Public Relations

6. • How do celebrities construct their appearance?
• Who controls their representations?
• Where do we see them? What are they doing?
• In what publications are they apparent?
• What television programmes report on them?

7. Public Relations

8. • “A form of promotion and/ or management, in
which the public perception of a client is
manipulated by various means” (Stuart Price)
• “to promote positive and favourable images of
people or firms in public life, without actually
appearing to do so” (Gillian Dyer)

9. • Public relations maintain, manipulate and
control the public perception of a brand,
personality, celebrity or even government
party. It is the job of the public relations firm
to create positive newsworthy stories around
its client, or to stop or subvert negative
portrayals.

10. • To generate awareness
• To attract media attention, interest and
coverage
• To link product/ person/ company with an
event
• To manipulate public perceptions
• Damage limitation
• To establish or maintain information link with
media and public
• To achieve maximum favourable publicity.
Objectives of Public
Relations

11. Common Techniques
Employed
• Press releases, promotional stories, photo
opportunities
• Publicity stunts
• Manufacturing information (surveys, polls etc)
in order to get into the news
• Press trips, press conferences, interview
opportunities, press junkets
• Leaking stories/ information, ‘exclusives’

12. ★ Think of a celebrity of your choice, please
write down the representation/s that the
particular celebrity selects to portray.
★ What do you notice about the
representations? Please relate to the
advertising theory that you have learned.

13. Critiques Of PR
• Blurs the distinction between news and
publicity
• Pushes the media towards lifestyle reporting
• Concerned with image over substance
• Misleading to the general public.

14. Max Clifford
• PR summarised by one of the most famous
examples of public relations management
• “Course I would, course I would lie, to you, to
the press, to whoever, whenever”
• “If you were going to come out with a story
which would destroy someone I care about
(client) I would do everything I could to stop
it”
• To me, the fact that the public is deceived - no
problem, I have no problems with that at all”
• A lot of my clients have absolutely no talent at
all, but they’re hugely successful”

15. • Max Clifford has a variety of clients in many
different spheres of profession. He has the
responsibility of managing the images of these
people in the media and creating newsworthy
(or not) stories/ stunts that will get his client
in to the newspapers and on to the news.

16. The Politics of Spin

17. What Is A Spin Doctor?
• SPIN - a twist or angle given to a story +
DOCTOR - a professional who diagnoses and
cures = Someone who seeks to influence
media coverage of a person, organisation or
event in the best possible light.

18. • The term spin doctor has been developed to
attach to an individual who works within public
relations, though generally for politicians.
• Politicians have had to become media savvy.
Their image, ideas and ‘brand’ of politics are
what convinces voters to choose them over
other candidates. Well constructed media
opportunities will promote them and their
policies on a large scale.
• Every speech, every appearance, every event
will have been carefully scrutinized and
choreographed, to gain maximum positive
exposure. It is the job of the spin doctor to
check and maintain the positive image.

19. • Information subsidies: Presenting stories/
information/ images to the media that require
little modification so that they can not be
altered by news media.
• Agenda setting: Any information released to
the media will contain only the information
that the organisation wishes to release and in
a way that is favourable to the provider.
• Publicity events and stunts: Purposely
staged events in order to provide favourable
media coverage.
Main Techniques Of Spin

20. • Releasing good news at key times:
particularly in the run up to elections.
• Leaking stories: particularly the kinds of
stories that paint the opposition in a bad light.
• Managing bad news: i.e. facing the music,
passing the blame onto previous government,
re-assuring public that it will not happen
again, that solutions are already being
enforced.

21. • Advertising and politics continues during the
run up to election. Political parties will though
tend to try and discredit the other party as
opposed to promoting themselves or their
policies.