Are PR people liars?
By Palin Ningthoujam on Apr 21, 2008 in Indian PR industry, industry
A survey by Ciao Surveys found that 60.3% of people in Britain believe that PR officers often lie, while only 3.3% are convinced of the opposite. Additionally, only 17.9% of the respondents think public relations have a positive effect on society, against 26.5% who disagree.
Despite these findings, the survey shows that nearly a third of Britons believe the PR industry is a necessary one at 32.7%, as opposed to only 21.1% who believe it to be unnecessary.
Respondents evidently showed a good understanding of the industry because, when asked about their impression of a PR officer’s main job function, they stated it is strongly related to media relations (49.6%), event planning (18.2%), advertising (9.5%) and word of mouth marketing (7.9%).
According to Ciao, 55.1% of respondents seem to be aware of the symbiotic relationship between the PR industry and the media, as they declared that the two are biased by each other.
Some people recognise that the media are the main vehicles for the PR industry’s messages, with 13.8% believing that up to half of the content in daily newspapers is initiated by public relations, and a sizeable group think up to 80% of the content in consumer magazines is PR-related.
Wonder what an Indian survey will throw up.
(via Pudding Relations)
Popularity: 9% [?]
On Apr 22, 2008, Shashank Jaitely said:
Hi, I think the Indian survey will also throw up similar results…may be the liar quotient is more here..:-)
And as media in India is very market driven these, the chances that 70 percent of the editorial is controlled by PR is a huge possibility.
On Apr 22, 2008, Palin Ningthoujam said:
“70 percent of the editorial is controlled by PR”..wonder what our friends in the media will say.
On Apr 22, 2008, Bhawna said:
Well, I don’t agree with this. I will not say that PR professionals are liar. Yes, they may tweak the fact a little bit to make it more appealing, but it be inappropriate to call them liars.
Again, as long as your lie does not hurt anyone, I think its okay to lie.
On Apr 22, 2008, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Yes Bhawna, ‘liar’ is perhaps a bit strong a word. It brings up a connect with being ‘criminal’.
On Apr 23, 2008, Shashank Jaitely said:
A lie told to “influence behaviours” to benefit our clients is not a lie, it is a service…:-)
On Apr 24, 2008, Bhawna said:
I completely agree with Shashank Jaitely
