Does Public Relations Have a Problem Relating to the Public?
Weber Shandwick‘s president of digital Chris Perry addressed the headlining question in a Forbes article inspired by a recent conference on the future of media and PR. Here’s the issue as he sees it:
“The continued, misguided belief that marketing and PR teams are smarter than people they are trying to reach.”
A common complaint made against media “elites” and board members alike is that they underestimate the intelligence of their audience. Does PR have the same problem? Here’s a key quote from media critic Douglas Rushkoff, whose new book Present Shock is an analysis of the current state of things:
“This is an industry fathered by a man — Ed Bernays — that believed that people were too stupid to run their own lives.”
That
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