Image Protection in PR

By image protection, it means protecting the image of someone like Mandela and Putin. Although in the media it may seem as though they are doing things for their country, in reality they are doing it for power. Other people such as movie celebrities and song writers and others do it too.

Political Questioning

A lot of politicians use Public Relations for image protection, but some use it in a way which may affect their countries event after their death. Would it be wiser to think of a country’s future as a leader, not only a present? 

Channels:

Media manipulation can come from different channels. By manipulation, it is meant that the media uses specific psychological and social issues to create entertaining text for the audience. These channels can include: blogs, chats, emails, podcasting, SMS, surveys only, online community portals, microblogs, video-sharing and IM and others. (Phillips & Young, 2011; p. 135) All these channels can work in different ways in terms of manipulation. Some may use opinion leaders (OL) and some may use opinion formers (OF). Bloggers can now also be hired to post certain things, although this is illegal.  

Mandela:

This is what I came across while thinking what to write in this blog post: 'Accuracy In Media – Reporting the true facts about Mandela'. The people of South Africa believed that he was a good leader. They trusted him and let him take control of their country. He collected money for them. But, he lied to America just to do that. The blog post 'Mandela Lied but Communism Never Died' is very interesting and has three exciting articles attached to it. I read the first one and it surprised me. Mandela was a communist, but he fought so hard for democracy. His image was being manipulated all that time.  

Putin:

Putin is also a very strange man in a way that he does not talk too much, unlike the great speaker Mandela. He is a closed up man who speaks with his actions. He makes decisions which will benefit the country’s image and reputation. One could argue that this is all in pursuit of power and trying to become a legacy just like JFK. He is the leader and the main representation of the Russian people.

There is an article written on Putin's PR uses and the expenses which was posted on RT on January 20, just before the Winter Olympics in Sochi: http://rt.com/politics/russian-regions-promotion-budgets-884/. It states that PR was too expensive to ‘fool’ the people and spend money on media. Even though this was posted to reduce publicity, the purpose of the message was to create a better image for the president. This article reflects the actual purpose of PR activity, but Mandela used it to his advantage to fool his people to his advantage. Even though Putin decreased his budget on PR, it was evident that it was for a better reputation during the Winter Olympics. In conclusion, image protection can have either a lasting effect on a politician or protect a reputation for some time.

Bloggers and PRs - the On-Going Mentored Relationship

In the 21st century, with the ever changing technology, beliefs and trends, we need to get on with everyone if you are in the PR industry. Getting on with bloggers can be a challenge, but it pays off. There are different types of bloggers who have different interests. We can also ask bloggers to write about a company, but they have to be chosen carefully. 

What Bloggers Do

There are different types of bloggers: 'personal bloggers, photo bloggers, and corporate bloggers' . All these bloggers can make a certain type of effect on a company.

A personal blogger, who posts personal interests, might be interested in posting about certain product which our company has released and he posts his dislikes in a critical way. This may result in his audience losing an interest in our product. 

(Frank, 2010)

 

Photo bloggers are just the same, but they can also work for a corporation or be an independent photo blogger. These bloggers usually use hashtags to link their photos with other webpages. In my opinion, it is probably the safest way to promote your product because a visual image is more appealing to the eye and receives less criticism. 

(N.A., 2014)

And corporate bloggers are those who are hired by the company to blog about their products and services, which can also include PR agents "pretending" to be the public, but also making it obvious that they are posting on behalf of the company. 

(Thomas, 2014)

To summarise, bloggers are truthful.  They will post their opinions with passion and sincerity. 'In general, it is a good idea to assume that everything written on the internet can be read by anyone, even if the log is anonymous'. That said, anyone can be affected by the most harmless, yet wide spread information.