chapter 5

Ethics is a very touchy issue everywhere in the world today, as there is everything that people need and require in their daily lives. I feel that all this is important, not just in PR, but in every aspect of our lives. If we are ethical, and we do things efficiently, people will respect and continue to use our services. If we are unethical, it may benefit us in the short run, but the truth will always come to light, and you cannot hide from living in a lie forever. Granted, we may be living in a protected world in Singapore, where most ethics are being taught in school in the form of CME (civics and moral education), but we cannot discount the power of the global village. I for one have seen many of my church members lose their passion and drive for Christ slowly through the immense influence of the Internet and various TV shows. 

As a PR person, whatever we do affects the lives of many people who views the advertisement or PR campaign. If we do not make our code of ethics the center of our thinking during brainstorming, we might not gain approval of the parents or even the government, which forms a substantial amount of revenue in the eyes of the company. To me, I feel that it is more disheartening for a consumer to complain about the ethics of the company than to record good receivership in the market.

I quite like the idea of a counsellor and an advocate in PR. If used appropriately, these two different aspects of PR campaigns can form a good team, complementing each other.

1. An advocate is radical, but a counsellor controls.

This complements perfectly as an advocate would usually be the one who comes up with excellent ideas, but a counselor can control the ideas and ensure that it does not overstep any boundary.

2. An advocate thinks out of the box. A counsellor controls the size of the box.

An advocate will be the strength to think of new campaigning skills without any hindrances, but the counsellor must endeavour to say "no" if it is too crazy.

3. An advocate must edify, a counsellor must dignify.

The purpose of an advocate should get their points across as their objective, but a counsellor must create a holistic approach of the campaign so that the campaign can maintain ethical conduct towards the audience.

As PR personnel, we must learn to always keep our ethics in check. In a ever-changing world, we must remain true to our cause. people may think whatever they want, but creating a cult image is still a PR practitioner's doing. Since the hypodermic needle theory does not work on people anymore, the people will does get affected in accordance to the "involuntary breath" theory, where the PR campaigns attacks the sub-consciousness of the audience. 

From what i wrote, i guess the key points i gathered from the topic is that 1. I must always remain ethical in my work, and my life, and 2. we must have someone to maintain a quality check of our campaigns.