by Public relations (PR) denotes the practice of effective communication by organizations to the public and media. PR may be applicable or a small firm, a big multinational corporation or even an individual. The individual in this case may be a celebrity like a sports start or a politician or a film actor
PR has the impact to make or break a person, irrespective of his actions and deeds. Though his intent may be good all along, a few misquoted statements results in fully negative PR for the individual. This has the impact to even ruin his career completely and people may want to suddenly distance themselves from him. On the other hand, even if a person had done objectionable things in the past, if he gets to have a good rapport with his supporters and media , that can really build a good PR image for him
Aamir Khan is the perfect example of being impacted by negative PR. In a recently concluded Lit Fest, Aamir Khan had expressed his mere opinion on the state of tolerance in the country. He had stated that the tolerance levels in the country was quite low and that his family even considered leaving the country at one time. This constitutes a perfectly valid speech, under the clause of Freedom of Speech. The media completely misrepresented his words, twisted it and projected a completely different version. It portrayed him in a completely wrong way and basically destroyed all the good will, PR and brand image he had built over the years. His earlier shows and movies including Satyameva Jayate , Lagaan and Rang De Basanti portrayed him as a national hero. It gave him high credibility and a strong PR image. However this one incident made it all go away. He was removed as the brand ambassador of India for tourism. Snapdeal cut off ties with him and discontinued their contract with him. People reacted violently all over the country and a few others even filed a case against him
A contrasting example to this would be our prime minister. He has enjoyed a relatively great PR all along since the time he contested for the elections. People always identified themselves with him. He spoke on grassroots levels and ensured good PR image followed him everywhere. Maybe it was his ideologies or his native language that captured the hearts, but he had received PR like nobody else in India
He has enjoyed a fan following or a loyalist support that no other president or prime minister has ever got. Incidentally almost all the taxes have almost doubled under his regime. Fuel surcharges have increased almost thrice, train ticket prices increased more than twice and added immense burden to the citizen’s pockets. Yet all those have been blindsided or ignored when compared to his positive PR Image the media has projected
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
