Paul Graham on PR

ralejs writes "Paul Graham takes on PR. From the article:'Why do the media keep running stories saying suits are back? Because PR firms tell them to. One of the most surprising things I discovered during my brief business career was the existence of the PR industry, lurking like a huge, quiet submarine beneath the news. Of the stories you read in traditional media that aren't about politics, crimes, or disasters, more than half probably come from PR firms.' As always, it's an interesting, surprising and slightly provoking read."

Comments

We are cattle.

[NoseBag]

This stuff should not be a surprise.

PR firms and advertisers and sales folks have spent billions over the last half-century (?) or so rigorously testing and figuring precisely how to influence the average - and even non-average - schmo. Its a science and they are 21st century, computer-enhanced masters at it, and the media are their lapdogs. And I'm not talking "america" or "surburbia". I'm talking world wide. Note - I'm not trolling - I actually admire their single-mindedness and stunning success at it. I just hate being on the receiving end of it.

Today, if you don't want to be influenced, then you'll have to cut off all your sensory input.

Re:I'm confused

[Tackhead]

> When did suits leave? Why'd they leave? And what kind of suits are we speaking of (business, swimming, wet)? Because if swim suits left, I wish someone would have told me.

Business suits. As in, "the wearing of".

For those of you asking - that's precisely the sort of thing these PR firms do. Issue a few press releases saying "In hard economic times, more formal dress is returning to the workplace as a means of repudiating the excesses that led to the dot-com crash", and bolster it with a parallel "Metrosexuality is cool" spin, and all of a sudden, people are convinced that buying a suit and ceasing to observe casual Fridays in anything less than a sport coat, will get them promoted, laid, or both.

From the article:

Of the stories you read in traditional media that aren't about politics, crimes, or disasters, more than half probably come from PR firms.'

This thinly-disguised Slashvertisement has been brought to you by Public Relations 'R' Us, leaders in astroturfing since 2005! :)

Remember. The objective of the 6 o'clock "news" is to fill the time between advertisements.

You lead with violence. You promise "weather after the break". You run the ads. You run a celebrity sex story. You promise "weather after the break and SOMETHING THAT CAN KILL YOUR CHILDREN. You run the ads. You show the weather. More ads. You've got nothing else to run, so you finally put in some fluff, tell the parents that unless their kids wear a suit, and get a job at a PR firm, they'll STARVE TO DEATH. Then you run yet more ads, and then you fill up the rest of the time slot with whatever else the PR firms have given you.

You can actually "watch" the 6 o'clock news (that is, the actual content, and only the fluffy PR-generated "human interest stories" you're interested in) in less than 30 seconds by glancing at the headlines from any major news network, and combining them with a scan through Fark, Slashdot, and a political blog that caters to your own prejudices.

Interesting Take

[Deinhard]

As someone who actually has a degree in Public Relations (actually, Mass Communications with an emphasis in PR), I'd say Graham is fairy on target.

I find it very telling that one of the classes I had as an undergrad (actually in the psychology department) was Persuasion or, as the instructor said, "How to get people to do things that they don't want to do."

What I don't like about the article, however, is that it infers that Marketing and Public Relations are actually the same. They are definitely not. Marketing is really a two-way sales method (consider it a closed feedback loop) while Public Relations (excepting the occasional survey) is typically one-way. This, however, doesn't mean that PR is inherently insidious.

What gives PR a really bad name is when its techniques are used as propaganda, with prepared stories being shown as news pieces. When that happens then you can't be sure what really is true.