SNEAKY PROPAGANDA

With the best of intentions, PR practitioners can find themselves mired in an ethical swamp because of their use of generally accepted, and even creative, approaches to solving public relations problems. These are the insidious tactics whose ethically contentious nature is not immediately obvious to the naked eye. You need to look a bit deeper.

There's a childhood saying that you might remember: ˜Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Indeed, it may have been a good way to protect ourselves from the stings of insult, but we've all grown up and we know that words can, indeed, hurt.

The vocabulary we use to create the persuasive messages can prove to be the slippery slope towards unethical behaviour.