Is PR good for you?

This week I attended an event at the University of Westminster entitled ‘Is PR good for you?’ targeted towards PR professionals and students I was intrigued to attend and see if the outcome of this debate could possibly be negative i.e. conclude that PR is bad for society.

The conclusion of the debate was far from a surprise; the verdict was that PR was indeed good for a society. The persuasive industry is a fundamental instrument of democracy and the right to persuade and influence a democratic right. This is the reason therefore in large democracies such as the US and the UK the PR industry is well established, in emerging markets/transitional countries there is a fascination with PR and in totalitarian states PR is absent.

I concluded on leaving the event that the findings were all very obvious for someone like myself and the other attendees who work in the persuasive industry … so what was the need for this event. Then I reflected I had just been PR –ed. This seminar had been an opportunity to PR, plug, promote, call it what you may the speaker’s new book on the discipline.

So is PR Good for you – yes it is. This event demonstrated the true power of PR…the art of influence and persuasion through increasingly more strategic means which brings your cause, concern or product to the public’s attention … no matter how intelligent they consider themselves to be…

By Danielle Thomas