Public Opinion #TUWelcome

The lines can be blurred when trying to pinpoint who is really pulling the strings in public relations. While we would love to think that it’s us, the publicists, sometimes that’s not the case. The public is often our best and our worst source of PR.

Take for example the promotion and announcement of Temple’s Welcome Week performer. Temple University hosts an annual week long celebration for new and returning students and their families, which includes a celebrity performance at the end of the week. In years past, the performer has typically been a musical artist, but this year Temple’s Main Campus Program Board (our activity planning committee) decided to go in a new direction and bring in a comedian. After the official announcement of the performer was made on Twitter, several hundred students voiced their opinions. However, not all of the opinions were very supportive. Several students expressed their excitement over the performer, retweeting and sharing the announcement with their friends. However, students who were not in favor took to Twitter to do the same.

Regardless of all the behind the scenes planning that goes into an event or PR campaign, once a statement is released there isn’t too much we can do to control public opinion. For better or worse, the public seems to be most heavily persuaded by itself. Whatever the majority deems appropriate is what the general population will support. To quote the character Gretchen Wieners from the movie Mean Girls, “You wouldn’t buy a skirt without asking your friends first if it looks good on you.” As simple as that analogy may be, it does sum up the basic concept.

PR professionals are notorious control freaks but some things, like public opinion, can simply be out of our hands. Doing all the work that you can, up until “the big announcement,” is sometimes all anyone can ask for. The rest is left up to the public to decide.

Have you ever had to battle public opinion? Tell us about how you handled the situation!

What Is PR?

Just what is public relations? Sure, we discuss the topic in our classes and amongst our peers and with professionals.  There's a dictionary definition and there's even a definition that the Public Relations Society of America released but what does the definition of public relations mean to us individually and for those aspiring young professionals who are about to enter the workforce?

The role of public relations in businesses and organizations and the responsibilities of the practicing professionals are changing at too rapid of a rate to hold true to any written definition. The emergence of new technologies and the now required use of social media has changed the face of public relations and how practitioners do their jobs.

About a month ago, PR Newswire asked their friends and followers on their social sites to complete this sentence, "PR is___". The organization received an overwhelming response. The responses were then compiled into an insightful infograph that can be found below.

 

So, what do you think? What is PR?

Barbie Goes Bald

Mattel Company is producing a bald Barbie as a result from a Facebook page that launched in December of last year by Rebecca Sypin and Jane Bingham, two friends affected by cancer.

Mattel company spokesman Alan Hilowitz told HealthPop that the company will produce a friend of Barbie that will have wigs, hats, scarves, and other accessories to give children "a traditional fashion play experience." The Barbie will have the option to remove the wigs and head coverings.



The company stated that they will not be selling the dolls at stores, but instead will donate them to children's hospitals, as well as the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

Supporters of the Facebook page are pushing to get the doll sold in stores.

The manufacturing of this product means Mattel listens to their public. As a result of Sypin and Bingham’s efforts of promotion, receiving more than 156 thousands likes on Facebook, the women were in the intimate process of developing the Barbie which included what she was to like look and what accessories were going to be available to the doll.

In Public Relations, it’s important for your consumers, contributors, or supporters to know that their opinion can directly impact the organization. Mattel not only fulfilled the wishes of a popular group by manufacturing the Barbie, but also is donating the funds to worthy organizations. It will be interesting to see if in the upcoming months if consumers will see the bald Barbie in stores.

Perry and Cain Take Big PR Hits for Political Blunders

Temperatures across the northeast may be unseasonably warm, but a few Republican presidential candidates seem to be experiencing a bit of brain freeze. Both Rick Perry and Herman Cain publically dropped the ball in the last week; resulting in another big drop, this time in the form of poll numbers.

It all started last Wednesday, November 9, when Texas Governor Rick Perry blanked on the name of the third government agency he would give the ax to once in office.

“Three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: commerce, education and the um, uh… what’s the third one there? Let’s see…” Perry stumbled and turned to Ron Paul, who helpfully offered to send the Environmental Protection Agency to death row. When pressed by the moderator, Perry stumbled again, “I can’t, the third one, I can’t... Oops.”

Perry took a big PR hit from his “oops” moment. A recent Washington Post/ABC poll shows that 42 percent of Republicans view Perry in a favorable light while 38 percent now view him unfavorably. Only four percent of perspective Republican voters say they would vote for Perry in the primary.

Herman Cain faired equally poorly in the past week. Cain stumbled his way into a foreign policy gaffe just as he distanced himself from the litany of sexual harassment allegations against him. When a journalist asked him if he agreed with President Obama’s response to the rebel uprising in Libya, Cain responded: “Okay… Libya…” He then paused for a full ten seconds, tried to get his bearings and ended up failing miserably. He offered lukewarm response well two minutes after the question was asked and came out of the interview looking very rusty on foreign policy. A recent CNN/ORC poll puts Cain’s support down to 14 percent, well below that of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Josh Gordesky wrote a piece for Ragan.com offering some helpful advice to prevent these Rick Perry/Herman Cain brain freeze moments. His three preventative measures to combat temporary amnesia are to take good notes, practice at least three times and to take some time to visualize yourself speaking in front of an audience before you go live. These are wise words of advice for anyone speaking in public, when presentation and memory is crucial.

Only time will tell if these two candidates can make up for the ground they lost this week. Rick Perry and Herman Cain need to take some time to really learn their positions, policy proposals and current events to have any chance becoming a frontrunner again.