ABSTRACT
Many manufacturers and service providers nurture “communities” of consumers, raising the question, “What are the social ethics of such consumer communities for these organizations and their public relations practitioners?” Further, do these “consumer communities” provide an authentic “sense of community” as advocated by Kruckeberg and Starck (1988), who argue that public relations is the active attempt to restore and maintain the sense of community that has been lost in contemporary society? This definition of public relations suggests significant differences between public relations’ role and function in contrast to those of marketing and advertising-both in the traditional literature of the three communication specializations as well as in the context of Duncan and Mori arty’s (1997) consideration of “brand relationships” and “mission marketing” of integrated marketing communication.
