Blog Post #4...

This week, we were asked to read the blogs of two of our classmates. In reading through the list of our class, there are many interesting blogs being written in our class.

Kayla's blog, focusing on fashion PR was especially interesting to me. Specifically her post on ethics. Her post entitled, Is Fur Ethical? was extremely interesting. I couldn't help but think what a great idea for that week's topic. Kayla starts out with a very strong stand that "harming animals for the means of fashion is unethical." I respect the fact that she has such a strong opinion about this topic. And I also learned something new about this realm of PR....there is something called the Ethical Fashion Forum. I did not know that this even existed. It was extremely interesting for me to learn about this not for profit network which focuses on social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry.

Kayla also raised another interesting point when she said:

If a shirt is made with chemicals that harm the environment, the buyer needs to know! Clothing companies need to start making the steps to a better environment and in that case becoming more eco friendly! Surveys can be given out at stores for customers to fill out with questions about eco-friendly clothing. Customers need to be informed!

She could not be more correct! I honestly had not even thought about this. The fact that some of my clothes could have harmful chemicals on them is extremely alarming and is something companies should inform their customers of.

Another blog that I read is written by BDaunno. She chooses to focus on media and different media issues. Her post about research was interesting. She raises the point that even bloggers like Perez Hilton have to do some type of research. I never actually thought about this. Even though he is writing about things like Britney Spears or the latest fashion mistake, he too has to conduct some type of research.

I actually learned a lot in reading the blogs from our class. It is interesting to read about what others find to be interesting.

Research: Influential or Irritating?

The medical world feeds off of research. Studies with results about disease epidemics are constantly being released to the media. Society is constantly being bombarded with new studies and warnings about new illnesses to worry about. However, it is very important to not always believe what you hear...

And as quoted from the Global Research article, "now as the flu season gets ready to kick off amidst much fanfare and predictions of doom due to a new H1N1 influenza virus, there is emerging sufficient information to raise very serious doubts whether our nation’s health authorities are truly serving the public health instead of commercial interests." One can't help but wonder if all the "fanfare" is actually of concern, or if it is being blown out of proportion.

In that same article, it is interesting to read that "European polls indicate that [Europeans] are less nervous about the H1N1 strain’s severity and far more suspicious towards health officials’ rationale for hyping dire warnings of swine flu’s dangers." I wonder why this is true? Perhaps they are choosing to ignore the bombardment of 'research' being thrown in their faces daily by multiple media sources. In France, Le Figaro conducted a poll of 12,050 people showing 69 percent will refuse the vaccination. In a separate French survey, one third of 4,752 doctors, nurses and healthcare workers surveyed would not be inoculated.

This information is especially interesting. Considering that when this poll was conducted in Europe, France in particular, the majority of nurses planned on refusing the vaccine. They chose to ignore the research about the dangers of H1N1 and it's side effects, and instead were suspicious of the "hype."

The numbers from France contrast drastically to the numbers in the U.S. When I asked just my close friends, 8 out of 12 (66%) of them say they get vaccinated every year. That means that only 33% of my friends do not get vaccinated. It looks like my friends are influenced by all of the research (though some may say propaganda) in favor of the vaccine.

This shows the influence that research can have on a society, be it positive or negative.

International Ethics: Difficult to Define

In dealing with international public relations, it is difficult to determine a universal code or definition of ethics. In the United States, it is a fairly well-defined and well-documented subject. However, the same cannot be said for many countries abroad.

In researching this topic, I came across an article discussing the power that communication can have over people. In this article, they raise an interesting question; "Can an authoritative media voice push anyone to cross ethical lines they think are non-negociable?" This article discusses"Jeu de la Mort"-- a documentary prepared by France Télévisions along with researchers (Jeu de la Mort translates to basically, "Game of Death"). This documentary re-created the famous Milgram experiment in which participants administered increasingly strong electric shocks to another participant who incorrectly answered questions, but this time put this into a reality-TV show. Personally, this seems horrifying. As learned with this experiment, it is clear that seemingly good people are capable of doing horrible things.

Now, through this we can learn several things. One of which is that the ethics behind this TV show in France were basically non-existent. Second, as quoted from the article, "It is particularly relevant for anyone involved in organizational communications because the weight of our voices may be one of those authorities that incite people to carry on, despite their own misgivings." This could not be more true.

Also in my research about this topic, I found another interesting article about ethics in international public relations. As quoted from the article, which I found to be the most valuable piece of information:

...if we want to discuss PR ethics on an international scale, it is also very important not only to look at simple explanations of “good” and “bad”, but also to see this ethics within the context of their country of origin and their target-country. What might be very well-established and traditional in one context, might be very modern and open-minded in another – and vice versa. In other words: If we want to observe PR ethics on an international scale, we need to analyse it within its quite complex (cultural) context.

So, basically it is clear that it is almost impossible to establish a universal code of ethics for all PR professionals around the world. However, in dealing with international PR, it is important to be familiar with as many aspects of the country as possible in order to better reach the desired publics.

Focus of my Blog: PR in France

Spending a semester abroad in France was the best thing I have ever done. I was lucky enough to spend an entire semester in the south of France, in Cannes. It was amazing. My school was directly across from the beach and I woke up to the sound of waves crashing and palm trees outside of my window. Needless to say, I quickly fell in love with this country.

In living there, I began to get to know the people of France. But, I feel that I only scratched the surface of learning about the country. That is why I want to try to learn more about it. So, the focus of my blog is going to be about all things PR in France. I would love to live and work there someday, so this could be the perfect opportunity for me to get more acquainted with the way PR works in a foreign country.

I was also able to find an interesting article about PR in France; everything from history to the political environment.