Posted on Current PR Conversations PR Axis

Stockholders in the Corporate Family – or contemporary activists?

In 1948, W Howard Chase tackled the topic of Stockholders in the Corporate Family in his chapter in the book Your Public Relations (serialised here), with the intention of challenging conceptions of them as a ‘thin-lipped fiscal schemer’, ‘money-baron’ or ‘decadent, bespectacled aristocracy’. Fifty years later, the global financial crisis began, and today the image of stockholders continues to suffer with an impression that their interests are short-term returns on their investment at all costs....

Posted on PR Motion

Presenting the shadows of public relations

Public relations is frequently presented in a dim light; “entering the dark side” is how journalists refer to working in/with PR. And a theme of presentation, representation and re-presentation of some shadowy corners was evident at the 5th annual International History of Public Relations Conference (#IHRPC) held at Bournemouth University A dominant trend in the papers I heard seemed to be the representation of activism as public relations, alongside presentations examining social movements through a...

Posted on PR Sense

Dissent PR – from suffragettes to slut walks

Responding to the use of PR to challenge inequalities in society, Bournemouth University, has run a series of seminars looking at ‘dissent PR’ and ‘protest PR’. My own contribution was to take a look at the role of women as activists and agitators over the past century. Here I share some musings from that work for your comments. In studying the history of public relations, female experiences have largely been missing, with the accounts of...

Posted on PR Mediums

Super-sized sound bites regarding the Arab Awakening

What makes for a great sound bite from a thought leader or information researcher, gatherer or curator is the ability to distill or crystallize a bigger concept or original observation into a compelling, usually short (and easily remembered) weaving of words. Although it’s true that great sound bites can be (and often are) researched and crafted (can we say “media relations training?”), generally it’s the sound bites that appear to emerge thoughtfully, yet spontaneously—following the...