Ethical Public Relations?

The Public Relations profession has expanded into the marketing realm. With companies’ PR expenditures now surpassing its advertising dollars, I needed an answer to the burning question: Is advertising a match for PR’s growing strength when marketing? I recently delved into Al and Laura Ries’ book “The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR” in hopes of finding an answer.

The book got me thinking about our broader roles as PR practitioners. The authors assert that advertising has become more or less an art form, almost obsolete in producing market shares because it lacks credibility. Meanwhile, PR has larger shoes to fill. Companies now rely on it to publicize new products or brands. The tactics we implement, including third-party endorsements, have allowed marketing to enter an era of PR. Oprah mentions a book, and tomorrow it’s a best seller; media coverage of an event provides unbiased sources of information to gain publicity. In these cases, it’s our job to be creative, to produce an association with the company’s brand or product that sticks in consumers’ minds. To an extent, anyway.

Al and Laura Ries push the limits midway through their book when they suggest building a geographic brand by changing Guatemala’s name. Their reasoning? “A country needs a single focus if it is going to attract tourists.” Most Americans know little more about this Central American country than its current impoverished state. This surely won’t entice them to visit. The Ries’s argue this name doesn’t aid tourists in associating the country with its heritage. Shouldn’t Guatemala be called Guatemaya to position it apart from the other Central American countries? Wouldn’t this help us recognize its Mayan presence and “provide the hooks to hang publicity programs on?” Apparently, this idea intrigued the Guatemalan business community, who were probably thrilled at the prospect of increased American dollars. But it seriously lacked consideration for the majority of the country’s population, who are likely to reap tourism’s other “benefits”: a deluded culture catered to wealthy travelers and environmental degradation caused by resort expansion.

While I understand the authors’ use of this potential name change as an example, the assertion offended me. This lack of inter cultural respect surely hasn’t found itself on the Public Relation’s “Code of Ethics.” How can we call ourselves ethical when we suggest catering an entire country to visitors’ needs? If we go around proposing that countries, cities and continents change their names, we will quickly follow advertising’s footsteps, losing credibility on account of stupidity. True, changing Squaw Creek in Sisters, Ore., to Whychus Creek is an appropriate step in achieving political correctness. But Guatemaya? Think again.