Portfolio-Writing Sample-Samantha Walls

Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS: STRATEGIC ETHICS

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Public Relations

Ethics in Strategic and Tactical Management and how it affects the United States

Samantha Walls

Emory & Henry College: Professor White

11 December 2015

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PublicRelations:Ethics in Strategic and Tactical Management and how it affects the

United States

Samantha Walls, Class of 2017

Emory & Henry College

Abstract

ThePublicRelationsSocietyofAmerica(PRSA)firstadoptedthedefinitionofpublic

relations:a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships

between organizations and their publics. Thisacademicresearchpaperwilldiscussethicsof

strategicandtacticalmanagementinthePublicRelations(PR)field.Strategicmanagement

inpublicrelationsisarelativelynewmethodinthefield.Beforestrategicmethodswere

derived,thefieldusedatacticalmethodinstudiesandplanning.Whenlookingintothe

differentwaysthatpublicrelationscompanieshavefunctionedovertheyears,thereis

compellingevidencetoshowthatstrategicplanningisamoreethicalwaytorelateto

societybecauseofthedialogicalapproachthatthestudieswithintheplanningwork,unlike

themonologicalapproachthattacticalstudieshave.Byanalyzingcasestudiescompleted

duringtacticalandstrategicmethodcompanies,lookingatthepositiveandnegativesides

tobothmethods,andunderstandingtheimpactofthemethods,theethicsofstrategicand

tacticalmanagementcanbeconfirmedand(or)denied.Afterachievingtheunderstanding

ofethicsinbothmethods,wecanonceagainseethatstrategicmanagementinthepublic

relationsfieldismorecompellingbecauseofthepositiveeffectsthatstrategicmanagement

placesontheUnitedStates.

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I. Introduction

How important do you find ethics in life situations? Most people find ethics an essential part

of morals in all aspects of life. How important do you find ethics in public relations (PR)? Most

people probably don’t understand what public relations are, so the same people probably don’t

think that public relations ethics are that important. In reality, understanding ethics in the public

relations field is a key part of our understanding of the mass media and how the medias have

evolved over time. In my experience, understanding ethics in the public relations field helps in

comprehending an overall understanding of the field as a whole to come to a conclusion of which

type of management is more ethically important: tactical or strategic strategy in management.

“Strategy is about shaping the future. But even clever planning doesn’t work in the real world,”

(McKeown, 2012).

The understanding of ethics in public relations is important to the American society because

the people deserve to know why we see what we see in the media. Public relations cater to

clients in the United States government, education system, entertainment companies, non-profit

agencies, industry, business, athletic teams, and international business relations (Biagi, 241). It is

important to understand that what we see in the media is based off of monological or dialogical

approaches, which are the methods used in tactical management (monological approach) and

strategic management (dialogical approach). Strategic management in public relations shows a

more ethical approach of how to conduct studies using citizens and the more ethical way of

gaining the proper information to shape the mass medias that American’s use. To show that

strategic management is the route that a public relations company should take, analyzing studies

and looking at the positive and negative of both tactical and strategic management is important.

To confirm the previously stated proposition, public relations need to be further defined.

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II. What is Public Relations?

ThePublicRelationsSocietyofAmerica(PRSA)firstadoptedthedefinitionofpublic

relationsasa strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships

between organizations and their publics. A more simple definition of public relations is,

“creating an understanding for, or goodwill toward, a company, person, or a product,” (Biagi,

228). Ethics in the public relations field is an issue because of trying to figure out if a tactical

or strategic approach is the way to handle the public when conducting studies to receive

equality in data. The issue is important to the American society because citizens in all diverse

ways need to be represented equally in the mass medias that we all use. The only way that

our diverse citizens can be equally represented is by figuring out if tactical or strategic

approaches are more ethically accurate in the studies that are conducted by public relations

companies. For example, before companies began to use strategic methods of management

and planning, they would use tactical methods. Tactical methods focus on “the various

publics and the quality of its relationships with each of them… this approach tries to list the

organization's relationships in the order in which they should be given attention,” (Turney,

1998); this method is considered monological because the studies only focus on individual

voices to gain information. When companies use these tactical methods, it is unethical to

classify relationships in levels of importance when it comes to an overall public study.

If studies are going to be done to present information to all people in the media, then

relationships to all diverse publics need to be involved in the studies, not just a few selected

“important” publics. Strategic management in public relations is quite different; the methods

are considered dialogical because strategic management methods involve studying all diverse

relationships in the public to produce a well-rounded, unbiased mass media, which is a more

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ethical treatment to the United States as a whole. The companies that use strategic planning

“recognize emerging trends and patterns within the particular industry and subsequently

predict potential problems that may affect the current operating environment; foreseeing end

results of planned projects and their potential impact on the company's direction and

developing watertight fallback plans are important aspects of strategic intelligence and

planning,” (Donner, 2015); this planning is also more ethical when focusing on society

because it allows the company to predict what society would find offensive in the future,

where tactical planning only focusing on what is currently happening (not planning ahead).

To further understand the importance of ethics in tactical and strategic management in public

relations, positive and negatives of each method need to be discussed.

III. Positive/ Negative Aspects of Tactical and Strategic Management in Public Relations

When looking at the tactical side of public relations management, the negative aspect is

very convincing. Tactical management of public relations creates strong pressure between the

practitioners that run studies and the journalists that report in the mass media. It is believed

that this tension is caused because of the monological approach that is used in tactical

management. “Disconnect hits at the heart of the problems associated with media relations

posited that the problem can, and has, been overcome on an individual level, but widespread

distrust continues,” (Supa and Zoch, 2009). Supa and Zoch also state “the challenge lies in

the hands of the practitioners, that it is their responsibility to overcome negative perceptions

held by journalists, knowing those efforts may be hindered by other practitioners who use

tactics that are considerable undesirable (and unethical) by journalists.” The disadvantages of

strategic planning consist of the process being time consuming, it requires skillful training, it

is difficult to implement, and it is a complex process. Kelley Katsanos, a marketing analysis,

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has openly argued the previously listed disadvantages of strategic planning. “All of these

factors ultimately influence a company’s management, leadership and structural systems,

which have a bearing on decision-making,” (Katsanos, 2015). Katasanos also states,

“Managers spend a great deal of time preparing, researching and communicating the strategic

management process, which may impede day-to-day operations and negatively impact the

business. When issues are not resolved in a timely manner, higher employee turnover can

result. This could force a company to redirect critical resources, putting strategic

management initiatives on a sidetrack.”

Focusing on the positive side of tactical and strategic management, studies show that

even though that both studies show positive reaction, strategic studies are more accurate and

effective to the public from an ethical standpoint. Strategic management focuses on a

dialogical approach that was brought up from the monological approach of tactical

management, which is the positive aspect of strategic management. “…The currently

dominant monological approach to public relations has long been recognized by practitioners

and scholars to be ethically perilous, suggests an ethically more viable dialogic approach,”

(Botan, 1997). The positive side of tactical management is that it doesn’t take as long to

conduct studies like strategic management does, but because of the short amount of time that

tactical management uses in studies; the data can be skewed, which is problematic and

unethical to the individual groups that are getting left out of the media.

IV. Impact of Tactical and Strategic Management on the United States and Individuals

The impact that strategic and tactical management has on the United States as a whole

and as individuals are substantial. Back in the fall of 1982, the famous company Johnson &

Johnson© ran into trouble when seven people in Chicago died. It was further determined that

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the seven people that died had all taken Extra Strength Tylenol© that was laced with

cyanide. The doctor that worked with the case said, "The victims never had a chance. Death

was certain within minutes,” (Tifft, 18). At this point, Johnson & Johnson© had began to get

hatred all over the mass media. All three national news stations covered the story the same

evening that deaths were officially confirmed by laced Tylenol©. Police officers in major

cities were in their police cars announcing a warning over the loud speakers. “A day later, the

Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to avoid the Tylenol capsules, "until the

series of deaths in the Chicago area can be clarified."” (Tifft, 18) (Kaplan, 1998). The

publicity about the cyanide laced capsules immediately caused a nationwide panic. A

hospital in Chicago received 700 telephone calls about Tylenol in one day. People in cities

across the country were admitted to hospitals on suspicion of poisoning by cyanide (Tifft,

18).

Obviously, this uproar not only affected the United States as a whole, but it extremely

impacted individuals that were consistent users of Tylenol© products. All Tylenol© products

went from the number one selling over the counter drug to having a dramatic drop in the

market (Kaplan, 1998). The company knew that Tylenol© products would sell again.

The Kansas City Times published an article on November 12, 1982, by Rick Atkinson,

that was comprised of interviews with top executives at Johnson & Johnson shortly after the

Tylenol crisis. James E. Burke, chairman of the board of the corporation at the time of the

tampering, said that the poisonings put everyone at Johnson & Johnson into shock. He did

say though, that some of the initial public relations decisions pertaining to this case were easy

to make (Kaplan, 1998). The company’s public relations department made the decision to let

the public know to not take any Tylenol© product, sent warnings to healthcare professionals

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nationwide, and offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules that had already been purchased for

Tylenol tablets, which ended up being a $2 million loss.

The next step that the public relations department made was to unleash an extensive

marketing and promotional program to bring Tylenol back to its position as the number one

over-the-counter analgesic in the United States (Johnson & Johnson). Tylenol capsules were

reintroduced in November baring a new triple-seal tamper- resistant packaging. The new

packaging was appearing on market shelves by December, making McNeil Consumer

Products the first company in the pharmaceutical industry to react to the Food and Drug

Administration's new regulations and the national mandate for tamper-resistant packaging.

To advocate the use of Tylenol to customers who may have strayed from the brand as a result

of the tampering, McNeil Consumer Products provided $2.50-off coupons that were good

towards the purchase of any Tylenol product. The coupons could be obtained by consumers

calling a special toll-free number. This offer was also made in November and December

through popular newspapers where the $2.50 coupon was printed (Johnson & Johnson)

(Kaplan, 1998). The new advertising was launched in 1983.

Because of the strategic management that the public relations department had prior to the

fall of Tylenol© and the tactical management that they used during and after the fall, the

company was able to make a complete turn around of the tragic deaths from laced Tylenol©.

V. Improving Strategic Management

At this point, it is clear that strategic management in public relations is the most ethical choice

for companies, but there can be improvement. The main problem with strategic management is

that there isn’t a close enough analysis of social networking. “Social network analysis is a

methodology that has so far been underutilized within the human capital field, but it is uniquely

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suited for helping researchers and practitioners understand the complex relationships that are

driving organizations,” (Jamieson, 2015). The primary focus of the studies in strategic planning

is still on the individual and how that individual reacts with the media. “Without question, this

focus on the attributes of the individual and the job has been productive; however, this approach

neglects other critical aspects of organizational behavior and drivers of practical outcomes,”

(Jamieson, 2015). If companies begin to study more in social media, the possibilities of gaining

interest from multiple groups is phenomenal. “By highlighting some of the possible research

opportunities around social network analysis in the human capital domain, we can draw the

attention of researchers from other fields and ex-and the general interest in human capital. This

could generate a richer, more diverse knowledge pool, ultimately leading to a better

understanding of human capital,” (Jamieson, 2015).

VI. Conclusion

Ethics in the public relations field is an issue because of trying to figure out if a tactical or

strategic approach is the way to handle the public when conducting studies to receive

equality in data. Looking at the positive and negative aspects of strategic and tactical

management in public relations shows that strategic management is more ethical because the

methods in studies are more recognized by practitioners in the field and it allows more

cultures to be involved in the studies to create un-skewed data. When looking back at the

Johnson & Johnson© problem, the strategic planning that was already in place before the

Tylenol© issue happened, allowed the company to save the number one over the counter

drug in the United States. Strategic management in public relations shows a more ethical

approach of how to conduct studies using citizens and the more ethical way of gaining the

proper information to shape the mass medias that American’s use. “With a clever strategy,

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each action is self-reinforcing. Each action creates more options that are mutually beneficial.

Each victory is not just for today but for tomorrow,” (McKeown, 2012).

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Works Cited (Reference) Page

1) Biagi, S. (2015). Public Relations: Promoting Ideas. In Media Impact: An Introduction to

Mass Media (11th ed., p. 422). Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning.

2) Botan, C. (1997). Ethics in Strategic Communication Campaigns: The Case for a New

Approach to Public Relations. International Journal of Business Communication,

34(2), 188-202. Retrieved November, 2015.

3) Jamieson,B.(2015).Humancapital,socialcapital,andsocial

networkanalysis:implicationsforstrategichumanresourcemanagement.

AcademyofManagementPerspectives,29(3),370-385.

4) Johnson & Johnson. 'The Comeback." A Special Report From the Editors of Worldwide

Publication of Johnson & Johnson Corporate Public Relations. 1982.

5) Kaplan, T. (1998). The Tylenol Crisis: How Effective Public Relations Saved Johnson &

Johnson. Retrieved December 1, 2015.

6) McKeown, M. (2012). The Strategy Book (Vol. 1, p. 272). Upper Saddle River, New

Jersey: FT Press.

7) Supa, D.W. & Zoch, L.M. (2009). Maximizing media relations through a better

8) Supa, D. (2014, September 17). The Academic Inquiry of Media Relations as both a

Tactical and Strategic Function of Public Relations. Retrieved November, 2015.

9) Tifft, Susan. "Poison Madness in the Midwest." Time. October 11, 1982.

10) Turney, M. (2013, September 22). Public relations planning: Tactical planning steps.

Retrieved November, 2015.

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Annotated Bibliography

Biagi, S. (2015). Public Relations: Promoting Ideas. In Media Impact: An Introduction to

Mass Media (11th ed., p. 422). Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning. This chapter in our textbook, chapter 11 on public relations, discusses what public relations is, how it functions, and how it has changed over time. It also discusses the different types of public relations and why public relations are important. Botan, C. (1997). Ethics in Strategic Communication Campaigns: The Case for a New

Approach to Public Relations. International Journal of Business Communication, 34(2), 188-202. Retrieved November, 2015.

“…the currently dominant monological approach to public relations has long been recognized by practitioners and scholars to be ethically perilous, suggests an ethically more viable dialogic approach.” This article is about discussing the different categories in strategic public relations. This article also discusses the difference in monological and dialogical studies.

Jamieson,B.(2015).Humancapital,socialcapital,andsocialnetworkanalysis:

implicationsforstrategichumanresourcemanagement.AcademyofManagementPerspectives,29(3),370-385.

ThisacademicarticlediscussesthenewmethodsthatshouldbetakeninPublicRelations.Jamiesontalksabouthowsocialnetworkingneedstobestudiedmorewhenstudiesarebeingconducted. Johnson & Johnson. 'The Comeback." A Special Report From the Editors of Worldwide

Publication of Johnson & Johnson Corporate Public Relations. 1982. This report discusses the story of Johnson & Johnson and the Tylenol tragedy. I used it mainly for quotes from corporate executives and facts from the company. Kaplan, T. (1998). The Tylenol Crisis: How Effective Public Relations Saved Johnson &

Johnson. Retrieved December 1, 2015.

This article discusses the complete story of the Johnson & Johnson tragedy. It starts with the whole story, then moves into a discussion of how Strategic Public Relations Management saves the Tylenol product from collapsing. McKeown, M. (2012). The Strategy Book (Vol. 1, p. 272). Upper Saddle River, New

Jersey: FT Press.

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Thisbookdiscussesthestrategiesthatacompanyshouldtakewhenmakingstrategicplans.Iusedthisbookforquotesonplanningintheworkplace. Supa, D. (2014, September 17). The Academic Inquiry of Media Relations as both a Tactical and Strategic Function of Public Relations. Retrieved November, 2015. This is a website by the Institution of Public Relations. The article that I have chosen from the website is about five propositions for understanding media relations that could be employed by both researchers and practitioners in the field. It also focuses on how scholars should increasingly focus on the aspects of media relations that will be of greatest use to practitioners, how to best integrate media relations as a strategic public relations function, and how to best measure and evaluate media relations for an organization. Supa, D.W. & Zoch, L.M. (2009). Maximizing media relations through a better

understanding of the public relations-journalism relationship: A quantitative analysis of changes over the past 23years. Public Relations Journal, 3(4).

This academic article discusses the importance of practitioners and journalists. It includes both implications for academics for future study, and also for practitioners of media relations to hopefully better their practice.

Tifft, Susan. "Poison Madness in the Midwest." Time. October 11, 1982. This is an article from Time Magazine that was released the day after the Johnson & Johnson tragedy was confirmed. I used this for slight information and interviews that were received from Times. Turney, M. (2013, September 22). Public relations planning: Tactical planning steps.

Retrieved November, 2015.

This is an online version of Public relations planning: Tactical planning steps. It discusses the types of tactical planning that is helpful for a company. It also talked about how tactical planning has been slowly changing to strategic planning.

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Donald Trump’s Communication: Before and After Becoming the President Elect

Samantha Walls

Emory & Henry College

Author Note: The research included in this essay has been compiled for the English 333 class at

Emory & Henry College, titled Linguistics. The professor for the class is

Dr. Felicia Mitchell.

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Abstract

This study focuses on the linguistic aspects of President-elect Donald Trump. Looking at

semantics, pragmatics, syntax, and nonverbal communication allows understanding the formality

of the speeches that president-elect Trump gives to the public. The linguistic evidence gathered

during the research predicts that Donald J. Trump will continue to have unfiltered, informal

speeches after he becomes the president elect for the United States of America due to the

linguistic evidence showing that Donald Trump is a psychopath. The findings of the research

conclude that this study found that Donald Trump does have linguistically formal speeches, but

the informality that people see when watching or listening to his speeches is the psychopathic

signs of nonverbal communication and voice patters that were explored in the study.

Key words: Donald Trump, linguistics, psychopath, President-elect, speeches

Donald Trump’s Communication: Before and After Becoming the President Elect

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Donald J. Trump is the current President-elect of the United States of America for the

2016 term. Trump has been an interesting candidate from the beginning of the campaign trail

back in 2015 when Mr. Trump identified as a Republican and referred to himself as a

‘nonpolitician’. The reason that Trump became such an interesting candidate is because he did

not talk or give speeches as a typical politician and he seemed to be very informal compared to

his running mates.

The question of Donald Trump’s informality is already becoming popular in the world of

literature and research. Dr. Kevin Dutton is a research psychologist that has taken an interest in

researching presidential candidates for the United States through history. In Dutton’s most recent

article, “Would you vote for a psychopath,” he researches different presidential candidates

dating back to Bill Clinton up through the 2016 presidential race. In the research, Dutton uses an

outline of common positive traits of psychopaths that would help a country leader succeed. With

Donald Trump, the research concluded, “Trump trumped the rest of the field, achieving a total

psychopathy score in league with Hitler and Idi Amin. Of particular note, he outscored the other

three contenders in the Fearless Dominance dimension, associated with successful presidencies.

At the same time, however, his “negative” psychopathic ratings were also higher than the other

three candidates,” (Dutton). The question now is how does Dr. Dutton’s research relate to the

informality of Donald Trump’s language in his speeches. When analyzing Dr. Dutton’s research,

some of the psychopathic traits used to determine that Donald Trump is a psychopath would be

useful in the research to conduct the informality of Trump’s speech. Some of those traits include

the use of nonverbal communication and voice patterns. According to Glass (2009), forms of

nonverbal communication to be a red flag with psychopathic individuals include the following:

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a lack of fluidity in their body language… a stiffness and a rigidness to their

movements… often think they have good posture, but it comes from having a rigid

stance… a puffed out chest or breast to go along with this ego, as well as a swagger in his

walk, indicating they are above it all… seemingly out of control large hand and arm

gestures when trying to make a point… facial language.

The voice patterns to pay attention to include, “a deadness or a hollowness to their tone… a

whine in their tone from time to time when blaming others… get louder and the rate of speech

will get faster as they try to get your attention,” (Glass 2009). Any of the nonverbal

communications or voice patterns described by Dr. Lillian Glass, interpersonal communication

and body language expert, could be explanations for Donald Trump’s informality if indeed his

informality continues, now that he is president elect.

Because Donald Trump is such an interesting person when it comes to speech and

communication, the research in this paper will include looking at speeches during the times that

Mr. Trump was the Republican nominee and after he became the president elect for the United

States of America. The hypothesis being tested is the linguistic evidence gathered during the

research predicts that Donald J. Trump will continue to have unfiltered, informal speeches after

he becomes the president elect for the United States of America due to the linguistic evidence

showing that Donald Trump is a psychopath. If indeed Trump’s informality continues after

becoming president elect, there may be psychological reasoning. This hypothesis is important to

test because it allows for an understanding of how citizens that are not affiliated with politics

before getting involved in a presidential election can change during the course of an election and

the potential changes that could happen if that citizen was to get elected. The topic is relevant to

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citizens in the United States in society today because there is a higher potential for ‘nonpolitician

citizens’ to run for local, state, and federal government positions.

To better understand the research conducted, some key terms and ideas need to be

defined. For the purposes of this research, the idea of a ‘nonpolitician’ is to be described as, “a

person experienced in the art or science of government; especially one actively engaged in

conducting the business of a government,” (Merriam-Webster). Speeches are to be understood as

“the expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds,” and as “a

formal address or discourse delivered to an audience,” (Dictionary).

Method

In conducting the research, the primary focus will be looking at the semantics,

pragmatics, syntax, and nonverbal forms of communication in Donald Trump’s speeches to the

public. The data was be analyzed by qualitative and quantitative analysis and then placed into

graphs by numerical data and by percentages. There will be two charts used when looking at

Donald Trump’s speeches to be looking at the informality of language/speech and by looking at

the psychopathic signs of language. The charts help achieve the data for the research by allowing

a clear structure to analyze speeches that Donald Trump has given over the course of the election

and since he has been president elect.

The Informality of Speech Chart was used to show if Donald Trump has informal speech

or not based on a five-point scale. The lowest point in the chart is one. A one would be the

lowest form of informality for the category. If a five were achieved, then that category would be

scored as completely formal. The point scale includes poor quality, or informality, low quality,

moderate quality, good quality, and high quality, or complete formality.

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The Psychopathic Language Chart was used to make recognition of nonverbal

communications and voice patterns that are common with psychopaths. By making note of what

qualities of psychopathic language that Donald Trump has will help the analysis on if

psychopathy is an excuse for informality.

Informality of Speech Chart

*Scored on a 1-5 point scale* 1(poor quality) 2(low quality) 3(moderate quality) 4(good quality) 5(high quality)

Pragmatics The performance of language behavior

Clear and relevant sentence context (to the topic) Semantics Are words easy to understand?

Meaning, sense, reference, implication, and logical form of words and sentences

Syntax

Clear word phrasing, clear word and sentence structures

Overall relevance in sentence usage Nonverbal

Communication Positive gestures & Negative gestures Eye contact

Total Possible points: 45

Psychopathic Language Chart

Language Forms Yes No

Nonverbal Communication

A lack of fluidity in body language Stiffness and a rigidness to their movements Good posture Puffed out chest Swagger in his walk

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Large hand and arm gestures

Voice Patterns

Deadness or a hollowness to the tone Whine in the tone from time to time when blaming others

Get louder and the rate of speech will get faster as trying to get attention

It was originally hypothesized that the linguistic evidence gathered during the research predicts

that Donald J. Trump will continue to have unfiltered, informal speeches after he becomes the

president elect for the United States of America due to the linguistic evidence showing that

Donald Trump is a psychopath.

Results

The first of Donald Trump’s speeches that was researched took place at the Republican

National Convention on July 21, 2016 when Trump first accepted the Presidential Nomination

for the Republican Party. Referencing to appendix A, Donald Trump has a formality percentage

of 71.11 %. When looking at the psychopathic study, Trump shows 66.67 %, or six of the nine of

the psychopathic signs that are related with nonverbal communication.

Donald Trump’s speech on Immigration took place in Phoenix, AZ on August 31, 2016, roughly

a month after the Republican National Committee acceptance speech. Trump showed Linguistic

SpeechQualityRNCAcceptanceSpeech

PoorQuality

LowQuality

ModerateQuality

GoodQuality

HighQuality

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formality during this speech at 68.69% shown in appendix C. Appendix D shows the

psychopathic study for the immigration speech. Research shows that Trump showed 66.67% or

six of the nine of the psychopathic signs of nonverbal communication during the immigration

speech.

The speech that Donald Trump gave on the economy took place on September 15, 2016 in New

York City. For this speech, Trump showed 73.33% of linguistic formality, shown in appendix E.

Looking at the psychopathic research in appendix F, Trump showed 77.78% of the psychopathic

signs looked at.

SpeechQualityImmigrationSpeech

PoorQuality

LowQuality

ModerateQuality

GoodQuality

HighQuality

SpeechQualityEconomicSpeech

PoorQuality

LowQuality

ModerateQuality

GoodQuality

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November 9, 2016 is when Donald Trump’s victory speech took place for winning the

presidential race against Secretary Clinton. In appendix G, Trump’s linguistic formality for this

speech was 66.67%. He showed 88.89% of the psychopathic signs looked at, shown in appendix

H.

The final speech looked at took place on November 11, 2016. In this speech about Trump and his

family, he showed 64.44% of linguistic formality, shown in appendix I. In appendix J, Trump

showed 77.78% of psychopathic signs looked at.

Discussion

SpeechQualityVictorySpeech

Poorquality

Lowquality

Mideratequality

Goodquaity

SpeechQualityFamilySpeech

Poorquality

Lowquality

Moderatequality

Goodquality

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The hypothesis that was tested is the linguistic evidence gathered during the research

predicts that Donald J. Trump will continue to have unfiltered, informal speeches after he

becomes the president elect for the United States of America due to the linguistic evidence

showing that Donald Trump is a psychopath. Looking at Trump’s speeches linguistically, he

never had extremely low speech quality. The data fluctuates on how well Trump did per each

category linguistically, but overall, his linguistic formality never fell below 64.44%. Considering

that Donald Trump comes across as informal in his speeches, there is no proof linguistically that

his speeches are informal.

When looking at Donald Trump’s psychopathic signs of nonverbal communication, there

is some interesting data. Once again, his speeches fluctuated in percentage, but overall, he is seen

as a psychopath where the data confirmed that a majority of the time, Trump shows psychopathic

signs of nonverbal behavior and in his voice patterns.

The overall finding raise some questions about Donald Trump based off the hypothesis.

Since Donald Trump has been classified as linguistically formal, can he still be classified as a

psychopath on linguistic terms? Just because Donald Trump shows to be linguistically formal

does not mean that he is not a psychopath. The study shows that his psychopathic signs are

clearly present and show in speeches. It is a safe conclusion to say that this study found that

Donald Trump does have linguistically formal speeches, but the informality that people see when

watching or listening to his speeches is the psychopathic signs of nonverbal communication and

voice patters that were explored in the study. Further studies could be conducted by researching

if in fact the informality that people see in Donald Trump’s speeches is related to psychological

psychopathy.

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Reference

Donald Trump's Full Immigration Speech [Video file]. (2016, August 21). In LA Times.

Retrieved November 6, 2016.

Donald Trump's Speech on Jobs and the Economy [Video file]. (2016, September 15). In

TIME. Retrieved November 10, 2016.

Donald Trump Wins 2016 Presidential Election [Video file]. (2016, November 9). In

Vox. Retrieved November 21, 2016.

Donald Trump 2016 RNC Speech [Video file]. (2016, July 21). In Politico. Retrieved

November 10, 2016.

Dutton, K. (2016, September/October). Would You Vote for a Psychopath? Scientific

American Mind, 27(5), 50-55. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from EBSCO.

Politician. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016.

President-elect Trump Speaks to a Divided Country [Video file]. (2016, November 13). In 60

Minutes. Retrieved November 23, 2016.

Speech. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016.

Speech and Voice Patterns of a Sociopath. (2009, December 18). Retrieved November

28, 2016.

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Appendix A

Informality of Speech Chart for Acceptance Speech RNC


Pragmatics The performance of language behavior 4

Clear and relevant sentence context (to the topic) 2 Semantics Are words easy to understand? 5


3

Syntax


4

Overall relevance in sentence usage 2 Nonverbal

Communication Positive gestures 3 Negative gestures 4 Eye contact 5

Results Possible points: 45 71.11 % quality

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Appendix B

Psychopathic Language Chart for Acceptance Speech RNC



A lack of fluidity in body language ü Stiffness and a rigidness to their movements ü Good posture ü Puffed out chest ü Swagger in his walk ü Large hand and arm gestures ü

Voice Patterns

Deadness or a hollowness to the tone ü Whine in the tone from time to time when blaming others

ü


ü

Results YES: 6 NO: 3 6 out of 9 66.67 % of psychopathic signs

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Appendix C

Informality of Speech Chart for Immigration Speech





4

Syntax


3



Results Possible points: 45 68.89 % quality

31

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Appendix D

Psychopathic Language Chart for Immigration Speech




Voice Patterns


ü


ü

Results YES: 6 NO: 3 6 out of 9 66.67% of psychopathic signs

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Appendix E

Informality of Speech Chart for Economy Speech





4

Syntax


4



Results Possible points: 45 73.33% quality

33

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Appendix F

Psychopathic Language Chart for Economy Speech




Voice Patterns


ü


ü


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Appendix G

Informality of Speech Chart for Victory Speech





3

Syntax


3



Results Possible points: 45 66.67% quality

30

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Appendix H

Psychopathic Language Chart for Victory Speech




Voice Patterns


ü


ü


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Appendix I

Informality of Speech Chart Family Speech





3

Syntax


3



Total Possible points: 45 64.44% quality

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Appendix J

Psychopathic Language Chart Family Speech




Voice Patterns


ü


ü


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(Group Project)

Sneak Exchange

Have you ever wanted to invest your hard-earned money in something that can generate

wealth for you on its’ own? Not something that is considered a ‘risk’ but rather something that

has results that are statistically more reliable than those of the stock market. This idea is not

something that your local bank has offered, nor is it an idea that you and your friend had sharing

dinner at your house one evening. The interesting thing about this opportunity is it is almost that

simple, though. This money making opportunity lies within the shoes that you could be wearing

on your feet. That’s right! Sneakers have more than enough capability to generate wealth for

whomever purchased them.

For as long as Nike and Jordan have been around, sneakers have been used as more than

a product to protect your feet, they have been transformed into more of a status symbol in some

cases. And this is where the sneakers can generate wealth for the wearer. If you put numbers

behind the idea, it begins to become more clear. Forbes says that there were approximately nine

million pairs of sneakers resold last year at a value of around 1.2 billion dollars. Given that the

resale market is worth 1.2 billion dollars; Forbes also claims that Nike (Jordan) account for 96%

of the shoes sold in the resale market. The collectors or “sneakerheads” get a profit of around

33% when they sell each shoe on account of them raising the price up to accommodate the

demand. This means that the resale profit on Nike shoes alone is $380 million. Elsewhere in the

market, Skechers (the #2 sneaker company going into this research done in 2015), had a net

income of $209 million. This would lead researchers to believe that Nike customers, or at least

the resellers of Nike shoes, make almost double as much profit as Nike’s next closest competitor.

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Nike controls this market very efficiently by only releasing limited amounts of each shoe.

If we take the air Jordan XII “Taxi” as an example, the last time these shoes were released was in

2013 for a retail price of $250. It was no surprise that the release of the iconic shoe was so highly

anticipated that there were lines out of Footlockers all over the country, these lines were filled

with people of all ages and some of those have even been there from days to even a whole week

in advance. As per their usual standards, the shoes sold out worldwide in minutes, and minutes

after that there were thousands upon thousands of Jordan XII’s online for as much as 3x retail

value. This number is purely because of the hype and the demand for the shoe. This is where

Nike’s marketing strategy differs from that of other major companies like Apple. Apple has these

huge lines also, but where Apple’s huge lines at the store happen once every few years, Nike’s

lines happen every Saturday making them almost 104x as often. Apple has a different view on

marketing where Apple will sell an iPhone to anyone that wants to buy one and can afford one.

Nike on the other hand has shoes like this $200 pair in select quantities making them tougher to

get, even for those with plenty of money to purchase them. This hype of the Nike brand enables

them to sell millions of their shoes for $60 just for people idolizing the brand and knowing about

the recognition. How can one capitalize on all this data in order to make a profit? That is where

Sneak Exchange comes in.

Sneak Exchange is a Limited Liability Corporation that runs through an app that can be

downloaded on any smartphone. It can also be reached through the internet on and computer.

This application can work as both a middle man, as well as a brokerage account. Imagine if you

bought stock the way you purchased sneakers. You search hundreds of different sources to find

the best price on the stock, or even stumble across someone in public wearing the stock. You

have no idea how to appropriately value your stock, or even if the stock you are purchasing is

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real. This is where customers can rely on Sneak Exchange. Not only are we a middleman to help

users of the app buy and sell sneakers with one another and validate authenticity, but we also

have the ability to act as a stock portfolio. We would have the resale value for hundreds of pairs

of sneakers right at your fingertips. If you use the example of the Jordan XII you could input

what you originally purchased the sneaker for then see how your purchase compares to that on

the market value so on an asset level, you can see if you have a gain or loss on each individual

sneaker, or your collection as a whole.

For our marketing strategy we decided to use social media. Our reason for choosing

social media is because social media occupies most of people’s time. With that being the case,

we thought that it would be the best way to go in promoting our product. Using the different

social media platforms we are exposing our brand to most of our target market, which are

consumers ages eighteen and older. Using social media also helps us to listen to our

customers. This gives our customers the option to tell us what they like about our product and

also what they wish that we would change about our product. Social media allows us to broaden

our customer base to places that we could not have reached otherwise. Utilizing social media

allows you to build relationships with your customers, which is important because it will make

them want to keep coming back and tell others about our product which, will then create further

opportunities for future profits.

Advertising is a large part of making a product successful. Where we have decided to use

a social media approach, all advertising has been created around social media aspects to allow

for the product to be successfully released. In doing so, we have created top and side location

banners, a logo to use for social media, block advertisements, and small promo advertisement

blocks for sources such as facebook. Advertising through social media is the most cost efficient

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way to release information and to promote a product. With the target market being 18+, the

social media advertising campaign would be the most successful source of reaching more people.

A key part of advertising was to include our motto, “Sneak Exchange. Know Your Worth”. By

including our motto, there is more of an overall appeal to potential customers and allows for a

way to remember the company by just an advertisement.

The total budget for the app is the original million dollars that we have already. 86,016

dollars will go towards the steel warehouse for us to be able to house the shoes and cleats that we

own, as well as the ones that come in for authentication checks. The cost to make the app itself

will most likely range from 300-500 thousand price range, with us being the main designers, but

bringing in consultants to help on the project. If the cost for the app does not exceed 500

thousand dollars, that would leave us with 413,984 left in the budget, we could then use 250,000

to buy our own inventory of shoes and cleats giving the app it's own little kickstart. 50,000 to

pay for the initial advertising we would be doing. Then with the last 113,984 being used to pay

for the property tax and utilities for the first two years, or to help with any unforeseen

emergencies that may arise. What we plan to do with the money that is invested in us would be

to expand our network. For example for our business to thrive we need a good logistics

relationship with a company such as fedex or ups, the extra money could be used to invest in that

relationship. As well as to build upon the app, and the servers that will be needed to run it, with

possible growth into a website for people who want to shop from their computers at home. This

budget is susceptible to change though depending on circumstances that may arise.

Our overall mission is to create a safe and easy way for people to resell sneakers and

cleats online in a time efficient fashion. Through the success of the company, we plan on making

sure that we help people 18 and older to sufficiently resell sneakers and cleats online and we

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hope to supply customers with quality care, customer support, quality stock, and accurate resale

values. Sneak Exchange is planning on being able to help people resell their sneakers and cleats

in a way that is simple and for good prices. We also plan to expand our company and maintain

maximum efficiency at what we do.

Portfolio-Writing Sample-Samantha Walls

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