Week 2-Public relations and public perception

Reading about the theory of public relations and putting into practice is no doubt a completely different experience. Nonetheless, the value in public relations theory cannot be ignored.

These week readings, which encompasses three different fundamental areas-the definition of public relations, a history of public relations in Australia and more importantly, the different theories surrounding public relations.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that the use of semiotics which can be used to denote certain things and to present an image to the public. The challenge in relying on semiotics is that many signs denote different things in different cultures. An example would be that white, which suggests mourning to the Chinese, would signify marriage to Westerners. Therefore, in order to make a good impression to the public, it is necessary to take note of culture differences and be culturally sensitive.
This is shown clearly in this picture taken from a McDonald's in Thailand. In this picture, one can see that Ronald McDonald (a figure representing the company) is using normal Thai greeting pose. Details like these will make figures such as Ronald McDonald seem more relatable to people in Thailand.

The main focus of the readings these weeks-Grunig's and Hunt's "four models" approach, namely, press agentry (propaganda), public information (e.g. Government statements to the public), two-way asymmetric (feedback taken from the public from an organization and incorporated) and two-way symmetric (public view is not entirely incorporated ).

Out of these four views, I believe the two-way asymmetric is probably the most idealized. After all, it seeks to cater to the public and make corporate decisions more democratic. However, it may not be entirely effective as one cannot assume that the consumer will truthfully tell the corporations what they truly want. Realistically, most firms in Singapore should fit the two-way symmetric model.

As for the two other models, they are far better to be adopted by governments. However, in this day and age, propaganda is often thought of as outdated although it may exist in a less extreme form than what it used to in Nazi Germany.

However, one should note that everyone has different perceptions of the same message-be it through aforementioned cultural differences or the demographic the individual belongs in (religion, family background, income level, etc.) Therefore it is necessary to define what is the "public" that public relations practicioners wish to reach out to.

All in all, I believe public relations is a field that is extremely diverse and therefore may be hard to pin down. However, with closer and more thorough study, more breakthroughs can be made.