Public opinion; Public relations; Publicity; Social psychology
Very often the public relations counsel utilizes the
self-display-elation motive and draws public attention to particular
people in groups, in order to give them a greater interest in the
work they are espousing. It is often found to be true that when a
man’s adherence or allegiance to a movement is lukewarm and he is
publicly praised for his adherence to it, he will become a forceful
factor in it. That is why the intelligent hospital boards name rooms
or beds after their donors. It is one of the reasons for the elaborate
letterheads so many of our philanthropic organizations have.
Self-abasement and subjection, its attendant emotion, are seldom called
upon. On the other hand, parental love and tenderness are continually
employed, viz., the effort of the baby-kissing candidate for public
office or the attempt to popularize a brand of silk by having a child
present a silk flag to a war veteran at a public ceremony. The whole
flood of post-war charity-drives was keyed to this pitch. The starving
Belgian orphan personified in every picture, the starving Armenian, and
then the hungry Austrian and German orphans appeared, and the campaigns
all succeeded on this issue. Even issues where the child was not the
predominant factor used this appeal.
Four other instincts are listed in this
classification--gregariousness, individualism, acquisition and
construction. We have already dealt with the first at length.
The gregarious instinct in man gives the public relations counsel
the opportunity for his most potent work. The group and herd show
everywhere the leader, who because of certain qualifications, certain
points that are judged by the herd to be important to its life, stands
out and is followed more or less implicitly by it.
A group leader gains such power with his group or herd that even on
matters which have had nothing to do with the establishment or gaining
of that leadership he is considered a leader and is followed by his
group.
It is this attribute of men and women that again gives the public
relations counsel free play.
A group leader of any given cause will bring to a new cause all those
who have looked to his leadership. For instance, if the adherence
of a prominent Republican is secured for the League of Nations, his
adherence will probably bring to the League of Nations many other
prominent Republicans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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