Public opinion; Public relations; Publicity; Social psychology
Both Trotter, Martin and the other writers we have quoted confirm what
the actual experience of the public relations counsel shows--that the
cause he represents must have some group reaction and tradition in
common with the public he is trying to reach. This must exist before
they can react sympathetically upon one another. Given these common
fundamentals, much can be done to capitalize or destroy them. It is
as untrue to contend that public opinion is manufactured as it is to
contend that public opinion governs the agencies which mould it.
The public relations counsel must continually realize that there are
always these limitations to his effectiveness.
The very “leaders,” men who have been selected from the mass to “lead
the nation,” live with their ears to the ground for every slight
rumbling of public sentiment. Preachers, acknowledged to be the ethical
leaders of their flocks, express obedience to public opinion.
The critics who hold these extreme points of view about public opinion
have too easily confused cause and effect. The sympathy between the
orator and his audience is not one which the orator can create. He
can intensify it, or by tactless speaking he can dissipate it, but he
cannot manufacture it from thin air.
Margaret Sanger, a leader in the fight for education on birth control,
will evoke enthusiasm when she addresses an audience that approves
of her sentiments. When, however, she injects her point of view into
groups that have a preconceived aversion to them, she is in danger
of abuse, if not of actual physical violence. Likewise, a man who
would talk of prison reform at a time when the public is aroused by
an unwonted crime wave will find little response. On the other hand,
when Madam Curie, co-discoverer of radium, came to America, she found
a country that was prepared to meet her because of intensive effort on
the part of a large radium corporation and a committee of women formed
by Marie B. Meloney, to apprise the public of the importance of her
visit. Had she come two years sooner, she might have been ignored save
by a few scientists.
A historic incident illustrative of the interaction between a leader
and a public is that of the sudden turn in the affairs of Rear
Admiral Dewey. The idol of the Spanish American War, he nevertheless
alienated popular affection by giving to his wife a house which had
been presented to him by an admiring public. For some reason the public
failed to sympathize with Admiral Dewey’s own undoubtedly sound and
worthy reasons.
To say, therefore, as some persons have said at great length and
with considerable vehemence, that the public relations counsel is
responsible for public opinion, is not true. The public relations
counsel is not needed to persuade people to standardize their points of
view or to persist in their established beliefs. The established point
of view becomes established by satisfying some real or assumed human
need.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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