Public Relations in Action

          It has been claimed that the most dangerous device known to man or woman is a 280-character instant messaging social medium named Twitter, or “X” as it is now also referred to (Seitel, 2019). The wrong messaging or perceived message from a tweet can be devastating for an individual or company. There are over 368 million monthly users on twitter, and with features like the “retweet” button or being able to “quote tweet” other’s posts allow for these messages to spread like wildfire (Dean, 2023). If the public’s opinion on the tweet backfires, this could result in a loss of sales for the company, damaged reputation, and even a loss of jobs for those involved.           One example of the weight that a 280-character tweet can hold comes from a British banking brand called Halifax. The company put out a post on Twitter with the caption “Pronouns matter” underneath a photo of a name badge with pronouns under the employee...

      It is said that within an organization, public relations practitioners must be the standard bearers of corporate ethical initiatives. PR agency advisors must also always counsel clients ethically, towards honesty and accuracy rather than lying and hiding. The Council of Public Relations Firms’ board of directors created a code of ethics and principles that outlines the ethical standards of the public relations profession (Seitel, 2019). A link to the full document outlining the PR Council’s Code of Ethics and Principles can be found here .       One company that has faced backlash and questioning on their ethics is Shein. Shein is a fast-fashion retailer that has climbed to tremendous popularity recently based on their huge variety of items available and their low prices. Shein’s target consumers consist mainly of Generation Z individuals. Recently, many target consumers have begun to question the impact of the company on the bus...

  Public opinion is like public relations based on the fact that there are a lot of differing definitions of the topic. The best way to understand public opinion is to separate the two terms. Public refers to a group of people that share a common interest in a subject, and opinion is the expression of an attitude on a particular topic. When attitudes strengthen, they become opinions. When opinions strengthen, they lead to actions. Public relations professionals often work to try and influence the public’s opinion on certain topics, and they do this by understanding certain “laws” of public opinion. The laws are listed below.   1.       Opinion is highly sensitive to important events. 2.       Opinion is generally determined more by events than by words—unless those words are themselves interpreted as an event. 3.       At critical times, people become more sensitive to the adequacy of their le...

Public relations is still considered a fairly new area as it has become prevalent in the last 100 years. Different trends in society since its start have influenced public relations to evolve and change into what it is now. The best definition for public relations that has been mostly agreed upon by scholars is that it is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their public audience ( Seitel, 2019 ). The reason that there has been trouble finding a simple definition for public relations is because of its constant changing factors and the way different people apply PR to their business.                 Today, the rise of social media and technology advancements have changed the way many utilize public relations to their benefit. The way PR professionals and businesses communicate has expanded from traditional things such as a press release into ...