Ethics in PR Consultancy

During my time at Go Communications I was exposed to the Vertical Team’s diverse range of corporate clients and the campaigns run on behalf of their clients. One of their clients included the Malaysian Tobacco Industry. Through my regular task of media monitoring and discussions with the Vertical team, I was made aware of the rising issue of the manufacturing and distribution of illegal cigarettes in Malaysia.

 There was a lot of focus in the media on  government authorities and the Tobacco Industry cracking down upon this counterfeit industry and the persons responsible for producing these illegal cigarettes.  Illegal cigarettes are sold at a price considerably less than those sold legally, but have even more serious repercussions on your health than a regularly produced cigarette. The unfortunate reality with this surge in attention and effort to deal with the organized crime groups responsible for producing the cigarettes, are that the authorities generally are more successful in arresting those at the distribution end of the process, (who make only a fraction of what this illegal industry is profiting) whilst the major persons and organisers continued to evade punishment.  One of the Vertical Team’s assignments on behalf of the Malaysian Tobacco industry was to contact and have as many media persons as possible attend a court case dealing with the arrest of a man who was distributing illegal cigarettes. I found this quite an interesting response to the whole situation. In Australia, as a society, I believe we are appropriately anti-smoking and anti the smoking industry. Obviously illegal cigarettes are also a problem, but I am not convinced that the court case would have evoked the same profile reaction in the Australian public, as the Vertical Team were hoping to evoke from the Malaysian public, by maximizing the court case’s media coverage in order to exploit the case in Malaysian Tobacco’s favor.  I found the campaign very confronting and extremely questionable in regards to where it fell ethically. The scenario made me consider my own ethics and the ethics which are supposedly in place to govern PR practitioners. Having no experience in a professional consultancy previous to this internship, I become immediately aware of the importance of ethics within the public relations industry and the potential challenges related to maintaining your own ethical beliefs when employed in a consultancy which predominately deals with large corporate clients.  In reality, I don’t think I would have what it takes to work in a consultancy which had clients such as the Tobacco Industry. I don’t believe I would be capable of compromising on certain situations like the Vertical team was expected to do.

I would be really interested to hear if anyone else experienced similar scenarios during their internships?

Internship Reflection

Before commencing my internship at Go Communications I had completed two previous internships for the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Western Australia. Both of these previous internships had given me significant exposure to marketing and communication roles within a creative industry, which initially was where I hoped to find employment after completing my degree. I applied for the placement with Go Communications in Malaysia, as I felt I needed to broaden my experience and make sure the Arts was definitely the industry I wanted to work in.

Through my time at Go Communications I was confronted with many situations I hadn’t predicted. The experience was a wonderful opportunity to get a realistic perspective of what a professional consultancy really functions like, instead of just depending on theoretical scenarios that had been explored in my public relations units, required for my degree. Although at some points, I didn’t feel I was getting the most worthwhile experience out of set tasks I was required to fulfill, which at times could be a bit monotonous, I now think that my time spent at Go Communications has developed a broader understanding of the industry generally and especially the industry abroad.

Things that I would pass on to others who will be commencing placements include-

1.     No experience is a wasted experience. Even if things don’t go the way you planned you are still able to take something away from the situation. It may be the acknowledgment that you should have done something differently or if you were a particular person, you would have acted differently.

2.     Enthusiasm. It sounds like a cliché but don’t underestimate it. Through all my internships I was given my share of basic tasks, but putting the same effort into a basic task as a task that you genuinely enjoy doing, will pay off, even if you don’t have immediate recognition for it. In my first two internships both the managers I was interning for at the end of my placement voiced their appreciation that I was consistent in completing all tasks to equal standards.

3.     Proof your work. I am extremely reliant on the spell check function as at times I neglect the need to proof read my textual material. During my time at Go Communications we were required to type out various media releases and text without having a spell check. I had to get in the habit of re-checking spelling and grammar in all the documents, before submitting them to clients.

4.     Presentation and punctuality. Again another oldie but a goody. You never know what opportunities will arise by simply looking the part and being in the right place a bit earlier then required. This also demonstrates you commitment to the internship.

5.     If in doubt ask and clarify. Interning is an opportunity to learn. Organizations and managers taking on interns don’t expect you to know everything as this would defeat the purpose. In my experience people would rather provide you clarification and have the job done correctly the first time, than having to spend the time to do it twice.  

6.     Make sure you make it work for you. Although my first point is no experience is a wasted experience and priority must be on giving something you best effort, if it doesn’t work out, that’s okay too. Real life doesn’t always work out, it’s okay to make mistakes, just be sure to acknowledge and learn from those mistakes.