ABSTRACT
K. Fitch and J. L’Etang argue that histories of public relations (PR) are over-directed by the influence of the Excellence approach, leading to its use an incontestable template for practice and theory in the field. This chapter suggests that in addition to the voices that Fitch and L’Etang say are excluded from PR histories in this approach–particularly voices of gender, race and postcolonial cultures–whole areas of practice have been underexamined because the Excellence approach deemed them marginal or primarily of historical interest. Promotional culture is being reclaimed by PR scholars who offer a more nuanced perspective than is often found in cultural studies literature. In a mirror-image of PR self-presentation, academic study has often been left to those who lump PR in with advertising and marketing as producers of promotional content, often with little understanding for the workings of the respective industries and certainly no respect for strategic functions.
