- in the name of all PR experts that employ ethic methods to do their job

It’s hard to be a PR officer, even online. Some people don’t even understand the nature of our job right. They confuse the role of a PR consultant with the role of a marketer. This is something we are not. It’s not a matter of semantics. It’s not a matter of definitions. It’s a fact: online public relations and online marketing are two different disciplines, that share common grounds when it comes to brand and product promotion and customer relations. Yet these two disciplines operate on different levels. The difference is clear: marketing is there to generate profit, public relations to produce goodwill to a brand, company and its products.

Now back to online public relations. As it happens in the real world, the online world is often hostile. How often have you read: “PR maneuver” or “PR effort” (and what and effort that is!)? Many believe that employing a PR expert to gain public awareness is unethical. Many believe that PR officers are nothing but unscrupulous public opinion manipulators. I don’t know about that “unscrupulous” part, but let’s face it: this is our job! We influence public opinion. Yet, in spite of the controversy, some of us do have an ethic code and don’t use tricks to manipulate. We simply communicate. Yes, we mainly communicate positive aspects related to a business, and we do tend to describe a brand at superlative, but we do our best not to deceive. Or would you consider deceiving the fact that we will communicate the news no matter what and we’ll use all possible channels to send the message from our clients to you? After all, it’s your choice to buy the morning paper and you choose what to read! And online it’s even harder to get your attention. You don’t like and article you surf… surf away. As simple as that.

The PR that sends out, on purpose, incorrect information to influence the public opinion (I know, I know… it happens!) is not the PR I am talking about.

Most PR officers I know have high moral standards and follow clear ethic codes. And from my personal experience, journalists expect from us accurate information. No accuracy, no coverage. But what happens online? Here you could write and post basically whatever you want. That’s now our main concern. And this is what makes our job really difficult. Online journalists tend to ignore our releases. The amount of spam they receive daily makes it difficult for them to separate genuine information from crap. Even other online channels we use (blogs, article submission directories, forums and so on) are full of low quality info.

We face many challenges in our job. Ethical questions every day. For example when the products we are supposed to promote are of inferior quality, when the companies we promote fail to keep their promises and so on. Is it ethical to keep on promoting a low quality product? As a freelance PR consultant I know everything about the companies I am working for and I do have to keep it confidential. No matter how honest I want to be, there are things I will never be authorized to talk about, internal things like business strategies and employee information. But when it comes to a low quality product I have the duty to the public to reveal this information, even though that might cost me my job and hurt the company’s good name. And I find this ethic. After all, if the company is so afraid about its good name, why the poor quality product?

It’s difficult to make a choice. As a PR, if you choose not to promote a product you’ll act against the best interest of your client. If you choose to promote it, but the quality does not satisfy customers’ needs… you’ll act against the best interest of your client again, and what’s worse, you act against the best interest of the one you’re really working for: the Public! As a public relations practitioner you’ll be judged no matter what. If you think you are right but the Public thinks you are wrong, then you are wrong. And you’d better believe it!

So what’s left? Truth. Does this word ring a bell? Yes, TRUTH. So we do use the art of persuasion to gain goodwill for our clients, but let’s do it without employing blatant lies! Using allegories to send a message is OK as long as these allegories are not intended to deceive. The famous “do no harm” is part of our ethic code too. It’s not simple to be a public relations practitioner. You have to deal with five decision factors prior to make a choice: yourself, your client, your employer, your colleagues and the public (not necessarily in this order). Deceive one and you’ve deceived them all. And that’s the moment you stop being a PR. That’s the moment you become something else.

So what about online public relations ethics? Do no harm, remember? Don’t spam! Don’t publish inaccurate information about a brand, business, person, service or product. And so on… and so on. You know what I’m talking about. Misusing the online channels will not gain that goodwill you were hoping for, but ill will!