Keith T.

Kurewakwesu

Diploma in Public Relations

DPR3701 – semester 1
Assignment 1
Declaration:

I understand what academic dishonesty entails and am aware of UNISA’s policies in this regard.

I declare that this assignment in my own, original work. Where I have used someone else’s work,
I have indicated this by using the prescribe style of referencing. Every contribution to, and
quotation in this assignment from the work or works of other people has been referenced
according to the style.

I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it o
as his or her own work.

I did not make use of other students’ work and submitted it as my own.

Name: Keith Tinotenda Kurewakwesu

Student Number: 18216382

Module Code: DPR3701

Signature: ktkwesu

Date:11/03/2024
Table of content
Declaration
Introduction
Question1
1. Definition of publicity and its significance in PR
2. Di erences in marketing, publicity, and advertising
3. Publicity Agents
Question 2
1. Bad Publicity
2. Case Study
3. Dealing with publicity
4. All publicity is good.
5. Case Study
Question 3
1. Press Realese
Conclusion
Sources
Introduction
Publicity is important for any organization, as it builds familiarity that later build crucial
relationships with stakeholders that are sometimes important to the success of the
organization. if that is the case, can all attempts of gaining recognition through publicity be
regarded as worthwhile?

Question 1
Definition of publicity and the significance of public relations
 Publicity refers to the act of using information or advertisement to attract public
attention and gain their support.
 Since Public Relations deals with the management of people’s/organisations’ image and
how they are perceived in the eyes of the public, publicity then becomes important
since it deals with the implementation of gaining the public’s support and admiration.

Di erences between publicity, advertising, and marketing.

Marketing – It is process where a systemic plan is put for the organisation’s promotional e orts,
covers both advertising and publicity, it aims to drive sales and acquire clients, this is usually
done through paid media.

Advertising – it focuses on implementing some of the marketing plans by using strategic imagery
and good placement,

Publicity – it is the drawing of attention to the organisation by means of being involved in certain
conversations with the public and doing media coverages.

Publicity agents according to Meyers (2015)

Question 2
Bad publicity
It is an act of attracting the attention of the media and public to you or your organisation but for
wrong the reasons that may cause for the media and public to lose interest or trust in you or
your organisation.

Case study [ e ects of publicity]

The advert that was released by TRESemme, was very detrimental on the image of both Clicks
and TRESemme as it made them seem to be brands/organisations that are focused on a certain
type of demographic and disregard any other, this caused their stakeholders to react in a way
that shows that they somehow tarnished their relationship because they made their clients with
a certain type of hair to feel as inferior to other this then cause their operations to su er as there
were strikes that were against the supporting of both brands and demanding that they
shutdown.
Dealing with bad publicity
These are some of the methods recommended to deal with bad publicity:

1. Plan for the unexpected – Consider everything that can possibly occur in your
organisation and prepare for those scenarios.
2. Have a crisis communication plan – the moment any negative publicity occurs in the
organisation, you should have a first response to the situation. [usually, to show that you
are aware of the situation]
3. Do not speculate – Avoid seeming uncertain in the eyes of the media by giving
information that you are not quite sure about rather release on the facts that are known
at that specific time.
4. Provide information to the media – To create a good image in the eyes of the public, you
should have constant communication with the media about any updates regarding the
crisis.
5. Appoint one spokesperson – There should be one person that represents the whole
company to show that you are organised, another person can be included to liase with
the public.
6. Build good relationship with reporters - To be regarded as a reliable source, you and the
reporters should have good relations prior to any crisis falls out.

All publicity is good publicity.

In the picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde states through lord henry that the worst this than
being talked about is not being talked about a lot, this implies that organisations get an increase
in publicity the more that they are in the limelight no matter how positive or negative the reason
may be.

However, according to Hoye and Lievens (2005), as much as the being in limelight is important,
organisations should consider the negative impact of being known for all the wrong reasons
such as professionals not wanting any association with the organisation or the public losing
trust.

Case study [publicity process]

Question 3
Press release.
Company name: TRESemme PTYD

Contact name: Keith Kurewakwesu

Phone number: 012 79985849.

Email address: unileverconsumerc@re.usa@unilever.coom

All hair is important to TRESemme:

Pretoria, 10th of March 2024, TRESemme fell into a bad rapport with our stakeholder as an advert
that we released seemed to be derogatory not to say the least and now our stakeholders that we
cherish dearly do not want to be a part of what our brand stands for.

We can surely assure you that it was not our aim in any way to discriminate anyone as we value
all our customers, The ad was supposed to be an inclusion of all the variety people our rainbow
nation has to o er, all the beautiful and unique types of hair that is in South Africa. We value
every race and would like to ensure that every user of our products is able to feel like
themselves.

We would like to continue the relationship with South Africa for we are a part of this wonderful,
vibrant nation.

Conclusion
As much as bringing attention to your organisation is important for its betterment, it is crucial to
be careful of the measure that will be taken to ensure that goal is fulfilled. An organisation has
the responsibility to ensure that they are ready to face the media and public at any time when an
incident occurs.

Sources.
1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/publicity
2. https://prlab.co/blog/the-di erence-between-pr-marketing-and-
advertising/#:~:text=for%20promotional%20activities.-
,A%20key%20point%20to%20remember%20is%20that%20PR%20focuses%20on,for%
20advertising%20to%20create%20awareness
3. https://mymodules.dtls.unisa.ac.za/mod/lesson/view.php?id=889496&pageid=914741
4. https://lithub.com/all-publicity-is-good-publicity-how-simple-familiarity-influences-
our-
decisions/#:~:text=All%20publicity%20boosts%20familiarity%2C%20and,all%20publici
ty%20is%20good%20publicity
5.