Dishing on the Digital Universe

This morning I came across an interesting article on Truthout about how major food companies are trying to be “helpful” and let consumers not worry about taking the time to read labels, but instead look for a checkmark that signifies a “healthy” food. Except that the foods labeled as healthy are often anything but.  The article was interesting to me as I’m someone who avoids processed foods and know how much havoc they have wreaked on my family’s health in the last 30 years.

But I took issue with the line in the article, “What we have here is yet another corporate PR scam.”

I see this a lot, especially in relation to political stories.  In this case though, the author of the article doesn’t seem to know the difference between what PR does vs. what marketing does. PR in a corporation like that isn’t going to have much to do with packaging and pushing out product to the masses. Instead they’ll be dealing with the backlash that occurs when editors and bloggers report the story and consumers get upset about the program as a result of the shady tactics of what are probably just a few higher ups with the bright idea to pull the wool over the eyes of their customers.

Over my 16 or so years in marketing and PR, I can’t tell you the countless times where I have recommended where the company I was at shouldn’t talk about a product because it’s only half-baked or is just an idea or one of the 12 people on the board of directors has their panties in a bunch and wants a “press release” to be issued for a reason that makes no sense whatsoever except in their own mind. Or makes sense, as in this case, because their company is losing money and they have demanded a marketing and PR campaign to bolster the sagging sales. That doesn’t mean that the individuals executing said plan are necessarily behind it.

What I’m trying to get at is that the PR professional is often the victim of their clients, whether it is internally or externally, and often, when they ignored when they give advice about the direction of the news (or what may be non-news, unfortunately) they are being asked to promote.

I’m not saying that there aren’t shady people in PR out there. Of course there are, just like there are in any company and in any position and in any industry. I mean, I can point out all sorts of unethical tactics by all sorts of companies. But I think that to give a blanket statement about the “corporate PR scam” is far too general.

Maybe I’m naive. Maybe in the world of politics it’s different and more cutthroat. But in my world I’ve not met many PR pros that are desperate to deceive their customers in order to make a buck. Usually when they are forced to participate in programs that aren’t on the up and up, they’ve cautioned their client or employer about the potential consequences and suggested alternatives. And if it happens too many times, they’re likely to look for another job where they aren’t backed up against such a wall.

I do find that many people don’t know the difference between marketing and PR. They overlap but usually have different roles entirely within a company. Even internally at the companies I’ve worked at I have had to explain what my role is, how PR works, and how I work differently than those on the marketing team. So it’s not surprising that PR tends to get lumped in with marketing, which has a bad name again, as a result of the few.

Over at the Art of Nonconformity, Chris Guillebeau explains really well why people hate marketers.  It boils down to intent. The difference  between influencing and manipulation is a very fine line and those that purposefully seek to manipulate are the reason that both PR and marketing have such a bad name.

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