Nicole’s PRspective

I was crusing the blogs tonight, avoiding some homework, when I came across this post

It caught my attention for a couple of reasons
1. The Grunig and Hunt definition is the one we learn in the Prinicples of PR class at CU
2. I am taking a marketing class this semester and the book refers to PR as publicity, that is starting to annoy me

So, I read through most of Professor Sledzik’s blog and I loved it all.

In the Principles of PR class the book includes an entire chapter on Integrated Marketing Communication and how it relates to PR

In the Marketing class the book has the words public relations in one place, about half-way through the book. The section says that publicity can be handled by the advertising manager or whoever handles public relations. Then defines PR as communication with noncustomers, including labor, public interest groups, stockholders, and the government.
This disturbs me in so many ways. The class is not a requirement for PR majors but it is one of the “encouraged” electives. However, the class is required for almost all Business majors, even those specializing in accounting(?). After this class a bunch of accountants will be running around thinking that PR can be handled by the advertising manager.

So, you can see why I am really liking the posts I read tonight, and I realize that I am not by myself in thinking that PR is it’s own separate slice of the communications world.

Side note: the marketing book is Basic Marketing by Perreault, et al 16th ed

At CU, this semester the PR professor is offering a new class. I waited the first week to talk about it just to make sure it seemed as good on Friday as it did on Monday. It is still great and I am going to get so much out of this class. The title of the class is PR Strategies, it covers so many things that you would need to know how to do. To name a few things we are going to be doing: event planning, media kits, he has even set it up with the RTV professors for us to do a mock press conference. It is going to be a great class. I am really hoping that the powers that be decide to make this class part of the normal offerings instead of just a one-time thing.