How Bernays pioneered PR publicity stunts

The earliest publicity stunt in PR (Public Relations) history occurred in the 1920s. At that period it was a taboo for women to smoke outdoors. At that time, a cigarette brand Lucky Strike cigarettes, was seeking to aggressively grow its customer base - and this included women.
 Consequently, the cigarette maker engaged the services of a seminal figure in Public Relarions history, Edward Bernays.
As part of his strategy to break the taboo, Bernay's orchestrated a now-legendary publicity stunt by convincing women
to smoke at the Easter parade in Manhattan as a statement of rebellion against the norms of a male-dominated society.
The demonstrators were not aware that a tobacco company was behind the publicity
stunt. Bernays dubbed his PR campaign the: “Torches of Liberty Contingent”
Publicity photos of these beautiful fashion models smoking “Torches of Liberty” were sent to various media outlets and appeared worldwide. As a result, the taboo was dissolved and many women were led to associate the act of smoking with female liberation. Some women went so far as to demand membership in all-male smoking clubs, a highly controversial act at the time.
For his work, Bernays was paid a tidy sum by George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco
Company.
Bernays was the profession’s first theorist. He drew many of his ideas from Sigmund
Freud’s theories about the irrational, unconscious motives that shape human behaviour.
Bernays authored several books, including Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), Propaganda (1928), and The
Engineering of Consent (1947).
He saw public relations as an “applied social science” that uses insights from psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to scientifically manage and manipulate the
thinking and behavior of an irrational and “herdlike” public.

Misconceptions about Public Relations

A major issue that confronts  public relations practitioners in Nigeria bothers on credibility.

 This perception is borne out of the public's misconstrued impression about what a Public Relations practitioner really does.

This view, is further compounded by fact some PR practitioners do not have a clear idea about what the profession is about.

As a result, some dabble into the public relations profession with skewed motives and intentions.

Here are some common misconceptions

1. PR  is not about giving false narratives about brands and organizations - rather Public Relations tells the truth at all times.

2. Public relations is not about  offering bribes or inducements to journalists, to coverup the truth - or influence policy makers to initiate policies that add value to their clients.

3. PR is not based on luck, rather its activities and plans are based on, in depth research, scientific and empirical facts.

4. PR is not about putting together social gatherings and events of a similar nature.  Granted,Public Relations practitioners organize activities of this nature. However, this is not the profession's sole preoccupation.

5. Public relations is not about fawning at the boss' feet and kowtowing to his whims, rather it's a dignified and noble profession.

PR Agencies vs PR Consultants

What is the difference


Public Relations Agencies:

There are lots of challenges and
opportunities for growth and development  in a PR Agency.

The work is enormous because companies that have in-house public relations departments and those who do not would at one time or the other require the services of an independent PR organisation.

Thus, agencies handle public relations activities of other organisations, corporations, non-profit set ups, governments and
even individuals.

For instance, some corporations may hire a PR Agency to handle its annual report to stockbrokers or its overseas investors. The agency could be hired to partner with other agencies or bodies or even the public relations department of a corporation to do research, planning, communication and evaluation.

Just as it is in advertising agencies, staff of public relations agencies are often assigned to accounts. Usually, an account would include all the public relations activities planned for one particular client.

 Accounts are managed by account executives. It would be their job to research into the public relations problems, write messages, and decide on media and placement.
 They equally do evaluation of such campaigns. It is  common to have public relations staff specialising in various areas of an account.

Some are experts in message designing, media planning
and placement, while others focus on research. In some cases, a staff
could take up more responsibilities than one.

Public relations agencies vary in size. There are some that work as a
small part of big advertising agencies while others are full-fledged, fullblown agencies, yet others are one room agencies.



Independent Public relations Consultants:

A PR practitioner  may equally wish to ply you trade as a one man public relations consultant. Successful public relations consultants are often persons with broad experience having worked in a few agencies and handled several successful accounts.

They are a one-man agency. Very often they specialise in small areas of public relations like crisis communication, speech writing, international public relations, etc.
In this case  the consultant alone bears the responsibility for success or failure.

What Are Media Events ?

 Media Events, as it relates to Public Relations -   are carefully planned activities, put together with a view to generate media publicity.

Kinds of media events:

News conference:

This type of media events are usually held, when an organization has an announcement to make and wants the press to get details of the announcement. It's also an occasion used to answer questions from journalists.

Protests:

Such media events are planned mainly with the sole aim of generating media attention - as it may relate to an issue or cause.

Photo ops:

This type of media event is put together with the specific aim of telling  picture stories in the media.

History of media events:

The history of media events, date back to  the 1940s and the proceeding decades -  as television and radio stations  introduced same-day news cycles.

In recent times, the  emergence of the internet has led  to many media stories being published in realtime - live from the venue of the media event.