ABSTRACT
PR positions itself as strategic communication within a management function that is responsible for relationships and reputation management. We analyse each of these terms, and argue that they are unduly idealistic and do not properly portray the real purpose of public relations. The gap between PR’s claims for itself and peoples’ experiences of its actual performance makes it difficult for the industry to win public trust. The industry should now rebrand itself in terms of communicative advocacy and counter-advocacy rather than social harmonisation. Such a move would enable the industry to begin to win back public credibility on the basis of a vision about PR’s benefits and value to society through the articulation of diverse organisational perspectives. The chapter examines the similarities and differences between persuasion and propaganda, concluding that PR’s persuasion can be ethical. It is the need to persuade audiences through argumentation and effective messaging that PR dilutes its propagandistic propensity.
