Portrayal of PR Profession in Television and Films

The present essay attempts to evaluate the impact of television, especially films, in influencing people’s awareness on certain subjects, especially the knowledge of unfamiliar job profiles. The dramatized elements regarding a particular issue can influence people in forming opinion about the matters of which little or no information is available otherwise.

Running head: PORTRAYAL OF PR PROFESSION IN TELEVISION AND FILMS
PORTRAYAL OF PR PROFESSION IN TELEVISION AND FILMS
Student’s name:
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Author’s note:

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PORTRAYAL OF PR PROFESSION IN TELEVISION AND FILMS
The role of mass media is inevitable in constructing public opinions and worldview. As
soon as television has been introduced to the lives of common people, it has a huge impact on
their concepts of lesser known subject matters as well as foreign issues. Media experts Fred W.
Friendly has opined that television has been the greatest teaching tool right after the printing
press (as cited by Berger, 2017). Television introduces a wide range of new experiences and
information to people, which consequently contributes a significant insight in shaping up their
understanding of novel subject matters such as politics, current affairs and social issues.
The present essay attempts to evaluate the impact of television, especially films, in
influencing people’s awareness on certain subjects, especially the knowledge of unfamiliar job
profiles. The dramatized elements regarding a particular issue can influence people in forming
opinion about the matters of which little or no information is available otherwise. More
specifically, the paper aims to construct a discourse on how the portrayal of the profession of
Public Relations influences the general notion of the common people about the matter. The paper
contends that misrepresentation or inaccurate portrayal of the profession has created a negative
image on the public psyche over the years (Thesis Statement), while well-researched and
accurately curated PR persona on television could encourage young professional and media
aspirants enter the field. The essay considers several films and television shows including
Scandal, Sex and the City, The West Wing, and Wag the Dog, focusing especially on Mad Men.
As opposed to the traditional and familiar job profiles, public relation is relatively
unfamiliar field of occupation. As a result, it is highly misunderstood by common people. It has

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been observed that the popular culture, as represented in the films and television programs, lacks
factual correspondence. It is often dramatized to an extent where it becomes larger than life. As a
result, people generally construct an erroneous perception regarding these issues and sometimes
hold unrealistic expectations from them.
The Public Relations Society of America (2009) points out that this is largely due to the
changing definition and evolution of the field. Hence, to comprehend how television
misrepresents the profession of public relations, it is important to understand the true notion of
PR first. The organisation, therefore, tries to provide a standardized definition of the term public
relations by stating “Public relations help an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each
other” (The Public Relations Society of America, 2009). The Chartered Institute of Public
Relations, on the other hand, defines public relations as “the discipline which looks after
reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and
behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual
understanding between an organisation and its publics” (cipr.co.uk). Apart from these, several
scholars of media studies and public relations have tried to provide their definition of the concept
as well. For example, Grunig and Hunt (1984), which states that public relations is a
management function that consists of communication between an organization and that
organization’s publics.
However, these articulated definitions, presented by the scholars and experts, do not
reach the awareness of common people generally unaware of the scope and purpose of the
profession. Neither these definitions reflect the public opinion of the same. Instead, they are
largely influenced by the depiction of characters and practices of PR professionals as they are
shown in the popular media. The general notion of the profession is largely held as image

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consultancy, propaganda, and campaigns of persuasion or marketing efforts to promote brands or
celebrities. Therefore, the purpose of the essay is to evaluate the degree of accuracy these shows
and films adopts to show these portrayals and how do they amount to ethical concerns regarding
the profession along with their acceptance in the society.
The magnitude of television’s influence could be expounded by taking help from the
Labelling Theory, alternatively known as Social Reaction Theory of Howard Becker. Becker
suggests that public reactions to a particular subject matter are construed by the notions denoted
to them by the society. He identifies these notions as labels and further maintains that people
accept the way society labels individuals or subject matters for the sheer majority factor
associated with them (Becker as cited by Pastore, 2017). To elucidate, people accept a label just
because society ascribes them.
Through the lenses of this theory, the influence of television on constructing the public
image of public relations professional could be comprehended. It is often observed that the
televised contents, especially in American films and television programs, PR professionals are
shown as a glamorous and easy-going personalities, who deals with tactical nuances, often
unethical, to build or promote the image of an individual, an organisation or a brand. The media
generally stereotypes the PR professionals in a very traditional and narrow perspective. Most of
the characters, depicted as a PR professional, are well-dressed, sophisticated people living a
luxurious life in the spotlight. The characters of Samantha Jones from the television programme,
as well as the film Sex and the City and Olivia Pope from the TV show Scandal are some of the
examples to justify the claim. As a consequence, many young aspirants desire to be a part of the
PR industry to have such a life of luxury and limelight. However, this is a completely inaccurate
and partial picture of the full story. The professionals practicing public relations do not always

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spend their lives in parties and social events, neither all of them earn so highly to afford such a
luxurious lifestyle.
The problem, however, arises due to insufficient research and inaccurate information of
the profession. It also creates a confusion regarding the exact nature of the job, leading people
disbelieve the ethical connotation of the role of PR. It is often portrayed in the television
programs that publicists, image consultants and media managers adopt unethical means to
deliver their duties. For example, in the television series Mad Men, the lead characters Peter and
Peggy resorts to a cheap publicity stunt to attract a new client. The show even promotes the
employment of unethical means such as planted stories, staged arguments, confounding clients
with false information etc. Moreover, the plot confuses publicity with public relations, which is
necessarily a misrepresentation.
The art of persuasion, propaganda and image building too are shown as forms of
manipulation. In reality, there is a strict code of conduct that PR professionals are compelled to
adhere to. The Public Relations Society of America (2019) prescribes honesty, fairness, loyalty,
transparency in information flow, independence and advocacy of clients as the guidelines for the
role of a publicity professional. It mentions that a PR professional should be honest and accurate
in all communications, preserve the integrity of the process of communication act promptly to
correct erroneous communications for which the practitioner is responsible and preserve the free
flow of unprejudiced information when giving or receiving gifts by ensuring that gifts are
nominal, legal, and infrequent. Although these aspects were mostly ignored and unresearched in
the show Mad Men for the sake of dramatization and making things interesting.
On the other hand, there are films and television programs that are considered to be the
best portrayal of the profession of PR. Experts considers the movie Wag the Dog and the TV

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series The West Wing to be the most accurate portrayal of the profession till date. Robert De Niro
starrer Wag the Dog follows the storyline of how a group of PR professionals combine their
expertise, knowledge and passion to shift the public focus on a petty scandal from an important
political agenda (IMDb, 1997). The West Wing portrays C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) as the White
House Press Secretary. The merit of these two example lies in the background research and
factual representation of the activities and strategic maneuvering of the public relations staff and
the leads. Both the mentioned fictions have employed PR experts as consultants to develop the
content, which has given them the required accuracy and acceptability. Even so, Wag the Dog
and The West Wing are often dubbed as a must-watch for the students of public relations and
young professionals. These shows have encouraged students to take up PR as a profession too,
though not by luring them with the false premise of a glittery life like that of Samantha Jones in
The Sex and City.
To sum up, it can be said that mass media including the television programs and films
have a deep-rooted impact on public psyche. Eventually, the lack of factual correspondence and
misrepresentations of a particular subject matter can create negative impact on people. This is the
case in the context of PR as well. However, accurate depiction in films is a matter of integrity
and honesty, which is often ignored for the sake of entertainment. Hence, PR is largely
misunderstood by common people as an industry, which can be recovered only with portrayals
that are true and accurate.

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References
About Public Relations. (2009). Retrieved 17 September 2019, from
https://www.prsa.org/about/all-about-pr
Berger, A. A. (2017). Television in society. Routledge.
Ethics. (2019). Retrieved 17 September 2019, from https://www.prsa.org/about/ethics
Grunig, J. E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.
Mad Men (2007-2015) IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615656/
Pastore, G. (2017). Labeling Theory. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-2.
What is PR? | Chartered Institute of Public Relations. (2019). Retrieved 16 September 2019,
from https://www.cipr.co.uk/content/policy/careers-advice/what-pr