Public Relationships: What’s Love But a 2nd Hand Emotion

Blog 4 CM 503

 

I've been thinking of a new direction
But I have to say
I've been thinking about my own protection
It scares me to feel this way.

Tina Turner

"You may only be one person to the world,

 but you may also be the world to one person."

 - anonymous quote

 

            This quote should be applied to social media. For one person can alter the view of the world. Ethically it is right only if within the message consists the nature of love for humanity. Unfortunately love is intangible and cannot be qualified  for media policies or codes. Yet advertising and public relations through art and beauty use emotion to sell their product. Using the emotional and psychological persuasion strategies they mask the decision consumer to buy.

          The first problem in PRSA’s definition is making up it’s own definition of public relations. Merriam-Webster defines public relations as “the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution; also: the degree of understanding and goodwill achieved” (1). The new definition should require a standard definition that is mutually agreed upon by the public. The alarming misuse of adapt contradicts one of its definitions as, “adjustment to environmental conditions” (2). Is the purpose of goodwill and adaption clear by the current definition? I would have to say no.

            It omits the public relations participation in anti-trust laws and the cartel of industry. It fails to recognize that PR shares the same intent of a corporations’ bottom line.  The reason being that a person, an organization or a corporation for the purpose of spreading positive messages hires public relations firms. This is a conflict of interest as there is no ethical responsibility to the public. Furthermore, what if the corporation is not so positive? A public relations professional may be tempted to use unethical techniques to hide the bad quality.

            In a Forbes article, PR Robert Wine defines the power of PR as "earned media" in the form of an article rather than "paid media" in the form of an ad”((3)).  But in our current world where advertising has become “clutter” ((4)). This hoarding of ads makes the value of PR difficult to measure. Wine stated, “delivering that value, though, and at the right price, is hard--and getting harder” (5).

            This dilemma seems to be at the core of PSRA’s definition. Where are the boundaries? Why are only 10% of all PR professionals’ members of the PSRA?  Who monitors the other 90%?  The truth would be the answer.

            However social media has served to reform the way society sees the truth.  A condition of anti-trust laws is the accountability for a corporation to qualify the public need for their product. The common function of PR is to create marketing strategies business. The accountability may fuse into a PR marketing strategy and may lead to false persuasive claims of public need. Due to the many channels available, differentiation has become difficult. PR firms sell themselves by the value of good PR. “ Positive news stories help companies retain clients and attract new ones. Delivering that value, though, and at the right price, is hard--and getting harder” (6).

            The transparency of social media has distorted and enlightened the nature of a corporate identity and its transactions. The Internet media transparency appears to threaten the sustainability of big business. Unlike celebrities, transparency of either positive or negative actions can lead to million dollar cosmetic deals. In direct contrast the social media supported anonymity consumer may distort the truth to the general public. This online opposition battle between an entity and the public would disable any kind of mutual adaptation to both parties. Furthermore a society acceptance of uncertainty as truth may have harmful consequences for the majority.

            In his work, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, the existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “‘subjectivity is truth’ and ‘truth is subjectivity.’ This has to do with a distinction between what is objectively true and an individual's subjective relation (such as indifference or commitment) to that truth” (7). For example, the intangible emotion of love can be non existent  to one individual but real to another.  Subjectivity and truth are both evident in the online world on transparency, justice, accusations, and autonomy. All of which can lead to harm community.

            The psychology of mass media is the reasoning behind the Hays Code, “the larger audience of the film, and its consequential mixed character. Psychologically, the larger the audience, the lower the moral mass resistance to suggestion” (8). Perhaps the reason postmodernism has abandoned the power of truth is due to overexposure of views in the digital age. This is the biggest hurdle in Corbett’s article, “Maintaining PR’s ethical standards in the digital age.”

My revised definition:

Public Relation's  function with an ethical obligation towards the maintenance of goodwill towards their clients and the general public.

            This definition implies ethical behavior on both organization and the public. Awareness about possible inaccuracy on the Internet must be made clear to the general public. Media studies must be incorporated into our child education system. And under the ethics of a higher power, society must decide on a new social contract in social media.

It's physical
only logical
you must try to ignore
that it means more than that

What’s love got do? Got to do with it?

What’s love but a second hand emotion?

Tina Turner
http://youtu.be/aAlN_9pbMLg

Works Cited:

(1). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public relations

(2) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adapt

 (3)  (5) http://www.forbes.com

(7) wiki/Concluding_Unscientific_Postscript_to_Philosophical_Fragments

(8) Hays Code: Reasons for Supporting Preamble

Brita: The High Fashion Accessory To Water

Chapter 3

Case Study 3-A

Corporate Responsibility:

Just Selling or Doing Well by Doing Good?

I chose to do a case study that frankly I thought I had her figured out. Water is the biggest Diva. She gets so much free press and exposure and like Angelina Jolie, she still retains a bit of mystery. The issue at hand was regarding a NY Times article stating the bottled water lost in sustainability, the water filter industry was about to launch. In 2008, the Brita Company was about to launch its Go Green campaign with the introduction of its do anti-bottled website: filterforgood.com. What more could a green advocate want? According to Beth Terry from Southern CA, she wanted Brita’s parent company Clorox to take on the shared responsibility of recycling all of its filters. But she did not stop there, her evidence was that Europe’s Brita affiliate had set up a recycling system and therefore they should have had this all planned out. 

Terry’s claim was based in truth. America does not have any recycling facilities set up for water filters. This would make Brita’s Go Green campaign void for the green citizens of the United States of America. At first Clorox a public relations responded that the cost of setting recycling centers for the entire country would be an expense that would put them out of business. The article exposing this dilemma was written by Mya Frazier published on October 5, 2008 (Times Pressure to Recycle Filter). As a long time consumer of Brita water filter, I am outraged the press. I have not been made aware I was killing the natural resources of Mother Earth. According to the SJC Code of Ethics, Minimize Harm, it states, “Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage.” 

The introduction of social media and random claims by anonymous websites, I would agree the contextual reason “public opinion is hardly monolithic” (Cooper page 23). This sparked many questions like why “Postmodernism reject the correspondence theory of truth?” (Patterson &Wilkins page 26). If I applied Plato’s theory that “truth was knowable only to the human intellect-it could not be touched or verified” (Patterson & Wilkens page 22) to question about Brita’s intent on Sales or Doing Good, then I would have to become an intellectual on the very illusive matter of justice.  I would also have to disqualify Brita and Terry has being sincere. For questions can lead to answers, that my postulate a fact. As I was failing at the  “Seek Truth and Report it” method, (Society of Professional Journalists ), I surrendered to the Platonic unverifiable truth theory. On Saturday I decided it was time to do a  severe “Qualitative Study” (MaxWell Chpt. 7). I designed a macro study based on different views and methods of water filtration and recycling.

I created a simple interactive model study in where I could see on paper all the different views, concepts and information. I would then evaluate how data “components may affect and be affected by one another” (Maxwell page 215). A simple setup of source, information question, rating and answer for meaning would bring me closer to the truth. After three days of readings and logging data, something unexpected seem to appear in my study. I could make out connections from understanding a meaning to source information. I intuitively started seeking out the right sources and filtering out the babble. The framework based on questions and answer has given me the confidence to ethically expose the issue presented in case 3-A.

The corporate entity is not a real person and throughout history people were aware of the fact. A consumer like filter loving Terry and a corporate giant like Clorox is a relationship that is not real. According to Forbes Magazine articles and blogs (blogs.forbes), the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) viewed as a risk factor and a marketing strategy. They acknowledged Unilever as one of the top CSR companies quoted, “Unilever CEO Paul Polman really spoke the language of CSR as value – not just donations” (Forbes.com).  The action of value to the consumer is a big seller, even if the consumer doesn’t understand why a product is green. They are more likely to buy it on the humanitarian principle of recycling. Furthermore as consumers start accepting these values, they also accept corporations as real people that care more than just profits. The new bottom line is the transformation of business from money addiction to consumer BFF’s.

The article in question about Brita’s intention is yes to both. It is just selling and it is doing well by doing good. The Corporate Social Responsibility makes consumers feel like they are being heard. It feeds into the need of trust when buying a product. Beth Terry’s action of applying Extend Producer Responsibility (EPR) is Kantanian but in no way Golden. “Why do you think environmental policies so often fail to address environmental problems?  Because legislators are more interested in collecting money and votes than in “catering” to “extremists” was the response given by Richard Porter, the pragmatic author of “The Economics of Waste” (everydaytrash.com).

            The alarming data about high cost of recycling and consumer illusions of unintellectual social responsible actions may risk our democracy. Beth Terry started a campaign toward a corporation that was adhering to their legal responsibility. On January 29, 2009 she had collect six hundred and  eleven water cartridge filters. If she only knew in 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved water sources, which represented 17% of the global population and nearly 4 million children died due to water related diseases (WorldWaterCouncil.org).

United Nations Report 2000

            America is the biggest consumer of water. Postmodern ethics is the causal factor of this case study. The ethical decision here relies on utilitarian principles of consequence. For the postmodern green advocate, the luxury of Brita filter is just a high fashion accessory of water.

  

I will be posting a second part to this blog where I will attempt to "frame" the  Recycling process, New water innovation, Alhusser, Marxism and  democratic relativism.

Works Cited:

Patterson P. & Wilkens L.,Media Ethics: Issues & Ethics 7th Ed., McGraw-Hill, NY 2011
Cooper, T. Between The Summits: What Americans Think About Media Ethics, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC 2008
Maxwell, J Designing a Qualitative Study Chapter 7 
filterforgood.com.
http://www.takebackthefilter.org/ 
NY Times Pressure to Recycle Water Filters
Society of Professional Journalists  
blogs.forbes

Forbes.com
ExtendedProducerResponsibilityPolicy.pdf
http://www.everydaytrash.com

WorldWaterCouncil.org 

Althusser, Louis P., Politics and History, New Left Books: London (1972)

Works Referenced:

Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws Translated by Thomas Nugent, Bell & Sons,  Ltd., London   1914  
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/reporter/greengds.shtm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardlevick/2012/01/11/corporate-social-responsibility-for-profit/

http://www.viewshound.com/finance/2011/6/25/cost-effectiveness-in-recycling-why-recycling-is-s

epw.senate.gov/.../6345050%20Hot%20&%20Cold%20Media.pdf

http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/CodeEnglish/

http://www.economist.com/node/9249262

http://www.foodsafety.wisc.edu/consumer/fact_sheets/waterbottles.pdf

Understanding the Safe Drinking Water Act (PDF)

http://everydaytrash.com/2007/04/07/the-economics-of-waste/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box

http://www.perc.org/articles/article1270.php

www.perc.org/files/ps47.pdf

http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2010/02/the-truth-about-ethanols-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

http://www.foodsafety.wisc.edu/consumer/fact_sheets/waterbottles.pdf

EPA Contaminants Information

http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2008/04/trying_to_understand_framing.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box

Fernando Brokovich CM503 Blog 2

Fernando Brokovich

Blog #2

            In August of 1992, the Law Firm Masry and Vititoe assigns 32-year-old Erin Brokovich the task to file a pro bono case regarding Pacific Electric’s interests in buying a family residence in Hinkley, California. However, Brokovich notices blood samples mixed in with the real estate files. Though she has no formal legal training, Erin discovers that Pacific Gas & Electric allowed the leakage of a contaminant called Chromium 6 into the well water of Hinkley, California, for over 30 years. Several residents of this small desert community suffer from ailments ranging from chronic nose-bleeds to cancer.

            Now for the purpose of decision-making, let us assume that in 1992 I worked as a local news reporter. I come across Brokivich’s confidential research documents that justify the claim that Hexavalent Chromium 6 is carcinogenic through inhalation and possibly through ingestion. I make copies of her documents and discern if this illegal act justifies the greater good. I also learn that certain people feel this information should be kept secret.

            Without a doubt I would utilize the dialogic ethic as “the protector and the promoter of the emergent, the unexpected, and the unforeseen-it is the communicative home of hope for an idea, a viewpoint, or an action that has not yet been apparent” (Arnettetal, page 55). Answers to questions would then lead me toward an ethic decision. Why would someone want this to be a secret? Who is at stake by this disclosure? If the possible answer the prematurity of information would give P&G time to cover up its mess then my decision would be to keep it a secret. But another hypothetical answer might lead to a different choice. For example the documents had substantive factual proof that P&G was leaking Chrome 6 into the drinking water and people were being hurt. I would have to reveal the information and suffer the consequences.

            If I report on an issue without valid facts then I risk losing my credibility. “Media practitioners of all stripes, regardless of why they are using media channels, aspire to have one thing: credibility” (Plaisance page 27). A news package about P&G based on documents without all the evidence could damage the company, its employees, employee’s families and perhaps stir up a panic within the community. Morality of care would help to judge the impacts of such exposure. For Brokovich her success in the case against P&G led to a movie of her story starring Julia Roberts and her own TV show. She continues to reveal any injustices that might hurt the good of the people.

            But still today people like Michelle Markin are not supporters of Brokovich. Markin wrote an article on Michael Fumento’s website accusing Brokovich of a case with an appeal to emotion rather than logic. She wrote how “individual anecdotes always make good witness statements and emotional dramas. They are not, however, scientific proof” (http://fumento.com/brockovich/mickeyerin.html ). She also notes investigative journalist and science author Michael Fumento’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal last week, “no one agent could possibly have caused more than a handful of the symptoms described, and Chromium 6 in the water is almost certainly couldn’t have caused any of them” (http://fumento.com/brockovich/erinwsj.html). Both Markin and Fumento accusations are an appeal to logic that is indeed illogical. Fumento is not a scientist or expert. Notice how he states Chromium 6 in the water is almost certainly could not be the cause. He uses absence of evidence to justify his claim. Markin confuses her audience on the failed reasoning of emotion and scientific proof. The Brokovich case was built on the “need to be ‘contextualist’ in our thinking, according to contemporary philosophers. That is we need to realize that the complexities of a dilemma will often dictate how we might apply certain principles, and that these principle are not one size fits all” (Plaisance p. 241).

            Now if this was still 1993, I might consider doing my own quantitative case study. However continued research by the US Dept. of Health and Services reported that ingestion of Chromium 6 in lab rats did indeed cause cancer. The issue at hand is to figure out how much humans can drink Chrome 6 before getting cancer.

            On September 30, 2010, the EPA’s released the Iris Program draft of human health assessment for chromium-6. This draft IRIS health assessment addresses both non-cancer and cancer health effects associated with the ingestion of chromium-6 over a lifetime. This is the first EPA cancer assessment for hexavalent chromium 6 by ingestion. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA

Chromium6indrinking water.pdf)

            I am all about relativity. But also believe in the universalism of truth where “ethics is about how we grapple with the difficult gray areas” (Pliansance pag 22).

Works Cited:

Pliansance, PL Media Ethics Thousand Oaks, CA 2009

Arnettetel Approaches to Communication Ethics, The Pragmatic Good of Theory Chapter 3 .pdf

Links Cited:

http://fumento.com/brockovich/mickeyerin.html

http://fumento.com/brockovich/erinwsj.html

US Dept. of Health and Services

Saudi Arabia 100% Natural Well Water

Water.

It rejuvenates, hydrates and cleanses our body. It can heal, baptize and nurture our human ecology. But water can also kill us.

The subtle weapon to drown a person, does not rationally pair up to its own scientific law. The compound H2O is a universal solvent. Conversely, the value of water differs as much as the ethics of well water.

In Mesopotamian mythology, bodies of water are associated with deities. One key focus is the worship of water gods from holy wells and springs. In Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Muslims believe the Well of Zamzam to be a contemporary miracle for the water never runs out. It is also sold as bottled water. The demand tends to grow higher during the month of Ramadan.

In May of 2011, a BBC London investigation found high levels of arsenic in bottled Zamzam, and so the UK banned all imports. The Saudi Arabian government prohibited the commercial export of Zamzam from the kingdom. They have stated that the well water was tested by the Group Laboratories of CARSOLSEHL in Lyon, licensed by the French Ministry of Health for the testing of drinking water. They reported that the level of arsenic in Zamzam water taken directly from its well source is lower than the maximum permitted by the World Health Organization.

The UK ban has received mixed reactions from the Muslim community. For within the Islamic faith it is viewed as a generated source of God. The demand to make replicate water would appear as an unethical action. “Science and certainty are not synonymous, despite our tendency to blur the two” (Patterson & Wilkens, page16). This is a current day dilemma in which the science of water outweighs the ethics of its symbolism. “Life in the 21^st century has changed how most people think about issues, such as what constitutes a fact and what does or does not influence moral certainty” (Patterson & Wilkins, page 15).

It is always shocking to read an illogical article especially about unknown contaminant water sources. In the last module blog “Poland Spring 100% Water”, I discovered facts and misinformation about its parent company Nestle Co. According to Fast Company Magazine  in 2006, Americans spent 15 billion dollars in bottled water. This world trend can be proven through global sales reports. Lebanon has one of the highest rates of consumers per capita and in the Arabian Peninsula there is more than seven popular brands of water. In Pakistan the spread of contaminated water led to a need of urban families buying home delivery water services. Bottled water was made famous by one of the largest marketing campaigns in Pakistan history undertaken by Nestle Corporation. That’s right ladies and gentlemen. My archenemy and Poland Spring bottle water killer eventually began selling Coca Cola, Pepsi and Evian to Pakistan.

This module’s lectures, readings and CM502 had shown me that “rationality is the key” (Patterson & Wilkens, page 4) component in ethical decision-making. After my discovery that the bottled water industry earns billions a year throughout the world, I find it incredible that these two nations would not know the location of a contaminant water source. The UK should have regulations in place to monitor all food and beverages. I now understand Mill’s acknowledgment of “the good of an entire society had a place in ethical reasoning” (page 11). The Saudi Arabian Authorities decision to not export has caused more fake holy water makers and more believers wanting to celebrate their faith.

My decision-making choice would be to spread awareness of non-truths. I would like to see more Communitarian action news articles. I would support the start of a new fact reporter position called, “journal lawyer”. The banishment of Zamzam water sounds like the parable of the Garden of Eden.  For some the truth is unknown and for others the ethic is clear.

Work cited:

Patterson P. & Wilkens L. Media Ethics Issues & Cases 7^th Edition, McGraw Hills New York 2011

Links research reference:

Contaminated 'Zam Zam holy water from Mecca sold in UK  BBC News5 May 2011

Fast Company Magazine 1 july 2007 

Wikipedia

Internet