ABSTRACT
There is a strange consequence to using PR for communication in societies like ours. It is widely and freely used yet most people do not like it.
Some 48,0001 people do PR in the UK, and they pour over us millions of citizens, media users and consumers a Niagara of spin: lifestyle features; ideological messages; soundbites; kiss-and-tell tales;2 press conferences; news leaks; special events; stunts; staged photos; consumer leaflets; corporate brands, brochures and apologia; competitions, exhibitions and incentives; road shows; conferences; policy briefings; lobbying campaigns; demonstrations; community support; sponsorships; managed issues; reassuring communications in crisis, and messages about their social responsibility. This Niagara rises as more businesses, interests, causes and individuals pour more money and effort into PR. This great swirl of communications catches millions of voters, media audiences and consumers in its sweep; and is read, believed and acted on. It sweeps by millions of others, unread, unbelieved and unnoticed. Some of Niagara’s most powerful currents are pointed at ministers, MPs and civil servants so that public policy is carried off in the right direction. Often these currents are hidden from us and therefore dangerous to our democratic safety. The rising flood also sweeps up nonentities and lands them on small islands of uncertain fame known as celebrity, as well as buoying up aggrieved individuals, waving their protests at us.
