Public Relations - How to Avoid Disaster

In our previous article of our series of public relations we discussed how to land is the first work in the field of public relations. In this article we will touch briefly on what exactly public relations and how complex it has become in our modern world.

If you were to look in the dictionary of public relations is one of the following definitions.

1. The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public.

2. The methods and activities used to create and promote a positive relationship with the public.

3. The degree of success in achieving a favorable relationship with the public.

4. (As a noun), a promotion intended to create goodwill for a person or institution.

Unfortunately, the methods used in the definition 2 to create a positive effect in definition 1 are not always what people would consider scrupulous and achieve success in that definition 3 is often destroyed by these methods.

In today's world of instant access to news, public relations is more important than ever. With stories breaking literally minutes after an event, public relations firms sometimes have little or no time to extinguish fires.

We must not look far to find public relations disasters, some acts of God that are real When a natural disaster like a hurricane affects a region that depends on tourism for much of its income, it is difficult to try to sell the rest of the world that the region is still a great place to come and visit, to spend their vacation dollars. The recent hurricane that hit New Orleans is a perfect example. A public relations firm would literally be magicians to get anyone to come into a town that is now a ghost town.

Then there are the public relations disasters that are man made, such as torture of prisoners in Iraq. The public relations staff of the U.S. government had the almost impossible task of trying to put a positive effect on this event. The war in general was a difficult thing to sell to the American people.

Of course, the public relations disasters most common are those associated with big business. An example of this, and there are many to choose from, it would be when Coca Cola had to defend themselves against accusations that his Pepsi products manufactured in India contained high levels of toxins. The way in which the two companies handled this matter only added more fuel to the fire.

When someone eats a fast food restaurant and find things in their food that does not belong to us, this is another public relations nightmare for the company. Again, in most cases when these things happen, the company only makes matters worse by denying the charges or try to cover them.

The best way for any business or government for that matter, to handle public relations nightmares is to address the situation honestly present the facts and indicate their plan to solve the problem. But most importantly, take responsibility. In today's world people expect honesty. If we give them the facts and our intentions to address the situation honestly, most public relations nightmares can be avoided. Unfortunately, this is a lesson most of us have not learned yet .......