This timeline describes the history of the public relations profession. The timeline was created as part of a class project for the Introduction to PR class at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. http://socialmediaprclass.blogspot.com/2008/09/history-of-public-relations-practice.html
Created by SEUPRclass on Aug 7, 2008
Last updated: 04/04/11 at 04:44 PM
Facebook is the second largest social networking site on the Internet. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg while he was a student at Harvard University. The site was first ran by Zuckerberg as a hobby, but he eventually got some financial help from a friend name Eduardo Saverin. Within months, Facebook had spread across the campus of Harvard, and soon traveled to Yale and Stanford. It was an instant hit with college students.
After seeing the success of the site, Zuckerberg joined two other Harvard students, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Together, they brought the site to where it is today. In 2005, the site was officially called Facebook. However, the big landmark for Facebook in the business world did not come until 2006. On April 26, 2006, Facebook expanded beyond high school and college, and opened up their services to corporations.
Facebook has made a significant impact on public relations, and is continuing to change the field today. PR firms now have another tool in their arsenal. For example, PR firms can create a Facebook page for their clients. It is a great way for companies to interact and receive feedback from their customers. It is also a great way to get a conversation going about a certain product or service.
Facebook has had a great impact on public relations, but not all the aspects are good. For example, a company has an employee who has a personal Facebook account. This is fine as long as the content on their page is not damaging to the company they work for. I have known people who have been fired because of the content on their Facebook accounts. It can be damaging to a company if an employee’s Facebook account contains provocative photos on the same page where their place of employment is listed.
The impact of Facebook on PR can have its negative aspects, but all together I think it is a positive tool for PR firms and their clients.
On March 23, 2006, Shift Communications, a mid-sized independent PR agency, released the first template of a social media news release (SMNR). The SMNR came as a response to the harsh criticism traditional news releases had been drawing for a while because of the widespread perception that they were full of hype and of little value to reporters. One of the most influential voices in the push for a new approach to news release writing was Tom Foremski, a blogger at Silicon Valley Watcher, who called for the death of the news release in his now famous post "Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die!"
The SMNR template proposed by Shift was an attempt to address some of the problems outlined in Foremski’s post. It was designed to (a) democratize access to news releases, (b) ensure the accuracy of the information contained in it, (c) embrace context by providing links and RSS feeds to additional information relevant to the story, (d) build community by allowing the media and bloggers to subscribe to a company's news release feed, and (e) make the information easier to find. Shift announced the release of its template via a SMNR.
The behind the SMNR was to make news releases more useful to reporters and to help both the traditional and non-traditional media conduct their research by incorporating the latest social media tools (social bookmarking, RSS, video sharing, etc.) into the design of the release.
Twitter was founded by Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Jack Dorsey. Before Twitter was created, Williams created the popular online blog service known as Blogger. After Blogger was bought by Google, Williams began working directly with Google. It was there where Williams teamed up with Google employee Biz Stone. The two eventually left Google to form Odeo, a podcasting service company. From there, a new messaging service named Twitter was formed.
Twitter is similar to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Users can send messages to their friends that are account members, or can create messages in the form of blogs for the public to view. However, Tweeter does have some limitations. Unlike Facebook and MySpace, Twitter does not allow users to send messages containing pictures or videos, only text can be sent with Twitter. However, Twitter is still a valuable tool for the field of public relations.
Twitter is a great way for PR professionals to get the conversation going on certain products or services for various companies. It is also a great way for companies to receive feedback from their customers on Twitter. Once you have built up your network on Twitter, there are many ways it can be useful with public relations. Lindsay Lebresco, Graco’s PR manager, saw the benefits that Twitter can bring to the PR field after she became a member. She was able to connect with customers through Twitter, and initiate conversations on Graco’s products and services.
Another way Twitter can be helpful with PR is that it can help build a network of knowledge on different companies. Once a conversation is started on a product or service, word of mouth between different users can help keep the information circulating. Twitter can also be used by PR firms to warn them of a potential crisis. Like blogging, PR professionals can hear about issues revolving companies and products before they explode into another “Dell Hell” example. After a little navigating through Twitter, a potential crisis could be extinguished before it has a chance to do real damage.
The origin of the RSS feed can be traced back to 1997. However, the latest version of the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can be most associated with a man named Dave Winer and Harvard Law. Winer, a former employee at UserLand, developed RSS 2.0. UserLand Software transferred over the ownership of the RSS 2.0 to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
In December 2005, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook announced that they were adopting the feed icon which was first used on Mozilla Firefox. Months later, Opera Software followed suit. In my opinion, this is a big landmark for the RSS feed because it is when the feed began to be used on the most popular web browsers. So, what exactly does an RSS feed do, and how is it a useful tool for public relation professionals?
RSS feeds allow web readers to receive timely information and updates from their favorite sites. RSS also allows web users to aggregate feeds from several different sites into one place. One of the biggest benefits for RSS feeds is what they do for publishers of websites.
With RSS, publishers of web content, including PR firms, can distribute links to their content to people on the web who read it using their RSS readers. RSS feeds are a great way for PR firms and professionals to monitor web content like blogs, news headlines, forums, and podcasts. This is a handy way to avoid public relation nightmares such as “Dell Hell.” PR professionals can receive and filter out a lot of information and news from many different sites at once. In addition to RSS feeds allowing PR firms to monitor online content about certain companies, they also provide an easy way for PR professionals to get certain information out to their client’s customers. A great example of this is PR Newswire, which has RSS feeds for all their main news.
This is an event that caused a huge public relations nightmare for Dell. It all started when a blogger named Jeff Jarvis used the phrase “Dell Hell” in his blog, The Buzz Machine. Jarvis’ blog entry on Dell contained some really damaging information about Dell’s customer service. In his blog, Jarvis wrote:
“I just got a new Dell laptop and paid a fortune for the four-year, in-home service. The machine is a lemon and the service is a lie. I'm having all kinds of trouble with the hardware: overheats, network doesn't work, maxes out on CPU usage. It's a lemon…DELL SUCKS. DELL LIES. Put that in your Google and smoke it, Dell.”
Jarvis’ “Dell Hell” blog post caused immediate bad publicity for Dell. Two days after the post, the issues with Dell’s customer service were publicized by The New York Times. The issue was also discussed in the next issue of Business Week.
Since then, Dell has made several changes to ensure that a catastrophe like “Dell Hell” doesn’t ever happen again. For example, Dell has guys that are responsible for monitoring customer's blogs. Their sole job everyday is to scan the blogosphere for any negative feedback from Dell’s customers. From there, they basically try to put out fires before they get big enough to cause serious damage.
YouTube is a free service that allows users to upload, share, and view video clips. It was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, all former PayPal employees. Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has had unprecedented success and popularity.
The founders came up with YouTube around the time that online videos were becoming popular. They realized that there was a need for a service that could make the process of uploading and sharing videos simple. The demand was there, all they needed was to develop a site to fit the people’s need. After months of work on the site, YouTube was launched. It made millions after just a few months of being introduced to the users.
YouTube has had a significant impact on the business world, especially public relations. Consumer-generated content has little boundaries with YouTube. Videos can be shared easily, and videos can be embedded in any website or blog. A great example of the use of YouTube with public relations is Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Cosmopolitan Magazine has launched a PR campaign in the form of a YouTube competition called StarLaunch. This competition is looking for a standout female artist. All contestants have to do is upload videos of them performing, and representatives and fans will vote on the best.
This is a great way for Cosmopolitan Magazine to interact with their readers, and a very good example of how YouTube has impacted the world of public relations.
A website is created called "What's the Download" and invited people to discuss with each other the ethical dilemma of illegally downloading music. It was premiered during the 46th annual Grammy Awards, presumably to make people associate downloading illegal music as stealing from those artists on screen. This is bringing public relations further into the interactive age as it brings people together on a website to talk to each other in that moment. Illegal downloading had been a problem and the music companies were trying to use Public Relations to convince customers that it was wrong to download music without paying for it. It required two channels as well, both television and Internet to function.
UPS attempts to change its overall image to both its employees and its customers. UPS had the same brand image for 40 years. This made this change one of the largest re-brandings in history. There is a lot going on, our country was heading into the Iraq conflict so it was a tough time for a change but with the use of new color and campaigns heavy on TV, particularly with commentary at NASCAR about the new UPS car. I personally remember seeing this change when I was watching NASCAR with my dad and we talked about it as a positive change for at least a week. Except for the color of the new car.
After September 11th it was imperative that citizens were able to quickly access correct and credible information about the rebuilding effort. Edelmen was selected out 70 different organizations. The goal was to create a public information campaign to show citizens and visitors how to access the information and how to use it. this was important because people already felt like they did not know what was going on in the world so they needed to at least know what was being down in their city to repair things and the format they chose was a website www.lowermanhattaninfo.com.
Microsoft is getting ready to launch it's gaming system the first generation X-Box. Their approach was different because the marketed the company Microsoft and consumer product marketing. This created %90 percent awareness for the new gaming system before the first commercial ever aired. This meant that the image of Microsoft was extremely important to the success of this new machine. The Public Relations department would have their hands full making sure the image for Microsoft was great so that would run over for the X-Box.
Between 1995 and 2000 there was a rapid stock market growth throughout the US and other western nations. The new internet sector that was around during these times which lead to marketers investing heavily in the stock markets. The heavy investment founded the first ‘dot-com’ companies. ‘Dot-com’ companies are internet based companies that do business through the World Wide Web. Many people speculated on these companies and invested heavily mainly due to the increasing stock prices as many people thought that these companies were a ‘sure thing’. As people were heavily investing due to the exciting and enriching environment that the dot-com companies were creating many business got caught up and dismissed some of their standard practices. These businesses only saw the outcome of a rich stock market and did not evaluate the situation carefully. Eventually this dot-com ‘bubble’ burst causing many people to lose large sums of money thus leading into the early 2000’s where a recession occurred.
According to the Institute of Public Relations the number of Public Relations agencies doubled from over 100,000 from the 1960's. This is significant because as the numbers grew so did the authority for Public Relations as an enterprise. The growth was in a 40 year span where as the first spurts of growth took a longer amount of time.
“AudioNet” was a web based radio founded by Chris Jaeb, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban in 1992. “AudioNet” otherwise known as Broadcast.com had the of a hand held device that could be used to receive sports broadcast on games such as NBA, NFL and the NHL. This initial then turned into a concept that radio can be transmitted through the internet giving users the ability to listen to different sports broadcasts. The founder Cameron Christopher Jaeb saw the opportunity to promote other broadcast such as presidential speeches, this diversity saw the introduction of Mark Cuban and then the stock of Broadcast.com went sky high making the founders instant millionaires. The concept created relied heavily on the dot-com bubble and Broadcast.com was one of the successful companies before the bubble burst and the recession occurred in the early 2000’s. In April 1999 the company Yahoo! bought Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion and renamed it Yahoo! Broadcast Solutions. Over the years since the acquisition Yahoo! has diversified their products into other forms of media such as Yahoo! Launchcast for music and Yahoo! Platinum for video entertainment.
Two Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin began a research project whilst at Stanford University. The project was to analyze the relationships between websites producing ranking results according to the number of times the search term appeared on a page compared to the existing techniques. Page and Brin were convinced that the results that were produced by the search engine provided far greater links to other relevant WebPages and with this the first form of ‘Google’ was created through the Stanford University homepage. On September 15th 1997 the students registered the domain names google.com with the company incorporated as Google Inc. on September 4th 1998. Initial funding by Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems was received in the form of $100,000 then shortly followed by a much larger funding from two rival businesses. In 1994 the initial public offering took place making Google worth an estimated $23 billion. Over the years Google has expanded and have acquired other small companies such as YouTube for $1.65 billion and Keyhole Inc. which is more commonly known today as Google Earth. This moment revolutionized internet browsing and since then has become the world’s leading search engine.
On December 5th 1996 Madeleine Albright was appointed the first female US Secretary of State by President Clinton. This position made Albright the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States government. When Albright became secretary she reinforced America’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights and promoted American trade and business abroad. Madeleine Albright was born is Prague, Czech Republic and moved to the United States in 1948 where she became founding dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Albright became a US citizen in 1957 and in later life was appointed ambassador for the UN where she worked intensively with Rwanda and their struggles. Since Albright became the first female US Secretary of State there has been a change in the government views of women in higher positions. The publicity that Madeleine Albright received in this position has lead to other female secretaries of State like the most recent Condoleezza Rica who has held this position since January 26th 2005. Also most recently Hillary Clinton’s bid for presidency in the 2008 elections have highlighted the opportunity for women to be involved in government.
Windows 95 officially launched on August 24th 1995 and became possibly the most revolutionary operating systems of our time today. In order to get the word out to people Microsoft offered the American public the opportunity to preview Windows 95 before it was launched which created media hype. Further adding to the hype was the influence of actors and music artists. Microsoft was reported to have spent close to $3 million on an advertising campaign for Windows 95 which used famous faces such as Jenifer Anniston, Matthew Perry and The Rolling Stones. Microsoft also used other significant PR stunts such as lighting up the Empire State building in the color of the Windows logo, hanging a large banner from the CN Tower and also promoting the system in other countries such as the UK where 1.5 million copies of The Times were sent to the UK. The release of Windows 95 also saw the Introduction of Internet Explorer 1.0 which was offered as an add-on with the Windows 95 operating system.
Windows 95 is known as one of the pioneer computer operating systems. Microsoft combined the previous MS-DOS with the new Windows operating system, the new system and basic format is still being used today with the latest Windows Vista along with the latest Internet Explorer 7.0.
One of the most hectic things that Pepsi ever had to deal with was the “syringe in a Pepsi can” hoax. In 1990, a clerk for a grocery store in Ontario, Canada found something in his Pepsi bottle that he thought was a straw. With closer observation, he realized that this “straw” in his Pepsi bottle was not a straw, but a syringe. Before this bottle fell into the hands of a customer, he took the bottle from the self and gave it to the store’s management, and the store turned it over to the Health and Welfare of Canada. Although no formal resolution was made at the time, the health inspectors claimed that the culprit was a bottler of the EastCan Beverage company. There were no other incidences like this one and there were no more syringes in the Pepsi bottles. In 1990, there was anther Pepsi scare that swept the United States and had over 52 different people claiming that there was a syringe in their Pepsi bottles. For a short time, it looked as if there was a widespread problem with Pepsi bottling. There were 23 states claiming to have all kinds of items on their Pepsi bottles including bullets, a crack vial, brown goo, sewing needles, a wood screw, and more and more needles. A woman in Oregon even claimed to have two syringes in her bottle. The Pepsi company and the Food and Drug Administration got together and came out with a press release saying that all of the claims that had been made in the past days had all been false. Once Pepsi realized what people were trying to do, they launched a full fledged campaign to reassure people that Pepsi was safe to drink. Pepsi cam out with new cans and had demonstrations showing people that a needle could not physically fit into these new cans. The company put advertisements in 12 national newspapers, and bottlers ran 300 to 400 local ads a day to reassure the public.
In 1991, Microsoft had the to make a computer program that allows for people to make as many applications as needed without having to have multiple programs to operate all of them. Microsoft wanted to have a program that made people confident to have their corporations use all of the applications. Microsoft was the only company at this time that had this option. Because of the fact that people were beginning to use smaller computers, known as laptops, it was necessary for Microsoft to come up with a program that people could download onto their laptop PC’s. In trying to come up with that specific program, they found that Microsoft needed to re-do their Windows program. Windows 3.0 was extremely popular at the time and Microsoft had shipped over 4 million copies to over 24 countries in 12 languages. Since people wanted a more media dedicated program, Microsoft introduced the Multimedia edition of Microsoft Works to the public. This was the first business productivity application from Microsoft to incorporate multimedia. This CD-ROM version adds digital sound, animation, and pictures to the Online Tutorial to make it easy for new users to learn the capabilities of this program. This was important for Public Relations because it offered a number of ways for people to be able to communicate. People could now record their voices over Power point and give a full on presentation. Interestingly enough, Microsoft had also come up with the “ball point” mouse in 1991 as well, and were the first to come up with anything along those lines for laptop computers. Microsoft was on the top of its game in the 1990’s.
Tim Berners-Lee created a hypertext system in 1989, which he would soon call the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee had been working on this project since 1980. By 1991, Tim Berners-Lee had the World Wide Web become open to the public. Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web so that people could connect at the highest level possible around the world through communication within people and communication with computers. Berners-Lee had the initiative to create such a system because him and his colleagues were having a hard time with computing incompatibilities. The problem was that there was no way to for them to exchange information due to different encoding formats and networking During 1990 and 1991, Berners-Lee came up with the components of the World Wide Web. He worked with many different points of the World Wide Web: a flexible system, have the capability to use many languages, must be able to link different objects successfully, and lastly, have a program that makes entering and correcting information easy. From 1991-1994, the World Wide Web multiplied by ten each year with users on the Internet and is now known as the information and communication phenomenon. Although the World Wide Web is far more powerful than the Berners-Lee research tool but the World Wide Web today still operates on the same principles that it did back in 1991.
The second generation cell phone technology was invented in the 1990’s and came out with a few different phones such as the GSM, IS-136, iDEN, and the IS-95. The first digital cell phone call was made in the United States in 1991. Second generation digital cell phones were used to make communicating faster, easier, and more advanced. The introduction of second generation cell phone technology allowed for the original brick phone to be put away and for a smaller more sleek (at the time) phone to be on the market. This change was made with smaller batteries and better technology. The most important tool that the second generation technology offered was the SMS text messaging program. SMS text messaging allows people to be able to send messages without having to physically talk on the phone. With this feature on second generation cell phones, it was easier for people to communicate in general, and easier for people to communicate quickly and efficiently. The first SMS text message that was ever sent was in the Uk in 1991. SMS text messages were noted quickly as the most used cell phone tool by the youth of many countries around the world. In this day and age, people around the globe prefer text messages over leaving voicemails and making voice calls. The second generation cell phone also allowed for people to download ringtones onto their cell phones by paying for them on their cell phone plans.
In 1989 the Exxon Corporation’s Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 250,000 barrels into Alaska’s Prince William Sound causing one of the worst environmental disasters in history. It took Exxon 10 hours to contain the spill and their lack of effort and caring is considered one of the worst efforts in crisis management. Their CEO waited six days to make a statement about the spill and almost three weeks until he visited the scene of the accident. They blamed others for the incident and refused to take responsibility for the spill. They released an extensive advertising campaign spending 1.8 million dollars apologizing for the spill but not accepting blame.
On September 29, 1982 a 12-year old girl Mary Kellerman died after taking a Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule. Six people closely related to each other died soon afterwards and they police discovered the Tylenol link. They broadcasted urgent warnings to the public after discovering the link. The bottles had apparently been tampered with over several weeks at supermarkets and filled with solid cyanide. Johnson & Johnson was the parent company of McNeil and had to distribute warnings to hospital, the public, and all who could be involved. On October 5, 1982 they issued a nationwide recall of all Tylenol products estimated at a retail value of over $100 million dollars because of the estimated 31 million bottles in circulation. Johnson & Johnsons market share dropped from 35% to 8% during the scare, but in November after the introduction of a new safer capsule with triple seal protection Tylenol began to regain their popularity and credibility.
Ogilvy & Mather is a well-known advertising agency and they took a big step in 1980 to expand their company and include a public relations branch to enhance their quality of business. They opened offices in Washington D.C., London Mumbai, New Delhi, India, Indonesia, and Taiwan. By 1986 O&MPR had worldwide revenue of 31.7 million dollars, which ranked 3rd overall in advertising agencies. After they created their public relations branch they acquired Dudley-Andgerson-Yutzy Public Relations Inc, which is the worlds oldest continuously operating public relations firm. They also acquired the independent firm of Adams and Rinehart and through these new additions they created the O&M Public Relations Group
The census collected information through two surveys on housing data and characteristics of housing. They used the mail out/mail in method and hoped to gain important information on the housing industry. For the first time they developed an extensive advertising and promotional campaign managed by Ogilvy & Mather. They used public relations specialist to create promotional kits such to advertise through media advertising, propaganda, and localized service efforts. They partnered with local companies and broadcast outlets to develop and maintain a relationship with the public. They hoped this would provoke relevant, accurate, and reliable information from the census.
In 1980, Inez Kaiser became the first African American woman to start her own national public relations company—Inez Kaiser and Associates. Kaiser started the Inez Kaiser and Associates agency in 1961 after she decided to use her celebrity to become an entrepreneur. She became the first African American to gain accounts form a soft drink company and a pharmacy. Kaiser was also one of the first to merge advertising and public relations together on two of her accounts: Sterling Drug, Inc. and Sears Roebuck Company. Besides being the first African American woman to have her own public relations company, she was the first African American female to be a part of the Public Relations Society of America. In the mid 1970s, the Kansas City Branch of American Association of University Women named a scholarship in her honor.
In 1974, two groups merged together to become the Council for Advancement and Support of Education: the American College Public Relations Association and the American Alumni Council. This merging meant that CASE was moving away from “college publicity to a focus on fundraising and development.” CASE was chosen from more than 400 name suggestions. The first CASE headquarters were at One Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. The CASE mission is that the organization “advances and supports institutions around the world by enhancing the effectiveness of the alumni relations, communications, marketing, fundraising, and other advancement professionals who serve them.” In September, Alice L. Beeman became the first female president of the organization (and of any national public relations association); she was formerly a chief executive officer of the American Association of University Women. Years later, CASE would name their annual research award in Beeman’s honor. On November 26, 1974, CASE’s articles of incorporation were signed. The organization had 1,835 institutional members and 7,200 member representatives. The following year, CASE held its first Annual Assembly in Chicago in July and a magazine, Currents, came out in September. These days, the organization caters to professionals who work in alumni relations, communications, and development.
Carl Byoir and Associates becomes the first public relations firm to become a subsidiary of an advertising company. The agency was first founded in 1930. Byoir signed a five-year contract with Cuban President Gerardo Machado. The President wanted to increase American tourism and hired Carl Byoir and Associates for $300,000 to be the leaders of the public relations section of the Cuban government. Byoir, born June 24, 188, is considered one of the founding fathers of public relations. In 1932, he left Cuba and went to New York to build on his public relations company. He later worked with Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt and the Freeport Sulfur Company.
In February of 1970, a press release from Chrysler Motors Corporation announced the arrival of a new full-size muscle car—the Chrysler 300 Hurst. There were fewer than 500 cars that were built when the news release was announced because the approval came after the start of production. When the car was being sold, some dealers did not even have any definite information on the vehicle for buyers because of the lack of promotion. Hurst was still and independent company at the time of release and assumed that Chrysler would be doing the promotion (while Chrysler thought Hurst would be doing the promotion). The price of the Hurst was $5,842—the most expensive Chrysler at that time!
The International Association of Business Communications (IABC) was established with the merger of American Association of Industrial Editors and International Council of Industrial Editors in 1970. In its first year of operation, this non-profit organization had 2,280 members and a budget of approximately U.S. $100,000. It provides a network of almost 16,000 communication professionals in over 70 countries and has an annual operating budget of $5.1 million. Members hold various positions, some including public relations/media relations, corporate communications, public affairs, marking communication, advertising, editing, graphic design, human resources, and more.
The IABC has several goals for the network. Those within are able to use the network as a resource to make a bigger impact in their job, find jobs unavailable to most of the public, enhance various communication skills, as well as broaden contacts in the communication field.
The types of organizations where members work vary. Forty four percent of members work in corporations, 12% for associations or non-profit, and 11% for PR or communication consultancies.
Thirty six percent of members hold titles such as CEO, President, Officer, Partner, and others similar, and 23% hold the title of Manager.
The IABC’s mission includes:
• Provide lifelong learning opportunities that give IABC members the tools and information they need to be the best in their chosen disciplines.
• Share among our membership best global communication practices, and experiences that will enable us to develop highly ethical and effective performance standards for our profession.
• Shape the future of the profession through ground-breaking research.
• Lead the way in the use of advanced information technology in the profession.
• Unite the communication profession worldwide in one diverse, multifaceted organization under the banner of the International Association of Business Communicators.
In 1970, the International Association of Business Communicators was founded. IABC is a company aiming to help businesses and professionals with communication skills. The company offers many services—which includes networking with all of the company chapters spread out across 70 countries. IABC has nearly 16,000 members with professions ranging from public and media relations to human resources. The IABC network has many advantages because it allows members to be able to communicate with each other; the network allows members to make a bigger impact at his or her current job, find the hidden job market, enhance skills, and to find potential clients and colleagues. The company is most known for creating the Code of Ethics for Professional Communicators. The reason behind creating the Code of Ethics is because the company understood that the business interactions and decisions made worldwide affect the lives of everyone—near and far. The Code of Ethics is made up of three principles and 12 articles that members are encouraged to follow. The three principles ultimately tells members to “engage in communication that is not only legal but also ethical and sensitive to cultural values and beliefs,” and to “engage in truthful, accurate and fair communication that facilitates respect and mutual understanding.”
The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) was founded in 1969. NIRI’s original challenge was to find way to communicate responsibly with investors, and also to find ways to communicate back to management the needs, interests, attitudes, and concerns of people who buy stock and those who guide them.
It is a professional association that consists of corporate officers and investor relations consultants. These members are responsible for communication among corporate management, the investing public and the financial community. Members represent the majority of the largest publicly held corporations in the U.S. They also represent many small and mid-sized companies. NIRI has over 4,400 members in 33 chapters around the country. One of NIRI’s goals is to set the highest standards in education to advance the practice of investor relations. It also wishes to meet the growing professional development needs of those engaged in the field.
In its mission, NIRI states it is dedicated to advancing the practice of investor relations and professional competency and stature of its members.
The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) was established in 1968, 20 years after the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) was organized. The goal of PRSSA is to “cultivate a favorable and mutually advantageous relationship between students and professional public relations practitioners. Specific goals for the student are established for the organization. Some of the goals are for the student to have an understanding of current theories and procedures of the profession of public relations, appreciate the highest ethical and principles, be aware of an appropriate professional attitude, and to appreciate Associate Membership in PRSA.
The organization was made in order to help students gain knowledge of the public relations industry and to have opportunities in the field. This is corresponds with their mission “to serve our members by enhancing their knowledge of public relationsa dn providing access to professional development opportunities; and to serve to public relations profession by helping to develop highly qualified, well-prepared professionals.
The PRSSA’s headquarters are based in New York City. There is a National Committee made up of 14 members. The organization has grown immensely over the years with currently more the 9, 600 members in 284 universities across the country.
In 1963, John Marston wrote a book, The Nature of Public Relations. He based this book on a four-step management process that he invented. He said, “Public relations is planned, persuasive communication designed to influence significant publics.” He used the acronym RACE (research, action, communication, and evaluation) in order to explain this process more easily. The acronym is defined in more detail in order to depict Marston’s on how public relations should be a planned communication:
In the acronym, research represents the research attitudes about the issue at hand. Action meant to the action of the client in the public interest. Communication meant to communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance and support, and evaluation represents the ability to evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced.
These together represented Marston’s four-step management process he depicted in his book in order for the reader to gain an understanding of the importance of planning public relations.
The American Association of Fund Raising Counsel (AAFRC) had represented fundraising firms for 25 years before the National Society of Fund Raising Executives was established. Before, there were local fundraising organizations but not one organization that represented the interests of charitable fundraisers.
Three noted fundraisers had a common vision in the year 1959. Benjamin Sklar of Brandeis University, William R Simms of the National Urban League, and Harry Rosen of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies all had a similar of a need for an association of fundraisers, which allowed them to think of the formation of the National Society of Fund Raisers. They chose Dr. Abel Hanson who had professional experience with fundraising in order to help with the beginning of the organization’s formation. He had also written a monograph on fundraising.
The National Society of Fund Raisers was chartered by the state of New York on June 21, 1960 and held its first annual meeting in New York City in February 1961. A 12-person board of directors was elected at the first meeting, but they left 13 board seats vacant in order to allow representation from other areas and to increase the board as interest grew. Dr. Hanson was elected the organization’s first president. The Board established committees on membership, publicity, programs, and ethics.
The International Public Relations Association originated from an in the late 1940’s about raising the standards of PR professionals. There was a need to improve the moral standing of the profession on a worldwide scale. After many informal discussions between representatives within the business they decided to establish this as a formal organization. On May 5, 1955 The International Public Relations Association was established in London, England. This same day they adopted their first IPRA council, and a formal Constitution to outline rules and regulations.
The Association began with members from France, Norway, the US, Britain, and the Netherlands. As the organization began to grow members came in from Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Finland, and Italy.
The purpose of the IPRA was to increase the standards of the profession, and explore new techniques and technologies within this vocation. They created the International Code of Ethics to guide workers in the occupation. This is also referred to as the “Code of Athens” (Our History 2). This set of rules came about during a meeting in Athens and its hopes to create higher ethical standards within the occupation.
The organization set in place to review PR work on a regular basis, and also to arrange a formal, worldwide meeting every three years. A World Public Relations Congress is held every three years by the IPRA in order to review past works, and to explore new aspects of the vocation. The association also distributes awards for excellence in the field. They have the Presidents Award, given to “Outstanding contributions to better world understanding” (Our History 3). As well they have the Golden World Awards given out to winners in specific categories of the profession. As a whole this organization has contributed much to the past and present field of PR.
The Engineering of Consent is an essay written by Edward Bernays, and published in 1955. This piece of work focus’s on how to mould people’s perceptions without them being conscious of it. Bernays is referred to as “the father of PR,” and also “the father of spin.” Through his life he made many contributions to the field of PR. His uncle, notable psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud influenced Bernays studies greatly. He drew from Freud’s understanding of the unconscious mind, and applied it to mass communication.
Bernays grew up in Vienna, and moved to the US when he was older. He worked for the Creel Commission, which was President Wilson’s pro-war propaganda department. There he began learning how to shape peoples minds, which brings him into pubic relations. Bernays coined the term PR in order to not give the profession of propaganda a negative name (as it adopted during WWII.)
In the early 1900’s he started his own company, doing PR work for large companies like GE, and Procter & Gamble. Along with The Engineering of Consent, Bernays wrote Propaganda, A Public Relation Counsel States His Views, The Business of Propaganda, and Manipulating Public Opinion. All of these papers or books contributed greatly to the field of PR. His writings influenced many people to come in this field, including some undesirable people during his time such as Joseph Goebbels. He is considered to be “NAZI PR genius” (Rampton) that helped Hitler stay in power using propaganda.
Bernays is thought of as “the father of PR” not just because of his influential writings, but also his work in the field. He is well known for his work with Chesterfield cigarettes. He positioned cigarettes to women as a symbol of liberation, which worked famously during that time. He is also accredited for making bacon and eggs an American breakfast tradition. On a less optimistic note his work with United Fruit also influenced this profession. He was paid $100,000/year for his work with this company, which was a very large sum in the 1950’s (Rampton). Though he was criticized for this work due to the immoral nature of turning a country into a “banana republic.” Edward Bernays was an important figure in the PR profession from the early 1900’s. His writings, and experiences continue to affect this profession.
In 1953, Moss Kendrix formed The National Association of Market Developers (NAMD). This association started at Tennessee State University with hopes be a support system for minorities, particularly African Americans, in the public relations field. It was established to bring about positive change for African Americans. Among its goals was to create local networking opportunities, and to support and teach the community.
Kendrix’s goal with this association was to help others break into this field. The NAMD also helped the community by providing data and research about the market to both marketers and consumers, so that they could make wise choices.
Kendrix is an important part of PR history himself. He was, “The first African American to acquire a major corporate marketing account” (Moss). Coca-Cola hired him after he wrote a letter to them about the necessity of targeting the African American community as a consumer. Before him, African Americans only drank Pepsi (Clark). This was an important step for public relations and African Americans. They had never been targeted as a consumer until Kendrix. With the market viewing African Americans as consumers, other aspects also began to take them into account, such as the government. So as African Americans gained power in the market place, they also gained political power, which helped bring about Civil Rights.
Moss Kendrix is an inspiration to African Americans in the PR field. He was a PR consultant for Coca-Cola starting in 1951, and continued for some time. He also worked for Carnation Milk, Ford Motor Co, and the National Dental Association. He continues to influence this field today with the National Association of Market Developers still in operation.
The Hill and Knowlton PR firm was the first to go global with its expansion from the US to Europe in 1952. Hill and Knowlton started off as just John Hill, a journalist. He deiced to start his own PR office in Ohio, under his name. He then moved to expand his firm during the depression, joining a partnership with Donald, Knowlton. This company worked out of Cleveland, Ohio for sometime until they realized the need for global expansion. Thus in 1952, twenty-five years after the company started they branched out to Europe. Their competitor Burson-Marsteller followed them in their European expansion shortly after.
The company continued to move in an upward direction. They expanded further to Australia, with an alliance between Eric White & Associates. This gave the company not only access to Europe but now Australia, Tasman, New Zealand, and parts of Asia. As time went on, Hill and Knowlton merged with Eric White & Associates, making H&K even larger. The firm continues to expand its size and services today. They have followed current PR trends and have adopted lobbyist services as well now. For sometime this company was the largest PR firm in the world (The Company). Their clients have included: IBM, Du Pont, Pepsi Cola, Phillip Morris, Unocal, and Microsoft (The Company). H&K and their competitor Burson-Marsteller continue to interchange being the number one PR firm in the world.
According to The Merriam Webster Dictionary, propaganda is, “The spreading of or information to further or damage a cause” (588). Propaganda has been a popular means of mass communication during war times. It adopted its negative connotation after WWII, when NAZI propagandist, Joseph Goebbels used propaganda to harmfully mold the masses. Propaganda was especially prevalent during the Truman, and Eisenhower administrations from the fifties into the sixties. Propaganda is closely tied in with Public Relations because they both use the media to communicate to the mass population.
During the early 1950’s propaganda was prevalent due to the Korean War, and the everlasting Cold War. McCarthyism and the Red Scare also had an impact on the propaganda of that time period. The emergence of televisions also influenced propaganda during this time, giving it a new medium to communicate in. There are several different types of propaganda, including white, black and grey. During the Cold and Korean War black propaganda was the most prevalent. Black propaganda’s intent is to mislead the reader or receiver of the message. It hopes to deceive the receiver on the source of the propaganda.
Much of the propaganda written by the US at this time was done to downbeat communism. According to Joyce Battle the intent was to, “To expose the fallacies of communism…and to warn of its dangers” (U.S). Other themes used by the US were trying to make the atom bomb look favorable to the US and other countries. One piece of US propaganda states, “The Atom in the service of Humanity…the United States is eager to share with the rest of the world the benefits derived from atomic research…” (U.S). As well the US wanted to position them as being a peaceful and loving nation during this time. America and many other countries use propaganda to mold the minds of society into siding with the government. This was a tactic used in 1950 during the Cold War and the Korean War. This method has proved to be useful, and important and is still being used today with the “war on terrorism.”
The Public Relations Society of America was chartered in 1947 in order to advance the standards of the public relations profession and to provide its members with opportunities, such as continuing education programs and information exchange forums. Rex Harlow, the first full-time public relations educator from Stanford University, guided the development of the organization. The organization was a result of a merger between the previous organizations NAPRC (National Association of Public Relations Council) and ACPR (American Council on Public Relations).
PRSA was established in order to solve the problem of ethical and legal breaches of conduct that were not previously regulated by those organizations. Today, the PRSA remains the world’s largest public relations membership organization with more than 20,000 members, primarily in the United States. The organization builds the public relations profession by establishing global leadership, strengthening the Society, and advancing the profession. PRSA also works in tandem with the student/collegiate organization PRSSA, or the Public Relations Student Society of America, which has more than 9,000 members in 284 different chapters.
After Japanese leaders flatly rejected the Potsdam Declaration, President Truman authorized use of the atomic bomb anytime after August 3, 1945. On the morning of August 6, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, leveling over 60 percent of the city. That same day, President Harry S. Truman issued a press release concerning the dropping of the bomb on Japan. The release described how the bomb “harnessed the basic power of the universe; the force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.”
Truman uses the press release to gain the support of the American people and strongly emphasizes “the achievement of scientific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge.” The President uses language that would make the public believe that he made the right decision in reaction to Pearl Harbor and that the United States needs to band together to fight off enemies, using force if necessary. The carefully crafted release was given to every major news outlet and aired the same day, educating the American people on the severity of the current situation.
The United States Office of War Information, headed by Elmer Davis, was a government agency established during World War II to consolidate government information services. The OWI operated from June 1942 to September 1945 and had many different responsibilities. The Office of War Information was created to undertake campaigns to enhance public understanding of the war at home and abroad, coordinate government information activities, and handle liaison with the press, radio, and motion pictures.
One of the major influences the OWI had was on the posters created during this time; the organization sought to review and approve the design and content of all government posters because of the “careless leaking of sensitive information that could be intercepted by spies.” The OWI also established the Voice of America in 1942, which remains in service today as the official government broadcasting service of the United States. The agency was abolished on September 15, 1945 after most of its operations contributed to undermining the enemies’ morale and the Department of State assumed its responsibilities. This organization had a very influential impact on public relations because of its promotion of public support and involvement during World War II.
The for an advertising council was introduced in November of 1941 but because of the United States’ involvement in World War II, the ad council became the War Advertising Council (WAC) in 1942. The organization encouraged the American public to purchase war bonds and conserve war materials using campaigns throughout the 1940s. One famous campaign is “Rosie the Riveter,” which was developed by the WAC as part of its “Women in the War” campaign. Another famous campaign is Smokey the Bear which instructs the public about forest fires. This campaign actually started as a response to the fear that Japanese submarines might start fires by firing on the west coast of the United States.
After WWII, the War Advertising Council changed its name to the Advertising Council and focused its efforts on peace and tolerance. Today, the ad council is known for being a non-profit organization that distributes public service announcements for the government and various sponsors. The Advertising Council does not produce public service advertisements but acts as a coordinator and distributor. The ad council accepts requests from sponsor organizations for advertising campaigns that focus on particular social, non-partisan issues. The Advertising Council assigns each campaign to a volunteer advertising agency that produces the actual advertisements and the council distributes the final product.
Arthur W. Page was vice president of public relations for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) from 1927 to 1946. He was the first person in a public relations position to serve as an officer and member of the Board of Directors of a major public corporation. The beginning of Page’s career at AT&T was very influential on the public relations and communications profession. His contributions to AT&T's PR philosophy included the that the public relations staff must act as the conscience of the corporation and that the PR practitioner was to convince all employees that public relations was everybody's job and not just a staff function. At a public relations conference, he stated “Public relations, therefore, is not publicity only, not management only; it is what everybody in the business from top to bottom says and does when in contact with the public."
After issues with the FCC during the 1930s, Page continued to work as vice president of public relations until 1946, when he decided to focus his attention on World War II. Arthur Page has become recognized as the “dean of public relations and communications” and has established a series of concepts that are now referred to as the Page Principles. As a result of his philosophies on public relations, the Arthur W. Page Society was formed as an organization of senior public relations executives who seek to strengthen the profession.
The American Council on Public Relations is a non-profit corporation that was established to carry on research and instruction in the field of public relations.
The council was formed after a study of the relations between daily newspapers and colleges and universities revealed a need to have some agency pull together the different forces observed within the study. More specifically, after viewing the problems that arose between the schools and the media, it was apparent that the mutual needs and responsibilities of the two needed to be studied.
The task of the council, then, was to study the field of public relations, find facts and statistics, and to educate the public by providing results to those who could use the findings constructively. Several courses were conducted to provide instruction of the findings to those in the public relations field and representatives at all levels of society.
Originally, the courses were conducted at several schools including Stanford University, Reed College, and the University of Washington and included discussion/lecture of several topics such as public opinion, propaganda, and consumer relations. Guest speakers/lecturers included Paul Garret (public relations director of GM), Dr. George Gallup of the American Institute of Public Opinion, and Dr. Harwood Childs (a public relations professor at Harvard).
The first courses were so successful that future courses were planned.
Rex Francis Harlow, a writer, editor and publisher, took an interest in public relations after graduating from Central State Teachers College (now University of Central Oklahoma). Upon receiving both his Masters and Doctoral degrees, Harlow was hired as a professor at Stanford University in California.
During his time as a teacher, he was determined to make public relations an accredited profession, so he founded the public relations department and became the first public relations educator at Stanford.
Up until this point, the public relations field was not widely studied. Harlow worked to educate the public on this somewhat new field, traveling around the country to give lectures. He pushed the importance of social responsibility, hoping to come up with a code of ethics for public relations. He also promoted the use of sociological and psychological research.
Later on in 1939, Harlow Co-founded the American Council on Public Relations (ACPR), which later merged into the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The ACPR was a non-profit organization that conducted research into social and ethical issues for public relations.
In 1936, The American Institute of Public Opinion (AIPO), founded by George Gallup, did not invent public opinion polling, but rather pushed it into the mainstream media. Polls conducted by the AIPO were published in “America Speaks,” a new weekly column that claimed to report the opinions of Americans via public opinion polling. The column ran in newspapers across America. This ultimately changed the way the public relations industry conducted their business.
The AIPO would ask questions about everything from popular culture to taboo topics and politics. One, for example, asked participants if topless bathing suits were appropriate for men to wear, and the results showed that only 30 percent found them indecent. Another survey asked people if they were pleased with Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” programs.
The way AIPO conducted surveys was also a leap for opinion polling, as he used a more scientifically based method than had been used before. He chose a geographically representative sample rather than mass mailing postcards and counting only the responses.
Now known as the Gallup Poll, the organization still conducts daily polls for everything from politics to the economy and business.
With public opinion polling, the public relations industry is able to measure the way various publics feel about a product or company and can measure the success of campaigns as well.
Robert H. Bacon Sr. wrote and published the first how-to manual for public relations titled “Bacon’s Publicity Manual.” An attempt to establish basic principles and practices for the public relations professionals, much of what he wrote in 1934 is still valid today.
Reportedly, at dinner one night in 1932, Bacon overheard two professionals discussing the difficulties they were having locating and publications that were appropriate for their company. He then decided to compile a list of publications and write about which markets each served. He also included ways that press agents could influence how publications portray the company and how to get a publication to notice a company.
Bacon’s success in this field began when he started a “clipping bureau” that provided public relations professionals with the exposure their clients received. The bureau would sift through newspapers and other publications to find stories including certain businesses and clients then turning them over the PR professional.
The 88-page book contains 17 pages of how-to information, and the remaining pages include a list of publications.
Today, the niche that Bacon started has grown into a nationwide media source now know as Cison. The company publishes five print directories with information for nearly half a million editorial contacts and 80 thousand newspapers.
Founded by Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Government and headed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Ministry was responsible for controlling the press and culture of Nazi Germany and devoted to enforcing the of the Nazis on German citizens.
The Ministry was established prior to the war, almost immediately after Hitler took power. Originally, the main aim of the Ministry was to control public opinion and regulate the Nazi culture and society. However, when WWII broke out the responsibilities of the Ministry changed.
Since WWI, new media had been introduced in the form of radio and film. As a result, propaganda was used more commonly after WWII started. Using posters, speeches, newspapers, and the arts the Ministry used as many mediums possible to further the National Socialist message.
This event is important in the history of public relations because it was one of the pivotal times in which the practice of public relations was under fire. The creation of organizations like the Ministry further tarnished the reputation of public relations. Though propaganda is distinctly different from public relations in theory, many saw the two as being one in the same.
It is easy to see where the confusion can be made: propaganda presents information in order to influence its audience whereas the practice of public relations is the managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics. However, it is important to recognize that although some forms of public relations practice can resemble propaganda (i.e. spin) and were public relations was largely influenced by the practice of public relations, that the two are very different practices.