History of Public Relations
Every firm that interacts with other organizations or firms can be said to engage in public relations. Every organization, firm, company or country tries to project a good image, and often wish to pass across a certain message. This is what has become known as public relations, and it can make or break relationships between various stakeholders. According to Corporate Watch (1), public relations refers to the practice of shaping public opinion and getting attention. It uses various tools which include advertising, publicity, lobbying public officials, public affairs forums, and any other means that passes the message across to the public. Currently, public relations is a multibillion dollar industry that forms a significant part of modern political life and business. While its history is widely known to start at the early part of the 20th century, public relations was present long before this time.
According to RUCI (2), public relations has been around for thousands of years. The Greeks referred to it as sematikos which means to signify. This means getting people to believe things and do things. Also, in 50 B.C., Julius Caesar wrote his first campaign biography titled Caesar’s Gallic wars in which he publicized his military exploits with the aim of convincing the Roman people that he would make the best head of state. To this date, candidates for political office continue publicizing themselves with campaign biographies and accounts of military exploits. In 1861, Lincoln’s secretary of state William Seward gained a large American audience through his use of the press. He once remarked, “I speak to the newspapers-they have a large audience and can repeat a thousand times what I want to impress on the public”.
However, it was not until 1903 when public relations became a profession as Ivy Lee undertook to advise John D. Rockfeller on how to conduct his public relations (RUCI 4). Miners on Rockfeller’s coal mines were on strike and Lee advised him to visit the coal mines and talk to the miners. This worked and Rockfeller became a hero to the miners. It is Lee who professionalized public relations by applying three principles: tell the truth; provide accurate facts and; the public relations officer must have access to management and must be able to influence decisions (Corporate Watch 1). The next step towards professionalism took place in 1923when Edward Bernays established several public relations principles, the underlying principle being that corporations should accept social responsibility.
During the evolution of public relations, several cultural influences have happened and they have had an impact on this evolution. One cultural influence is politics. As noted above, as early as 50 B.C., candidates for political office used publicity as a forms of endearing themselves to the public. This was also notable during the major wars that were fought throughout history. For example, during WWII, Hitler’s Third Reich used propaganda forms of publicity in order to attract support for their expansionist cause from local Germans. At the same time, Winston Churchill’s speeches which were broadcast on radio played a huge role in assuring the British people. Another influence is globalization. Globalization has opened up the world leading to relations between different countries, as well as business expansion into new territories. All these changes have made public relations a critical part of the global world. Countries have teams that market them and seek ties and relations with other countries. On the other hand, organizations and companies have their own PR officers while others source the services of PR firms. This has been capped by the celebrity culture whereby celebrities become brand ambassadors. All these are changes that have had an impact on the evolution of public relations.
Works Cited
Corporate Watch. Public Relations and Lobbying Industry. Corporate Watch, 15 April 2003. Web. 11 March 2013.
RUCI. A Brief History of Public Relations . Rowan University Communications Institute, 2000, pp. 1-5.
