Blurring the line between personal ethics and

organisational ethics.

Maria Park 07016946Rowan van Breda 07055521Stefanie Sproessel 07041887Laurie Rowbottom 07012612

2010

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Agenda• Introduction

• The issue

• Relevance

• Personal ethics

• Organisational ethics

• Ethics in PR

• Professional insight

• Media influence

• Recommendations

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Introduction to the Issue

Ethics is “the body of moral principles or values governing or distinctive of a particular culture or group”. 1

PR Week article

“ Professional ethics: Should you promote these products? ” 2

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Relevance

• Promoting harmful products

• Current and ongoing

• Where to draw the line?

• Global issue

• Affects all practitioners

• Ethical knowledge → improved industry image

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Personal Ethics

• Main factors:

o Cultureo Religiono Demographicso Social groups

• Theories:

o Responsible advocacy 3

o Two-way communication model 4

o Enlightened self-interest model 5

o Attorney/adversary model 6

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Organisational Ethics

• Main factors:

o Lawo CIPR ethicso Industryo Employers vs employees

• Theories: 7

o Duty-based viewo Consequentialist viewo Deontological view

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Ethics in Public Relations

• ‘PR ethics’ - an oxymoron

• Codes of ethics

• CIPR & PRCA

• Plato:

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” 8

• Hill & Knowlton:

“We’d represent Satan if he paid.” 8

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Professional Insight - 1

• Questionnaires developed

• Open-ended questions

• Not anonymous

• 15 sent out

• 9 received back

• PR managers

• Account directors

• Office of Fair Trading

• Marks & Spencer

• Oliver Bonas

• Dinosaur Digital Ltd

• Punch Communications

• 3 Monkey’s

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Professional Insight - 2

• Ethics is personal and includes following a set of rules

• Workplace ethics in accordance with personal beliefs

• Tobacco, pollutants, armaments, McDonalds, fur

• “Agency & client need to become interchangeable.”

• Ethics considered important while working

• “A good consultant leaves personal ethics at the door.”

• Ethics - how one desires to act vs reality

• Always aim for an ethical solution!

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Media Influence - 1

News Entertainment Education

Media

Trust & Authority

Influencing Opinion & Society

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Media Influence - 2

• Primark swimwear fashion

• Padded bikini tops

• Starting from 7-8 age range

• “Paedo bikini banned” 9

• David Cameron got involved

"Every girl wants to look her best and at Primark we make no exception for the younger ladies. All the high fashion trends can be found in our

Girlswear section, no matter what age you are.“ 10

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Media Influence - 3

• Russell Brand & Jonathan Ross

• “Sachsgate”

• Ofcom – 67 complaints 11

• Media picked up on it

• Soon 4500 complaints 11

• In PR terms:

– Before the incident easy to ‘promote’;– After the incident seen as ‘unclean’.

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Recommendations - 1

• Make sure the org. ethics won’t clash with personal beliefs.

• Know the agency’s clients before accepting the job.

• Provide adequate consideration to every client or project.

• Avoid clients with whom you don’t share same views.

• It is okay to decline certain accounts.

• Mistakes happen, but don’t make them into a habit

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Recommendations – 2

• Follow the law and code of practice set up by relevant bodies.

• If media is against you, you are probably being unethical.

• Create sense-check based on general public opinion.

• Make theoretical ethical principles match reality.

• Stick to agreed principles and believe in what you are saying.

• If it makes you feel guilty, it is wrong.

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References• 1 Dictionary.com. 2010. Ethics [online] Available at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethics [Accessed 29 April 2010]• 2 PR Week. 2010. Professional ethics: Should you promote these products? [online] Available at:

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/features/983049/Professional-ethics-promote-products/ [Accessed 29 April 2010]• 3 Google. 2010. What is Responsible Advocacy in Public Relations? [online] Available at: http://www.google.com/search?

q=responsible+advocacy&ie=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:et:official&client=firefox-a [Accessed 24 March 2010]• 4 Grunig, J. E., 2000. Collectivism, Collaboration and Societal Corporatism as Core Professional Values of Public Relations.

Journal of Public Relations Research, 12(1), pp23-48.• 5 Public Relations Ethics 1. 2010. Enlightened Self-Interest Model [online] Available at:

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring02/holt/enlightened.html [Accessed 25 April 2010]• 6 Public Relations Ethics 2. 2010. Attorney/Adversary Model [online] Available at:

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring02/holt/attorney.html [Accessed 25 April 2010]• 7 Mullins, L., 2008. Essentials of organisational behaviour. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Pp270-374• 8 Institute for Public Relations. 2007. Ethics and Public Relations [online] Available at:

http://www.instituteforpr.org/essential_knowledge/detail/ethics_and_public_relations/ [Accessed 01 May 2010]• 9 The Sun. 2010. Paedo bikini banned [online] Available at:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2931327/Primarks-padded-bikini-tops-for-kids-condemned.html [Accessed 01 May 2010]

• 10 The Telegraph. 2010. Primark withdraws padded bikini tops for seven year-old girls [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7589004/Primark-withdraws-padded-bikini-tops-for-seven-year-old-girls.html [Accessed 01 May 2010]

• 11 The Guardian. 2008. Watchdog to investigate Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's phone prank [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/28/russell-brand-jonathan-ross-andrew-sachs-ofcom [Accessed 01 May 2010]

Thank you for the attention!

Any questions?