ben & Jerry’s comes out against
Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), based on concern about its adverse economic
impact on family farming and public confidence in the wholesomeness of dairy products,” (CSR
Lecture, slide 8). Standing against this hormone gives Ben & Jerry’s a credibility booster, they
show concern for their buyers. This example is very useful for the PR industry because it shows
transparency and evolution.
In conclusion, Public Relations is a great institution that does create problems, but also
works to be useful and contribute to the communities. There are two PR efforts that stand out to
me, cause marketing and fostering doubt, because they are very successful at influencing citizens
and customers. They also increase a corporation’s credibility making them powerful than before.

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Jimena Carrasco

PR Efforts: A problematic, useful institution

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