PR practitioners have been referred to as spin doctors because they force public opinion in a certain direction. In other words they spin and re-package reality so that the public can see things in a different light. The raw direct word to describe what they do has to be propaganda.
PR has gained a lot of respectability in recent decades and a leading world renowned thinker in marketing, Al Ries, has even written a book proclaiming the end of advertising and the emergence of PR. His thesis is simple. He says we are flooded with so many advertising messages that they have ceased to have any effect. In essence we in fact hate advertising and avoid it as much as possible. This is why people will tend to turn down the sound during a commercial break so as to do something else as they wait for their show to resume. And his is one of the reasons why ad spots during prime time news are so sort after these days. The public are so anxious not to miss any news that they are usually forced to sit through the numerous ads as they wait for the next news segment. Have you noticed that the KTN prime time news has so many ad slots that it is almost unbelievable and that others are rapidly following in the same direction?
What is PR? PR is more than just issuing press releases or calling press conferences to make some announcements. One guy called Colonel Parker who was the manager of legendary performer Elvis Presley understood this only to well. He understood that PR is anything you do to create a certain desired image that will help you meet your objective (which in this case was to put a lot of money in Elvis Presley's pockets). The result was that he made a huge fortune for Presley. Did you know that Elvis Presley never wrote a single song for himself. It was done by freelancers who were paid off as Elvis ended up retaining all rights. These days when sales at the music shop show signs of slowing managers get their artiste to remove their clothes or turn up at a function with very little clothing on. It works most of the time. You know what rap artistes do—they go out and shoot somebody.
I have been a PR professional in the past, handling International accounts and companies of great repute. My definition of a spin doctor on the wrong payroll is somebody who spins the truth into a believable lie.
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For a person who has been a Professional PR practitioner you need to do further reading and research on PR and Spin doctoring. Lets say you start with the Engineering of Consent . Ha!
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