CMN 595 - PR Burn Book

Dear Diary, No I’m totally just kidding. This is not that kind of book. This is your guide to making it through the various cliques in the Public Relations world. In this world, PR strategists work with various groups to promote their brand, reputation, or cause. With the client in mind, PR groups work to shape public opinion in the most positive of outlooks. What PR shouldn’t be about is shady, self-serving business practices. Lying intentionally with disregard to the public’s safety is a big no-no. Putting someone else’s name on your work so you don’t have to face the consequences is cheating. And promoting inaccuracies and unbalanced biases is a quick way to have yourself expelled from the PRSA, the most exclusive club in school.

IVY LEE Mr. Lee is definitely the kind of principal that gives THROW DIMES LOL, DAD! preferential treatment to the popular jocks over the AT ‘EM! school outcasts. Like when John D. Rockefeller THE ROCKY FELLERS and his cronies all totally slaughtered the Ludlow Minors at the last football game - wow was it bloody! And then afterwards he organized this whole press junket to show off how good and kind our boys are? These photo-ops are just as fake and staged as his totally biased “fact sheets.” Obviously the newspapers ate it all up. I guess if he can make dumb jocks look like upstanding citizens he’s doing a pretty good job building a great reputation for our school. ADMINISTRATION

EDWARD BERNAYS ADMINISTRATION Nepotism much? Our Vice Principal might be seen as the, “Father of PR,” but being the nephew of Sigmund Freud sure makes it easier to make a name for yourself. Just because he started the whole public relations trend doesn’t mean he gets to make the rules for the entire industry. He was known for the engineering of consent…blah blah blah, but what was really cool was his masterminding of the debutants smoking cigarettes in the Easter Parade. Lucky Strike sure got lucky with that stunt. I’ll give it to the guy, he was pretty flashy with his tactics and I don’t just mean because of that publicity grab he did with General Electric and their Light’s Golden Jubilee in 1929. These pseudo- events are like the can’t-miss-parties of the year: there are always more than there should be and you’re often left feeling very underwhelmed.

Student Government GRASS ROOTS Want to feel like you’re making a difference at school? I guess you can start by joining these weirdos who all get together in support of a cause to raise funds for a particular product, policy, or event. These kids do it all on their own without the financial support or influence of large parties. They are very I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T if you know what I mean. Student organizations like the Sierra Club and Veterans for Peace are all brown-nosers, I mean examples of what grassroots looks like at our school.

ASTROTURF PtOotSaElRS These front groups are about as real as Blake Lively’s nose. Sure they look good on the surface, but they are only around to make other people look good. Be cautious when you see groups of people organizing to take a stand; they probably have a puppet master pulling all their strings. Puppet masters like the soda industry organized groups of people in New York to protest a ban on selling 44oz. Big Gulps because apparently it “limited their rights.” Like, helloooo? You aren’t being edgy by protesting on behalf of soda. Another astroturfing group? Citizens for Fire Safety pretending to look out for citizens when really they were founded by fire retardent corporations and used as a pawn by Big Tobacco to prove that cigarettes don’t Student Government cause fires, furniture does. SLUFthRReEPE

THINK TANKS Don’t you hate it when people are always telling you what to think? If you do, you should join a think tank and then tell others what to think. This way you can sway public opinion in your favor or on the behalf of an organization you support. These groups are definitely NOT bi… partisan that is. Their funding comes from the same group of people who have an agenda to shape the way we think. Take, for example, the George C. Marshall Institute, a “small science policy think tank” that isn’t actually doing any science but is still managing to shape public policy. Or the Cato Institute created by Charles Koch–just one of many think tanks created by a Koch brother and then funded by the other. I don’t know about you, but that seems mad sus to me. Student Government

LEDGRIASFLTAITNIGON Student Government If you don’t like something, change it. That’s what our teachers are always telling us. Like Mr. Byoir did when he started the whole trend of drafting legislation as a PR move to benefit his clients’ overall goals. He worked with A&P to create a campaign that criticized a new bill that wanted to protect Ma & Pa stores by imposing a tax on chain companies and got that bill blocked hardcore. The Sugary Association totally copied this strategy when they warned various brands with excess added sugar to keep their conclusions about sugar effects to themselves or else they might find themselves being legislated against. Not so sweet after all.

COSTUMING Why are theatre kids always playing dress up? Just because you dress something up in a disguise, doesn’t mean the thing wearing the costume is actually something new. Sure, maybe on display they look and will make the audience oooh and aahhh, but I see right through them. It’s like FASHION: but make it a) ENVIRONMENTAL - Coca-Cola meets WWF, BP after they spill oil in the ocean b) BREAST CANCER AWARENESS - Yoplait teams up with Susan G. Komen c) LGBTQ-FRIENDLY - Converse promotes Pride Month GREEN RAINBOW Theatre Kids PINK WASHERS

CASTINg DOUBT Did you hear the latest rumor? DSROAMMUAC!H I can’t believe it either. But I guess that’s the point. Doubt is just another role to be cast in this play called life. If you can’t be convinced of something entirely, all it takes is even the tiniest amount of doubt to keep people on your side. Big Tobacco companies manufacture doubt by questioning the science, shifting the blame (sorry, furniture), creating controversy (should we really be adding harmful toxins to our homes just to make things fire-retardant? Ew, gross), attacking the messenger, threatening your freedom, etc. You didn’t really believe what you heard in the girls bathroom, did you? Be careful who you trust. Theatre Kids

PUBLICITY STUNT As if starring in the school plays weren’t enough attention, publicity stunts are used to garner attention or raise awareness for brands/causes. When women were fighting for their right to vote, they dressed in all white to make sure they were truly seen. Similar to this strategy, protestors at the Red for Ed marches all wore red. The main goal of the publicity stunts: make sure it will make for a good photo. Who can forget the images of empty buses during the Montgomery Bus Boycott or the African-Americans riding bikes alongside said buses to get to work? Before stickers were slapped all over water bottles, “Boycott Grapes,” stickers raged in the produce section. And maybe my favorite stunt of all: the AIDS quilt that covered the mall in Washington D.C. These stunts offer great opportunities for journalists to capture impactful photos. Theatre Kids

Te“sEtximpeornti”als Popular Athletes You should believe what I’m saying because I’m an expert in this field. Good. Now that you’re listening to me, your regular PR expert, I’m here to tell you the truth. Corporations will hire scientists and other “experts,” in any given field to come out in support of specific research that backs up the company’s interests. Exxon Mobil hired “experts” from think tanks to sway opinions towards pro-industry research. The tobacco industry is especially good at finding experts that will tell you there’s no conclusive data that links smoking cigarettes to lung cancer. Can you believe that? Of course you can. And you probably will because they’re the experts. CIGS ARE COOL - experts

AnOtpip-oAsmiteiorincsan You can always tell a lot about a person based on the kind of vehicle they drive. Like the jocks in their huge pickup trucks who bully people by calling them Communisist, you know exactly what you’re going to get with them. They love ‘Merica and if you don’t, you just might find yourself shoved into a locker. They started doing this dumb thing where they call members of our recycling club, watermelons because they were green on the outside, red on the inside. I think they learned this behavior from Big Tobacco using the argument that making “clean air laws” is taking away personal liberties and restricting people’s rights. How utterly un-American. What will they try to do next? Nothing, if our proud boys have anything to say about it. Popular Athletes

TOFUTNHDEINAGRTS Popular Athletes David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins As if raising money at bake sales and car washes weren’t enough, now they have to go and throw those proceeds at establishments like museums or the local theater to show they support the arts? Just like the Koch Brothers threw their money to get entire halls at museums named after them, this funding gives them access to have input over the narrative, they can now impact how we feel about certain things. Just because they have money! Please stick to getting the crowd to parrot back unoriginal chants and stop trying to take over everything!

Strategic Philanthropy CCHHAIN- G Speaking of throwing money around, many corporations tie their brand Popular Athletes to a good cause to further promote themselves and increase their bottom line. This is the oldest trick in the book, going back even before John D. Rockefeller threw dimes at children in Ludlow, CO after ruthlessly slaughtering many in the camp nearby. This tactic is used as a way to manufacture an image that showcases good works and intentions as they take interest in the causes that people care about most. Notable donations come from Coca-Cola to the World Wildlife Fund anytime someone buys their product a panda is saved or something like that. Or if you eat Yoplait Yogurt with a pink lid, then a portion of that sale will go towards Susan G. Komen and breast cancer research. We get it. You “care.” Can I get some of that money though?

Opinion Polling Media Nerds The lunchtime survey results are in and they show that reaching out to consumer/general public through polls to ask them about their feelings on products, ideas, brands, etc. is a good idea! This assessment is done in order to aid in shaping marketing and advertising tactics. Groups such as Pew Research, and SurveyUSA conduct opinion polls for various political offices and positions. SurveryUSA did this when they looked into voter registration in Missouri before a major electioon. NUMBERS DON’T LIE UNLESS A RANDO GUY ASKS FOR YOUR PHONE NUMBER

MEDIA NERDS Scientific Misinformation My hypothesis states that 47% of students believe everything they’re told. What the data actually says is that 53% of students actively listen while they’re in class. This distortion of facts, or twisted scientific data is the reason global warming deniers keep telling us that “a consensus has not been met.” The Greenhouse Coalition, made up of oil companies, would pay to have expert scientists come out and publicly disagree with data found by climate scientists. The IPCC is made up of thousands of climate scientists and still has to actively combat the misinformation spread by the NIPCC, a group of people (not scientists) opposed to climate change. Yudkin and Keys are two scientists who have very different takes on sugar; it’s either very unhealthy or not that bad as long as it is consumed in moderation. Many contradictory papers like, “Sugar and the Diet of Man,” written by Stare came out in direct response to the AHA when they tried to tell the public the recommended number of servings of added sugar each day. We may be talking about sweets, but I feel like some scientist, somewhere, is majorly salty. sooo SHADY!

Video News Media Nerds Release Oooh JUICY! These prepackaged “news” videos are often seen on the 5 o’clock news to give “overworked” journalists a break from reading a teleprompter. When you have to pay an agency to do your job for you, are you even a real journalist? Seems like an easy way to pass off the “news” to local viewers. Remember when Tropicana tried to get us to buy their orange juice because it was an “excellent source” of Vitamin C? Or when Citizens for Free Kuwait were used as propaganda to get the country to go to war? The only baby you’ll find getting tossed out of incubators are the journalist babies that are too busy whining about low pay to do their job and actually check the facts.

The OUTCASTS Third-Party Advocates Sometimes it’s nice to be asked for your opinion, but seeking out and paying an “independent expert” to promote the credibility of a product or idea seems like a new low if you’re trying to male a good impression. This person is just a mouthpiece. Like when Big Tobacco hired firefighters to say that cigarettes didn’t cause house fires. Instead, they paid Peter Sparber to infiltrate firefighting departments and plant the seeds that firefighters would be excellent “independent voices.” Just like the Four Minute Men reading their pre-written speeches, these “advocates” are just excited about their four minutes of popularity and being relevant. DO WHAT YOUR MAMA TOLD YA

Cause Marketing The OUTCASTS Sometimes it’s okay to show that you care. Many companies do this when their promotional efforts are used to benefit both the company and society. Doing this increases the company’s popularity by increasing their social standing with the public. Wal-Mart’s contribution to helping those suffering from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina made approval ratings for the company skyrocket. Starbucks donated 10 cents of every made-to-order beverage to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS on World AIDS Day. Walgreens collaborated with Red Nose Day to raise awareness and funds for children in need. Bono and Oprah supported (RED) to raise money to fight against AIDS. The list goes on and on, and I think you’ll find that the easiest way to get people to care about you is to show that you care about them. Blegh, that was cheesy!

The OUTCASTS Anti-Publicity Campaign Always doing their best to stay away from mainstream topics, anti-publicity campaigns are used to dissuade journalists from using newly discovered information that contradicts a company’s own findings. When David Steinman’s, Diet for a Poisoned Planet, was set to be released, a PR firm was hired to make sure that word never spread about his book and most importantly his claims which exposed the many pesticides in farming. Morgan & Meyers ran a campaign for the National Dairy Board to work against John Robbins’ book, May All be Fed.

THE END AND THAT’S HOW PUBLIC RELATIONS DIED... NO, I’M TOTALLY JUST KIDDING

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Boeing is Building Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS)-11+ Satellite Using Advanced Techniques to Deliver Unrivaled Capability at \"Record-Breaking Speed\" - 3D printing, rapid prototyping, agile development enabling high-paced production while enhancing system performance - With more than double the capability of its predecessors, increased flexibility and resilience, as well as improved anti-jamming, WGS-11+'s mission utility is unrivaled NEWS PROVIDED BY Boeing  Mar 01, 2022, 10:00 ET EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing has begun building the latest version of the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite system, WGS-11+, using advanced techniques to effectively integrate the latest commercial technology while enabling a high- paced five-year schedule that will deliver years faster than similar clean-sheet designs.  Artist rendering of WGS-11 (Boeing image)  