Since the dawn of time, man has developed systems to communicate, share stories, and connect with others. Cave drawings have been noted as some of the earliest forms of communication using local pigments to depict heroic adventures. The Egyptians in 3300BC communicated through hieroglyphs sharing prayers, magical texts, and details of life after death. In 1800BC Moses shared the commandments on chiseled stone tablets.
And as the centuries progressed, so did the philosophy of communications. Confucius, a great Chinese social philosopher, shared messages of morality, justice, and respecting elders. We would welcome his philosophy today. From Confucius to Socrates, Plato to Aristotle, people met in open forums to debate and learn the art of persuasion through rhetoric, possibly the true beginning of what has become PR.
The Mongols in 1162 developed way stations to care for the horses and messengers to disseminate orders of Genghis Khan and receive messages throughout his conquests. And thanks to Gutenberg in 1440, communications were revolutionized, and the non-elite were able to receive knowledge and information. It was Pope Gregory XIII who altered the term Propaganda, originally Latin for plant and animal reproduction, to mean to spread the word, at the time of Catholicism.
From that time forward, propaganda has been used to start revolutions, spread thought from Paine’s Common Sense to Douglass’ North Star to support the abolitionist movement to an early master of press agentry, P.T. Barnum creating “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
This has now evolved into an industry of communications. Detailed in his book Crystallizing Public Opinion, Edward Bernays presented a concept of a “two-way street” connecting a company to the public. And now it seems that this evolution of Public Relations has invaded every aspect of our lives, from Social Media, to opinionated press to the remaining traditional media. We have a world inundated with news, information, and messaging to influence one’s thoughts and opinions.
It is time to evolve Public Relations, weaving back in the thoughts of Confucius, Socrates, and Plato, and to integrate the simplicities of Thoreau, “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”
This PR evolution will move beyond ‘public’ to ‘personal,’ from attempting to overwhelm another’s thoughts to truly finding out their concerns and needs and meeting these honestly and with respect and care.
Public Relations has garnered a bad reputation because it did not evolve. It is still vitally important to share new ideas, innovative thoughts, and new concepts, but one must remember, we are all individuals and by respecting that fact, and making PR ‘personal’ relations, we can succeed to heights unimagined before.
Let us help evolve your PR and get personal with your community. They will thank you, in many ways.
Gillian