Public Relations

Historical Overview of PR

Prof. Prodromos Yannas

 Historical Overview of PR – 1
USA
• 1897- Association of American Railroads
• 1900 – Publicity Bureau – 1st PR agency in the USA
• 1917- Committee on Public Information – Creel committee
propaganda apparatus to “sell war”

• 1920s decade - Conscious manipulation of symbols

• 1940s decade -due to New Deal, advancing welfare capitalist values

to save business (pensions, health benefits)
• 1940s decade, founding of 1st University Department of PR at Boston
University

•1950s decade - dominance of TV images, spectacle

 Forefathers – Pioneers of PR

1. Ivy Lee
• Former journalist for Wall Street Journal, advocate of big corporate
interests
• PR value inheres in the dissemination of events and the attempt to
make the public understand the importance of corporate policies
• PR actions are mobilized in crisis situations to deal with negative
publicity in the media
• In 1914 Lee was consultant to John D. Rockefeller and the
Standard Oil Co. On the occasion of a strike of 9000 workers in a
mine in Colorado where 14 people including small children were
killed, he advised the son of Rockefeller to immediately visit the
site and make a public announcement regarding the philanthropic
initiatives of his father
• 1930ς, Lee contributed to the recognition of USSR by the US
• 1930ς, Lee collaborated with the Nazis
 Forefathers – Pioneers of PR 2
2. Edward Bernays

• Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923)

Propaganda (1928)
“The Engineering of Consent” (1947) : marshal support of public for
new ideas and education programs
Public Relations (1952)
• 1917, Bernays collaborated with the Committee on Public
Information – Creel committee
• 1919, Bernays founds his own agency
• 1929, Torches of Freedom March campaign, 10 women smoking
while walking on 5th Avenue in NYC promoting feminism and idea
of liberation. He didn’t reveal that he was on contract with the
American Tobacco Company

• Contributed to the promotion of beer as a “light drink” through the

setting up of front groups as rucking Information Bureau, Better
living through increased highway transportation

• Masses threaten social order. The public searches for ways of

expression in the age of industrialization and democratic reforms
 Forefathers- Pioneers of PR
• Emphasized ability of PR to formulate and guide public opinion

• Top-down communication essential for the maintenance of public order

• PR manufactures new and desirable images in the minds of millions of

people

3. Arthur W. Page
• Company executive at ΑΤ & Τ till his death in 1960
• 1983, founding of Arthur Page Society (https://page.org/)

• 5 principles of PR:

• 1) Managers have an obligation to explain the company’s relations to

its various publics

• 2) Employees must be aware and be informed about the policies and

practices of the company
 Forefathers – Pioneers of PR – 4

• 3) When employees come in contact with the public, they must

exercise common sense and behave in a polite manner
• 4) Any questions or public criticisms that originate from the public or
the employees must be forwarded to company executives
• 5) Honesty must be observed in communicating company’s actions
to the public

Main Focal Points of American Pioneers

• The publics must be analyzed with the use of social science

research methods
• Selection of major themes and ideas for presentation in the public
sphere = narratives
• Creation of pseudo-events that generate journalistic interest
 Front Groups - 1

• Front Groups: created and funded by very powerful corporations

aiming to shape public discourse. They claim to represent
consumers or any other societal group and benefit the public. In
reality, they serve the corporate interests by opposing regulation,
pushing industry-friendly science or engage in public relations
campaigns and lobbying on specific policies

• Why companies resort to front groups?

• To change the way problems are talked about
• Not to tarnish their corporate brand image
• Let front groups do the dirty job, ie., downplay severity of problems,
discredit critics
• Make up for the credibility deficit they experience on complicated
matters like science
 Front Groups - 2
Front Group Tactics
•ASTROTURFING (FAKE GRASSROOTS): pretending your group
represents the average consumer, small business owners.
Make the public believe that their interests are under attack. These
groups are formed by industry but the impression is given that their
formation is due to the spontaneous action of average
consumers/citizens

•SHOOTING THE MESSENGER: discrediting critics by calling them

names

•BUYING SCIENCE: paying for research, hiring scientific experts as

spokespeople, placing science stories in media, all without
disclosing the conflict of interest

•SCAREMONGERING: Preying on people’s fears, saying for example

that a policy will result in higher prices or job losses
 Front Groups - 3
Examples of Astroturfing
Case: Tobacco Industry –problem: ban of tobacco
• 1979. Astroturfing example. FOREST (‘Freedom Organisation for the
Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) received over 90% of its funding
from tobacco companies
•FORCES, (‘Fight Ordinances and Restrictions to Control and
Eliminate Smoking’ )
•2010. British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco set
up Alliance of Australian Retailers
Case: Pharma Industry
•Biogen setting up “patient groups” to run a campaign called Action for
Access
Case: Soft Drinks – problem: obesity
•Coca-Cola funded Center for Consumer Freedom
 Front Groups - 4

Regarding the tactic Shooting the Messenger

•Corporate entities that are science deniers characterize unwelcome
news as fake news and inconvenient evidence from independent
sources as junk science

Regarding the tactic of Buying Science

•Pivotal is the concept of doubt that is employed by individual
scientists or scientific teams that receive financial backing from
industrial interests
The concept of doubt was elaborated by epidemiologist and former
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor on issues of health and safety
(2009-2017) David Michael in his two widely read books «Doubt is
their Product»(2008) and «The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and
the Science of Deception» (2020)
 Front Groups - 5
• The concept of doubt was first introduced by a business executive
of a subsidiary of British American Tobacco in1969. In a company
memo he outlined a strategy for maintaining cigarette sales:
“Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with
the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the minds of the general public. It is
also the means of establishing a controversy”

• Employing the doubt strategy the tobacco industry spread

disinformation regarding the linkage of tobacco consumption and
diseases, delayed regulation by decades and protected corporate
profits

• In a similar manner, the defense industry disputed the links

between asbestos, lead and other toxic materials with diseases

• The tactic of Buying Science includes stressing dissent to the

extremes, cherry-picking of data, re-analyzing results to reach
different conclusions and putting on corporate payrolls scientists
willing to rig methodologies to produce funders’ desired results
 Historical Overview of PR – US
• 1948, founding of Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org) with
more than 20.000 members
Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), Certification of PR officer
Publications: Public Relations Journal, Tactics

• 1960-1970, consumer movement on the rise and focus of companies on

issues dealing with harmful products, employee relations and unfavorable
pricing practices

• 1970, founding of International Association of Business Communicators-IABC

(/www.iabc.com), with more than 12.000 members
Communication Management Professional (CMP) certification

• 1980-1990, emphasis on environmental and quality of life issues, re-

emergence of consumer activism directed against practices of multinational
corporations

• 2000 – present, company scandals (Enron) και terrorist attack on Twin

Towers of NYC made imperative for PR professionals to focus on issues of
social corporate responsibility and communication management of crises
 Historical Overview of PR – United Kingdom
UK
PR promotes freedom, democracy and British way of life

• PR first emerged in the 1930s decade in local administration

organizations

• 1930s, Sir Stephen Tallents, Secretary of Empire Marketing Board

• British Council

• 1948, founding of Institute of Public Relations

• 1948, founding of Chartered Institute of Public Relations (

http://www.cipr.co.uk/) with more than 10.000 members, offers
certification

• 1950s-1960s decades, consumerism with emphasis on marketing and

media publicity

• 1980s-1990s decades, deregulation, privatization and new

 Historical Overview of PR – Italy

Italy
•1930s - Facism and dominance of propaganda

1940s-1950s decades. Influence of PR multinationals (Esso) and

government agencies (USIS)

•Fiat, Piaggio Olivetti, Pirellli: Italian companies seek reconciliation

between industrialists and laborers. Emphasis on style and design
of products and less on the consumer due to limited size of the
domestic market
 Historical Overview of PR – Greece
Greece

• 1932 Hellenic Tourist Organization (HTO), creation and dissemination

of tourism material intended for Paris as well as systematic planning of
trips for French journalists visiting Greece

• 1936 Metaxas dictatorship, Undersecretary of Press and Tourism for

enlightening public opinion, Office of Foreign Press, movies and radio as
effective channels of influencing public opinion

•1951 Greek Orthodox Church and celebration of 1900 years since the
coming of Apostle Paul, founding of Press and Information Office

•1951 Campaign of HTO abroad in developed markets (US, UK, France,

Germany) with the help of US Aid Mission to Greece

•1952 Founding of PR Office at General Army Command

 Historical Overview of PR – Greece 2
• 1960 Hellenic Association of PR (no longer in operation)

• 1965 Athens International Code of Ethics of the International Public

Relations Association (IPRA)

• 1972 Hellenic Association of PR of Northern Greece

• 1980ς PR in demand and multinational advertising agencies

incorporate PR in their offerings

• 1990ς PR Group at the Association of Agencies for Advertising and

Communication of Greece. The Association operates an Institute of
Communication

• 2010 Corporate Affairs Section at the Hellenic Association of

Business Administration (ΕΕDΕ)

• According to the Tax Authority, PR is not established as a profession.

PR agents declare that they are Counselors of Businesses as an
occupation
 Corporate Affairs Excellence Awards, Corporate Affairs
Section of ΕΕDΕ, 2012- present
• Award Categories :
• Excellence Program/ Actions
• Corporate and Business Communications
• Stakeholder Engagement)
• Internal Communications
• Brand P.R.
• Public Affairs & Lobbying
• Best Use of Social Media
• Media Relations
• Issue / Crisis Management
• CSR Programs/Actions
• Low Budget