From P. T. Barnum to Donald Trump : An Ethical Appraisal of Public Relations

Are ethics and public relations mutually exclusive, like ethical embezzlement? Popular conceptions of public relations range from the relatively benign, as in ginning up publicity, to the more nefarious, as in sowing doubt and spreading misinformation. In that view, on a good day, public relations is frivolous; on a bad day, evil. A long line of social critics, philosophers, and ordinary citizens see more bad days than good. In fact, a recent survey shows most Americans consider PR practitioners “smart, friendly liars.” That’s the issue we will address as we examine public relations from the happy hokum of a P.T. Barnum to the hollow bombast of a Donald Trump and points in between. Along the way, we’ll examine the practice through the intellects of great thinkers from Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, and John Mill to John Rawls, Alasdair Macintyre, and Carol Gilligan. PR doesn’t have to be the shortest four-letter word in the dictionary.