PR and Crowds

Robert W. Gehl

Ivy Lee, the Crowd, and Public Relations

Ivy Lee, an early public relations professional
Ivy Lee, early public relations professional
A protest march in DC
Is this a crowd? Is this The Public? Is this a public?
A crown on red satin

Ivy Lee: “The people now rule. We have substituted for the divine right of kings, the divine right of the multitude. The crowd is enthroned.” (7)

A boat interior, crowded with immigrants from China
A dock crowded with immigrants from Europe
A map of the US showing migration patterns of Black folks from the South to many Northen US cities.
a boxing match

Ivy Lee describes “that uncanny, almost demoniacal shout of delight which arises from the the watching crowd" during a boxing match (p. 31)

a man standing on a box speaking to a large crowd

Ivy Lee: “The crowd craves leadership. If it does not get intelligent leadership, it is going to take fallacious leadership.” (22)

Industrial tycoon Vanderbilt saying, 'the public be damned. I am working for my shareholders.'
Ivy Lee, an early public relations professional
Ivy Lee's response: No, you need to talk to The Public, unless you want it to be a Crowd

Don't Like Your Publics? Make a New One Up!

a picture of astroturf, the fake grass
The logo of the Public Relations Society of America
The logo of the Canadian Public Relations Society
An advertisement for Lucky Strikes cigarettes, featuring a woman in a green dress
An article by University of Bath, discussing the Phillip-Morris created group Alliance of Australian Retailers
An article the cable company Comcast paying people to take up seats at an FCC hearing
The Wikipedia English page for the Working Families for Walmart astroturf campaign, run by the PR firm Edelman
The Narwhal's report on Canada Action's funding

Negotiating with the Crowd: Engaging with Activists

A protest march in DC
Is this a crowd? Is this The Public? Is this a public?
The cover of the 2006 book Ethics in Public Relations

Chapter “Negotiating Relationships with Activist Publics," by Linda Hon

Review question: What is the two-way symmetrical model of public relations communication?

Linda Hon on Activists

  • “Organizations and activist publics are groups of people in a public relationship.” (58)
  • She even notes that environmentalists and energy companies (e.g., petroleum companies) can be partners
  • Overall she presents an ideal situation where corporations and activists sit down, negotiate and compromise – a two-way model
Ivy Lee, an early public relations professional
Talk to your publics, unless you want them to be a crowd

Well-behaved Publics versus Crowds

  • “Many situations seem to demonstrate how organizations were caught off guard and ended up reacting to a situation rather than proactively anticipating and managing activism for the long-term best interest of the organization and publics involved.” (Hon, 53)

Well-behaved Publics versus Crowds

  • “Activist publics should use the same ethical approach for advocacy that is prescribed here. In other words, activist publics should communicate with the organizations they target in the same manner that the activists would prefer to be treated." (Hon)

Well-behaved Publics versus Crowds

  • If the organization does not “respond to activism in a responsible and effective way,” activist groups can stage media events, pressure lawmakers, call for boycotts, or litigate (Hon, 57)
Several people blocking a major road with bicycles
Activists might believe talking is ineffective

Multiple Publics, unexpected outcomes

A screenshot of the article Which Publics, When?
An article by Alison Mohr, Sujatha Raman, Beverley Gibbs

Adding to Cody's Definition

  • Mohr et al: “‘publics’ are plural, dynamic and capable of mobilising around shared interests.”
  • “Publics are provisional, always in the process of being formed and re-formed in response to certain conditions, and may be transformed through the process of engagement.”
A four-quadrant figure. From upper left and clockwise: Civil Society Publics, Campaigning Publics, Diffuse Publics, and Latent Publics
From Alison Mohr, Sujatha Raman, Beverley Gibbs

Publics can act unexpectedly

  • Mohr et al note that “Publics do not always behave the way they are expected to, and democratic life and policy-making rest on keeping political processes open to the unexpected inputs of this sort” (4).

What if Activists ('crowds') are Doing PR?

the cover of the book Protest Public Relations
Activists are doing their own public communication

Conclusion

  • Public relations has had an anxious relationship to crowds
  • One approach is to simply create new crowds (astroturfing)
  • Another is to discover publics, listen, or negotiate with them
  • And today, we are considering how crowds (activists) are doing their own PR

PR and Crowds

Robert W. Gehl