Today has been an exciting day for me as a student. Our fair trade organization on campus has just become an official organization at the University! We even have a new listserv now!
A good friend of mine introduced me to the concept of fair trade after she attended a leadership conference last summer. She became a member of an important fair trade group known as Oxfam. http://www.oxfamamerica.org/.
Oxfam is an agency dedicated to ending world poverty. One of its biggest promotions is the idea of fair trade world-wide. Moreover, many may look at world poverty and think about starving children in some country 10,000 miles away, but farmers all over the world (and this includes the U.S.) can't feed their families because of the abuse of subsidies today.
You can probably relate to this by thinking about where you plan on making your next grocery shopping trip. Are you going to go to the farmer's market for vegetables, or are you looking for the cheapest prices at your local grocery store? These small decisions are forcing many farmers to live in poverty.
By encouraging the production and sale of fair trade products, I think that the program is steadily growing, and I am glad to be a part of it. I've also been designated the official PR person for our group, so there's experience to be had! Has anyone heard of this program or know of an organization within your vicinity using effective PR in the area of fair trade? I'd like to look at what others have done so far.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Scary Side of PR?
Although this is my second blog post, I can't help but delving into this. One of my professors sent me a link to a video clip that portrays public relations in a way that I feel would frighten anyone before bedtime. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rPQCPwdwHQ. I don't know how many people have seen this clip, but being a public relations major, it made me feel like I'm being associated with the mafia.
I think everyone in the field is aware of the bad reputation public relations has been given for quite a while now. Many of my professors feel we're slowly coming out of this, but this video is yet another constant reminder of how "dirty" the business is portrayed.
One of the most memorable images for me was a small girl in a field of flowers, definitely reminiscent of a cold war ad that many remember. I think the main message here is, public relations is corrupting the children. I know that I heard the word manipulative used at least three times, and the term propaganda would not go away.
Another note I'd like to make is the strong correlation the clip made with advertising and public relations. The video basically used these terms as if they were the same thing, and this bothered me.
Why is it that the "public relations people" are the ones seen as sending out ads anyway? I know that the two fields are obviously related, but clips like this make us out to be silent killers.
I recommend that everyone view this, especially if you're familiar with public relations, and tell me what you think about it. I know that I'm an amateur with this stuff, but am I blowing this out of proportion, or is it what it is? An ironic, anti-advertising\public relations "stunt."
I think everyone in the field is aware of the bad reputation public relations has been given for quite a while now. Many of my professors feel we're slowly coming out of this, but this video is yet another constant reminder of how "dirty" the business is portrayed.
One of the most memorable images for me was a small girl in a field of flowers, definitely reminiscent of a cold war ad that many remember. I think the main message here is, public relations is corrupting the children. I know that I heard the word manipulative used at least three times, and the term propaganda would not go away.
Another note I'd like to make is the strong correlation the clip made with advertising and public relations. The video basically used these terms as if they were the same thing, and this bothered me.
Why is it that the "public relations people" are the ones seen as sending out ads anyway? I know that the two fields are obviously related, but clips like this make us out to be silent killers.
I recommend that everyone view this, especially if you're familiar with public relations, and tell me what you think about it. I know that I'm an amateur with this stuff, but am I blowing this out of proportion, or is it what it is? An ironic, anti-advertising\public relations "stunt."
Welcome to my world of PR!
I tried not to be too misleading with the name of this blog, so what you see is what you get. This blog is about me and my functionings as a public relations major. This is my first blogging experience ever! I am an undergraduate college student working under Dr. Karen Russell while finishing up my last semester at the University of Georgia. One of our assignments this semester is to create a blog pertaining to the world of PR.
Now I'll be honest, I've successfully avoided blogging for quite a while now, but I guess it's about time for me to go ahead and throw myself out there. At first, this assignment scared the living daylights out of me. Blogging about PR? It's hard enough explaining the relevance of it to people, like my family and friends, who have no clue about what PR is in general.
Some of the most common questions I receive are: "S0, what exactly is PR?" and "What do you do with a public relations degree?"
I'll admit, before entering the program, I had the same questions. However, now that I plan on graduating with this degree in just a few short months (that's the plan anyway), I've been proud of my new-found abilities to answer these overwhelmingly redundant questions. I'm also pretty excited about blogging on PR, because what I've realized is that it's EVERYWHERE!!!
Now I'll be honest, I've successfully avoided blogging for quite a while now, but I guess it's about time for me to go ahead and throw myself out there. At first, this assignment scared the living daylights out of me. Blogging about PR? It's hard enough explaining the relevance of it to people, like my family and friends, who have no clue about what PR is in general.
Some of the most common questions I receive are: "S0, what exactly is PR?" and "What do you do with a public relations degree?"
I'll admit, before entering the program, I had the same questions. However, now that I plan on graduating with this degree in just a few short months (that's the plan anyway), I've been proud of my new-found abilities to answer these overwhelmingly redundant questions. I'm also pretty excited about blogging on PR, because what I've realized is that it's EVERYWHERE!!!
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