It really disturbs me how public relations can be viewed with such disdain sometimes. On my way into work this morning, I heard a story on the radio about the recent arrests of Randy Quaid and his wife Evi due to an unpaid hotel bill.
Evidence and arrest resistance aside, Quaid claims that the hotel alerted the police, who then pursued the Quaid’s, in order to drum up more publicity and attention for the hotel itself. His assertion that this was all just a PR stunt may have some truth to it, but it is frustrating as a communications professional to consistently see the name of my chosen profession dragged through the mud as the result of Hollywood faux pas’.
Might the recent Kanye West-Taylor Swift scandal have been staged by one or both of the pop stars in an attempt to attract more attention to themselves? Or even worse… could MTV have used the event as a way to drum up more buzz for the Video Music Awards?
While doing research for this post, I found that there is certainly no shortage of information about various publicity stunts that have been staged throughout the years.
But as it is Ethics Awareness Month in the public relations industry, I encourage everyone to remember all of the other important facets of public relations and the code of ethics that PR professionals adhere to. At Massey Communications, we are not in the business of misleading anyone to potentially drive awareness for our clients. And it is our hope that the hundreds of thousands of other communications professionals that work in our industry also make a commitment to enhancing the profession and ethically representing the clients that they serve.
I’d like to begin this blog entry by stating that I’m about a year and three months shy of my 30th birthday. As such, I gradually began reducing my