THE EVOLUTION OF
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2’S KEY CONCEPTS
 Understand the evolution of public relations from ancient
empires to today’s practice
 Know how PR tactics contributed to American independence,
the settlement of the West, and social causes such as voting
rights for women
 Appreciate the roles of Americans influential in the
development of PR such as Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, P.T.
Barnum, and others
 Have insight into the reasons for the mass influx of women
into the field
 Be aware of currents developments and trends in the field
ANCIENT TIMES TO PR’S GOLDEN AGE
 While a 20 th century development in terms of a profession,
techniques used to persuade people to accept the authority of
the government and religion have been used throughout time.
 As far back as the Roman period, Julius Caesar ordered the
posting of a news sheet outside the Forum to inform citizens
of the actions of Roman legislators.
 Techniques (still in use today) such as: interpersonal
communication, speeches, art, symbols, slogans, literature,
staged events, and publicity.
 Not called public relations at the time but their purpose and
ef fect were the same as today: influence, persuade, accept
 The 1800s have been called The Golden Age of Press Agentry
THE CIRCUS IS COMING TO TOWN!
 Phineas T. Barnum—the great American showman of the 19 th
century was the master of the pseudoevent. Best
remembered for his Barnum & Bailey three ring circuses.
 Barnum used two feet, 15 pound Tom Thumb to promote
 Hyping: the shrewd use of the media and other devices to
promote an individual, product/service, cause, event
 Press agent: is at the center of hyping and is defined as “a
person whose work is to get publicity for an individual,
organization, etc.”
 Pseudoevent: a planned happening that occurs primarily for
the purpose of being reported.
 Some of the more flamboyant and fun aspects of PR today
trace their roots to the development of press agentry
1900-1950: THE AGE OF PR PIONEERS
 Ivy Lee: the first public relations counselor.
 Lee was a former business reporter at the New York World.
 Emergence of modern PR began in 1906 when Lee was hired by the
coal industry, then embroiled in a strike. Miners’ leaders were
talking to reporters, providing facts and figures, but coal owners
leader had refused to talk to the press. Lee persuaded leaders to
change their attitude.
 Lee issued a “Declaration of Principles” which signaled the end of the
“public-be damned” attitude of business and the beginning of the
“public-be-informed” era.
 In 1914 Lee was hired by industrialist John D. Rockefeller in the
wake of the “Ludlow Massacre” in Colorado, a strike at Rockefeller’s
fuel and iron plant.
 Lee got Rockefeller to talk to the press and the striking workers,
staged events and portrayed Rockefeller as more concerned.
EDWARD BERNAYS: MODERN PR’S FATHER
 Edward Bernays and his wife and partner Doris Fleischman: helped
define PR’s counseling role as advisers to corporate and institutional
managements beginning in the 1920s.
 Bernays is widely acknowledged as the founder of modern public
relations
 He wrote the influential 1923 book, “Crystallizing Public Opinion”
that was the first to set down the broad principles that govern the
new profession of ‘public relations counsel .’”
 Bernays called PR “the engineering of consent.”
 Some of his classic campaigns are still studied today: Ivory Soap,
“Torches of Liberty” and Light’s Golden Jubilee
OTHER KEY FIGURES
 Henr y Ford - recognized as the fir st major industrialist to utilize two basic
PR concepts: “positioning” – the idea that credit and publicity always go
to those who do something fir st and ready accessibility to the press
 Teddy Roosevelt - proved a master in generating publicity. He was the fir st
president to make extensive use of news conferences and inter viewing in
drumming up suppor t for his projects. And he knew the value of the
presidential tour for publicity purposes
 George Creel - brought in by President Woodrow Wilson to organize a
comprehensi ve PR ef for t to advice him and his cabinet, to carr y out
programs, and to influence U.S. and world opinion. Per suaded newspaper s
and magazines to provide free space for promotion of war Liber ty Bonds.
The Creel Committee’s ef for ts had a profound ef fect on the development of
PR by demonstrating the success of these full -blown techniques. It also
awakened an awareness in Americans of the power of mediated
information in changing public attitudes and behavior s.
 Ar thur Page - as an AT&T VP (1927+) he’s credited with establishing the
concept that PR should have an active voice in higher management, laying
the foundation for corporate PR. Today there is the prestigious Ar thur W.
Page Society made up of some 350 senior -level PR executives that set
for th guidelines and commentar y on communicati ons management.
MODERN TIMELINE
 1960s—Issues management was added to the job description of PR
manager s because of the Vietnam War, the civil rights women’s
movements, and environmental concern growth. The idea that PR should
be more than per suading people that corporate policy was correct. The
idea emerged that perhaps it would be beneficial to have a dialogue with
various publics and adapt corporate policy to their par ticular concerns.
 1970s—era of reform in the stock market and investor relations.
Companies must immediately disclose any information that may af fect the
value of its stock . The field of investor relations boomed.
 1980s—the concept of PR as a management function is in full bloom.
Strategic became a buzzword and MBO (management by objective) was
heavily endor sed by PR practitioner s
 1990s—Reputati on or perception management was the buzzword —the idea
of PR people working to maintain credibility, to build solid internal and
external relationships, and to manage issues
 2000—the concept grows of PR as the practice of “relationship
management.” PR people, the idea goes, are in the business of building
and fostering relationships with an organization’s various publics.
 And (lest we forget!) the emergence of “new” and “social” media change
the landscape for distributing and receiving communicati ons
EVOLVING PR: CURRENT TRENDS
 Fe m i n i z a t i o n o f t h e fi e l d — t o d ay wo m e n c o n s t i t u t e 7 0 p e r c e n t o f P R p r a c t i t i o n e r s
 Re a s o n s ? ( p . 57 )
 B u t wo m e n s t i l l e a r n o n l y a b o u t 8 0 c e n t s fo r e v e r y d o l l a r e a r n e d by a m a n ( o v e r a l l , n o t
just in PR)
 Re a s o n s ? ( p . 57 )
 A M u l t i c u l t u r a l Wo r l d - m o r e s e n s i t i v i t y a n d k n ow l e d g e o f m u l t i p l e a u d i e n c e s
 Re c r u i t m e n t o f M i n o r i t i e s - P R s h o u l d b e t te r r e fl e c t d i v e r s i t y o f p o p u l a t i o n s
 T h e a d v e n t o f “ Tr a n s p a r e n c y ” — c o m p a n i e s c o m m i t t e d to b e i n g m o r e o p e n — t h e p u b l i c i s
demanding more accountability from all of society’s institutions
 I n c r e a s e d E m p h a s i s o n E v a l u a t i o n — P R p r o s w i l l c o n t i n u e to i m p r o v e m e a s u r e m e n t
te c h n i q u e s fo r s h ow i n g m a n a g e m e n t h ow t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s a c t u a l l y c o n t r i b u t e to t h e
b o t to m l i n e
 M a n a g i n g t h e 24 / 7 N e w s C yc l e — t h e n e e d fo r P R p e o p l e to c o n s t a n t l y u p d a t e
i n f o r m a t i o n , a n s we r j o u r n a l i s t s ’ i n q u i r i e s a t a l l h o u r s o f t h e d ay s , a n d b e awa r e t h a t a ny
a n d a l l i n fo r m a t i o n i s r e a d i l y av a i l a b l e to a wo r l d w i d e a u d i e n c e
 C o n t i n u e d g r ow t h o f d i g i t a l m e d i a - Tr a d i t i o n a l m a s s m e d i a w i l l c o n t i n u e to d e c l i n e o r
r e m a i n s t a t i c . P R w i l l h av e to ke e p e x p a n d i n g i t s to o l to r e a c h a g r e a te r f r a g m e n t e d
p u b l i c , i n te r m s o f h ow b e s t to r e a c h d e s i r e d p u b l i c s
 C o r p o r a t e S o c i a l Re s p o n s i b i l i t y - m o r e a n d m o r e c o m p a n i e s a r e s t r i v i n g to b e r e s p o n s i b l e
i n te r m s o f e nv i r o n m e n t , s u s t a i n a b i l i t y, p r o d u c t q u a l i t y a n d s a fe t y, e t h i c a l s u p p l y c h a i n s ,
a n d f a i r t r e a t m e n t o f e m p l oye e s
 O u t s o u r c i n g to P R F i r m s - I n - h o u s e P R d e p a r t m e n t s a r e d e c l i n i n g w i t h m o r e wo r k i n
m e d i a r e l a t i o n s , s p o n s o r e d / s t a g e d e v e n t s , a n n u a l r e p o r t s , a n d ot h e r wo r k g o i n g to P R
a g e n c i e s a n d fi r m s .
CLASSIC PR CAMPAIGNS
 Organizations and causes have used ef fective public relations
to accomplish highly visible results
 PRWeek put together a professional panel that honored nine
as the “greatest campaigns ever” during the second half of
the 20 th century
 See list on p. 54