As Bell Pottinger goes into administration in the wake of the scandal over its campaign to stir up racial tensions in South Africa, I can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seems some make compromises in their work, whatever it is. Unless you have worked for a company, department of government, or local council that is entirely above reproach in all things, perhaps you’re on weak ground in singling out the PR industry—although PR is the most egregious aspect of communication that annoys and offends us because it’s so disingenuous, covert, and every now and then, it finds itself in the limelight, rather than the policies or products it seeks to promote.
I have no sympathy for Bell Pottinger; neither will the industry. It’ll just think they should have known better. There will be seminars in PR firms on how the Pottinger effect could have been avoided, and people will pretend that it’s the ethics of the industry which prompt their concern, rather than the loss of business. Fingers crossed this will be a warning to clients to move away from PR departments with a toxic history and the glutinous pap they churn out to promote business and government.
We won’t succeed in banning toxic PR—but the soft, syrupy viscous manipulation and half-truths that have oozed into politics may have become more easily detectable thanks to the demise of Bell Pottinger.
Let’s praise the PRCA for a move that will, fingers crossed, strengthen the industry’s ethical code.
