The birth of cyberactivism!

When you get overwhelmed by doubts if PR is good for democracy (e.g. when you write dissertation about PR in politics as I do) think about activists groups who use PR to popularize their causes and exert pressure on corporate giants. Yes, PR is good for democracy!

Activism enables not-dominant interests in society to articulate their arguments in the public sphere. PR acts as megaphone in this process, by providing campaigning organizations with ‘oxygen of publicity’. It makes their messages audible in media getting them across to wider public in order to create  awareness or persuade people to change their behavior. The activism contradicts the argument about citizen’s apathy. In UK there are approximately one million members of political parties comparing to 5 million people paying membership fee to the environmental organizations.  

When it comes to effects for PR profession, those are two sided. From one point of view activists groups are a challenge for PRs working for corporations often confronted by campaigners. On the second side the nongovernmental sector employs PR people too.  The causes undertook by campaigners are often controversial and thus newsworthy which attracts other companies to align with certain activist group in order to generate positive media coverage. Moreover, even celebrities approach the organizations or pressure groups.

 

 In the same time pressure groups have become one of the most important stakeholders which companies need to consider and conduct a dialogue with to secure their financial profitability. Here is the role for Consensus orientated public relations. However when pressure groups act against corporate interest of companies, the former sometimes hire the PR consultancies to discredit them, which is often successful due to limited financial resources and PR skill base of pressure groups.

However internet which brought about the cyberactivism has significantly changed this landscape, shifting the advantage towards pressure groups that use social media to disseminate their messages, recruit members and spread the debate. Apart from this, World Wide Web has provided the pressure groups with ample set of campaigning tools allowing them to put pressure on businesses by disrupting their internet presence. Some of those tools like site attack or hacking (often manifested by accessing companies emailing system and company discrediting messages to its customers) are recruited from legal borderland. Others sourced by humor include parody sites often more dangerous for companies than hacking as they confuse the public. An example is a false BP twitter account which had been set up after oil spill revelations. It currently has 15,000 followers (comparing to 36,000 followers of official BP twitter account) and its famous tweets inlude:"Think about it this way, the ocean is like root beer and oil is like ice cream. We just made America a giant root beer float!' or "Sadly we can no longer certify our oil as Dolphin Safe."

 A very successful online tactic is creating an image of corporate bully. The recent victim of such activities was BP after oil spill in Mexico gulf. Some other examples include Kit Kat and Princess (UK tuna company) both effectively sabotaged by Greenpeace.

Enjoy some  examples of internet activism below.

Cobra & Python case

Crisis can have a cobra or a python face. 

Cobra will take the company by surprise leaving it in a deep crisis situation. Python on the other hand crawls into the organization gradually as a number of issues, that slowly crush the company's very existence.

This metaphor drawn by authors of the book titled 'Effective crisis management' is a very accurate description of the types of situation the companies might find themselves in.

Although different in nature both, cobra and python, can be mitigated using an effective communication with stakeholders (especially media) and by having a crisis plan in place before the crisis happens. Each company operates in an environment comprising of numerous stakeholders. The interaction of their contradicting interests can often lead to rise of issue and the crisis. Therefore it is extremely important that the companies engage in boundary spanning as an introduction to issues management, which will prevent or at least mitigate negative effects of crisis. There is a 5C effective communication model presenting the priorities for the person acting as the spokesperson in the crisis. The first priority is the Concern which relates to the human aspect of the case. Importance has been also placed on the communication with Clarity, Control of disseminated messages, Confidence and Competence of the spokesperson representing the company.  It is important to recognize the danger of ‘no comment’ method. If the organization in crisis will decide to avoid contact with interested media, they will find other information sources, which in many cases can be even more precarious.

An example of one of the best managed Cobra like crises in the history is the 30 years old case of Johnson & Johnson's product called Tylenol. The product was deliberately contaminated with the cyanide by a member of public which led to death of 7 people. Johnson & Johnson response was prompt and effective both from the operational and communication point of view. It has recalled the product in from the pharmacies in the entire US (although deaths were linked to Chicago district only). In the same time the company was consequently informing the media, employees about all its actions. Its next response was an introduction of 'temper-evident packaging'. The efficiently and swiftly managed crisis has actually positively contributed to the reputation of Johnson & Johnson.  In the aftermath of the crisis an article in Washington Post Newspaper acknowledged that saying:, "Johnson & Johnson has effectively demonstrated how a major business ought to handle a disaster."

There are also numerous cases of badly managed crises with BP oil spill, Toyota’s break-safety and and Canterbury’s salmonella being one of the most notable. Learning from others mistakes is a good and safe school.

PR goes on war

Going on war any time soon? That’s your ‘must –have’ check list: Heavy machinery, tunks, missiles, rackets, artillery, torpedoes and PR. Beg me pardon– Spin not PR.

 Yes, PR has become an essential object for any government leading the nations to war. In this regards, the extraordinary £250 million dollars spend on public relations by Bush administration (double what Clinton spent.) is well justified.  It has been proved that President Bush steered the nation to war using fraudulent intelligence, misleading and misinforming the public.

 I will share just few shocking examples on how US government perfected Propaganda tactics in the runway to the Iraqi war. To set the news agenda the government simply produced the stories. In 2005 it was revealed that White House produced videos that were designed to look like news reports from independent journalists and were then aired on the evening news.  Shocking as it might seem –as revealed by New York Times in 2008 to gain most valuable 3^rd party endorsement government trained the retired military officers to act as independent analyst on talk shows and in news programmes. Growing politicians’ awareness about the role of social media in shaping public opinion prompted Bush administration to contract HBGary Federal to develop software that would create fake social media accounts in order to promote Pentagon propaganda on social networks. 

What could be more mesmerising for the public than a story of 19 year old, blond, innocent girl captured and maltreated by Iraqi soldiers? The publicity opportunity not to be missed. Jessica Lynch was a clerk serving during 2003 invasion. She was injured and captured by Iraqis and subsequently retrieved by US Special Forces. In US people minds she became a heroine who fought until the last gunshot, killing several Iraqi soldiers and survived despite being shot and stabbed. Thanks to independent journalists’ investigation it was revealed that the reports about Jessica’s mistreatment were untrue. As per witnesses’ reports she has received best possible medical care and support form hospital staff. Event more shocking – she did not have any bullet or knife injuries but only broken limbs as an effect of the road accident. US military has fled the hospital despite of their knowledge that at the time there were no Iraqi in the area. Handcuffed doctors recall scenes like from the Hollywood movie:‘. They made a show—an action movie likes Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors’. All that was recorded and aired over and over again on TV as a brilliant propaganda measure to support the war case and ‘raise the morale in the nation’…

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 There is nothing wrong with raising the morale of the nation going on war as that’s what makes people feel the common cause. However in the case of Jessica Lynch the government’s aim was to mislead the public and manipulate it into the war.