My reflection of PR courses by Fei CHEN

Week 9: Government Public Relations

feichen735 — 2020-01-23 18:17:43 UTC

Today in our PR class, we have discussed several news articles, talking about government public relations problems and do group work "Which are the top 10 trustful occupations we think”. The news that gave me a deep impression is "Grill'd under fire”. The news is about journalist found Grill’d co-founder has forged his partner’s signature on liquor license applications. This another scandal after Grill’d have been exposed that it has exploited workers. Paying low salary to its 92% staff with saying we care for staff's safety, Grill’d’s reputation has lost absolutely. The reason I choose this is that I have an experience which is a link to this low-paid problem. Last trimester, I wanted to find a place to do a part-time job to earn money to buy an iPad. So, I went to ask one of my friends whether the place she works for needs a worker or not as she has recently found a job at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. However, she told me not to work where she worked because the wages were so low. The average salary in Chinatown restaurants is 12 dollars per hour, but her salary is just 10 dollars per hour. So, I decided not to do a part-time job in Chinatown restaurants. What's more, I tell my other friends about this and persuade them not to eat in that restaurant anymore because the boss is selfish and evil and they show sympathy to that girl and decide not to eat in there, too. In week four class, we discussed that the most effective way to advertising is through people's mouths. People tend to believe more about their friends than people or companies they do not know (Sprecher & Regan, 2002).

And for the group exercise part, we discussed the top 10 trustful occupations we think. I found the list is followed Maslow's law of demand. People will fill up with their basic human requirements (safety, health, food, shelter place) first, and then they will want more. The top 3 is occupation who defend our health and safety. However, this list is strongly impacted by our personal experiences. A classmate put salesman at last place because he has cheated by a salesman. One of the students in our group believed that the police are all liars according to her experience. I did not want to put the teacher at the top one because I have been abused by my teacher in my kindergarten. Also, the reason why many people choose not to believe stockbrokers because of the financial crisis of 2008. Many people bankrupted because of stocks. In this case, the reputation of stockbrokers has gone away.

To conclude, when a government comes to public relations, the government needs to forbid doing things that will hurt their reputation and must try to be neutrality. When a scandal comes out, the government needs to react as soon as possible as every second count. When reputation has hurt, it is hard to gain it back.

References

Ferguson, A 2019, ‘Grill’d co-founder forged details on liquor license applications’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 December, viewed 15 December 2019, .

Ferguson, A 2019, ‘Burger chain Grill’d accused of exploiting workers to keep wages down’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December, viewed 15 December 2019, < https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/burger>.

Sprecher, S & Regan, 2002, ‘Liking some things (in some people) more than others: Partner preferences in romantic relationships and relationships’, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 463-481.

Week 10: Non-profit public relations

feichen735 — 2020-01-23 18:23:27 UTC

This week, we talk about some new stories and public relations in non-profit organizations. The news about two airline companies gave me a deep impression. The first news is about Cathay Pacific. It is reported that they have put cameras on the back of each chair. Passengers are in the CCTV area from when they are on board. Cathay Pacific explained this as they put the CCTV system to enhance onboard security. As I am just on the airplane flying to China now, I imagine if there is a camera just in front of me, what do I feel. Certainly, I will feel uncomfortable. It makes me feel like I am a surveillance suspect. If there is no camera there, I can sleep as I normally do. But if there is a camera, I cannot sleep well because I would worry about my sleeping position. I will consider problems when I decide whether to sleep on the plane or not. These problems can be “Do I look ugly when I sleep?” and “Do I drool when I sleep?” And after considering these problems, I won’t go to sleep. Then, I won’t buy Cathay Pacific air tickets forever. If I were a controller of Cathay Pacific, I will try to stop it as it is a violation of passenger privacy. The second news is about the American airline company. Customers found that their ticket price fluctuates wildly every second. I think American Airlines should first apologize when this news comes out. And then communicate with the affected customers, appreciate them and give them a round trip ticket for free. Also, I think the American airline company can come up with a policy says that the ticket price is guaranteed to remain the same for one day. If customers find the ticket price goes down after they have paid for the same ticket on that day, the company will pay the price difference back. I believe this solution can help the company to restore its reputation.

This week’s topic is a non-profit organization. In the lecture, we discussed the definition of the non-profit organization and PR goals of non-profit organizations. I guess the reputation of a non-profit organization is more important than a common company. According to Argenti and Druckenmiller (2004), the public has low confidence in business. So, when a company scandal happened, it will harm the company's reputation and do harm to customer loyalty. A non-profit organization needs sponsorship funds to help them to continue their work. If a non-profit organization’s reputation were damaged, sponsors would not continue to support it. Non-profit organizations’ staff need to act as communicators between organizations and the public using public relations knowledge to help to promote organizations’ reputation and get more sponsorship funds.

To conclude, the non-profit organization needs to pay more attention to the public relations part than other types of organization. What they need is work support from the public and money support from other big companies. Non-profit organizations need to build a good public image to win public support and companies' support.

References:

Argenti, PA & Druckenmiller, B 2004, ‘Reputation and the corporate brand’, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 6, no.4, pp. 368-374.

So, C & Lau, L 2019, ‘Cathay installs CCTV to enhance on board security’, The Standard, 7 August, viewed 21 December 2019, .

Week 11: Why it is important to communicate internally?

feichen735 — 2020-01-23 18:27:31 UTC

This week's topic is internal communication. News for this week that I would like to talk are bushfire, and Bangkok coffee’s owner sells things that Lisa has used in his shop. The Australian bushfire has been continued for several months. But Scott Morrison went on a holiday and did not tell the public when Australia was suffering from the bushfire. When he came back to Australia, almost all Australians showed an unfriendly attitude towards him. Then he posted a video on his Twitter. The video was an advertisement about the achievements that Australians made in the bushfire. However, this video was so confusing that almost all the netizens angry about him. When I saw this video, it made me suspect whether this is a video made by a foreigner. I feel the video shows a sense that the fire is none of his business. Just like Morrison once had said on a party that he is not a firefighter. Though I am not people who suffer from the bushfire, I feel this video is meaningless. It is just like a paper written by a student who shows some evidence that he or she had found in other articles and make no comments. I believe if he added some encouraging words in the video, that would make much better. His video post has nothing to do with public relations. Maybe he posts this video in order to show that he cares for the bushfire. But the video is so ridiculous that make more people believe that he think bushfire is none of his business. According to Andolsen (2008), a good leader should always be a motivator. What Morrison does is not a motivator. He is more like an onlooker rather than a motivator. I have experienced a parade held at Rundle mall on 21^st December 2019. The slogan of the parade is voting for green. The reason that people want to vote for green is not the bushfire itself, it is Morrison's policies towards bushfire.

The second news is Bangkok coffee’s owner sales things that Lisa, a member of Blackpink, uses in his shops such as seat, toilet seat, cup and spoons. Others may feel this disgusting, but this is ok for me. In China, I have seen a lot of news like this. I still remember the most disgusting one that I have ever seen. It is a paparazzi who sneaks into a celebrity’s room, pulls a snot covered napkin out of a trash can and sells it online. I do not mind they sell this kind of thing. Because it is their freedom to sell everything they like. And there are fans that want to buy this kind of product. I think this is just a business. The only difference between it and other business is the product. As for others who think the owner has sexually Lisa, I think almost all the female stars from South Korea have pornography in their songs or dance. Also, there are many actresses in South Korea who have been sexually harassed. If they do not want to be sexually harassed by their fans, they should not do things that may make people reminiscent of sex.

References

Andolsen, AA 2008, ‘The ingredients of a good leader: from analyzing the tasks at hand to balancing individual and team efforts, a leader must always be a motivator’, Information Management Journal, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 41-46.

Fatt, LK 2020, ‘Bangkok cafe owner slammed for trying to sell items used by guest Blackpink singer Lisa’, The Straits Times, 5 January, viewed 12 January 2020, < https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/bangkok-cafe-owner-slammed-for-trying-to-sell-items-used-by-a-guest?cx_testId=20&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=8#cxrecs_s>.

News.com.au 2020, ‘Scott Morrison slammed after tweeting 50-second ad spruiking new bushfire measures’, news.com.au, 5 January, viewed 12 January 2020, < https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/this-is-absolutely-obscene-scott-morrison-slammed-after-tweeting-50second-ad-spruiking-new-bushfire-measures/news-story/faa88f349b1e9214c1a74c11201d2633>.

Week 12: Technology is advancing at a phenomenal place and it's showing no sign of slowing down. How can we handle it?

feichen735 — 2020-01-23 18:31:47 UTC

This week’s new stories are still about Meghan and Harry, and Donald Trump. The Royal family comes out with statements about them. This statement seems like they told the media to stop asking them about what happened about Meghan and Harry. In the statement, it shows that they have no information about this. And they said we will give an explanation later. But I find it is interesting to scan the statements. Though the statement that the Royal Communication published on January 8^th only has a little line, there is a lot of information on the first paragraph. It said "Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage", which means the Queen did not know this. And then, it said they understand their desire to take a different approach. I suppose this means the Royal family want to criticize them. And at last, they treat this is a complicated issue. I guess this means the Queen is very angry about them. Though it does not give the information that mass media want, it does not say directly what happened. It has already given out all the information that society wants to know. In our class, David asked us if you are asking someone for something but he or she does not give you a clear answer, what will you do? But I think the Queen has given an answer to the public that she is really angry at Harry and Meghan. She used words that indicate that she is really angry but need more time to check with what really happened.

The second story is from our old friend on the PR course, Donald Trump. It seems that Donald Trump always does things that cannot be understood by others (some stupid things of course). This time, he retweeted a photoshopped image and made comments with it. It is believed that he retweeted this because he wanted to show to his followers that Schumer and Pelosi are on the side of Iran. This is a photo that makes me feel racist. Donald said that he is not a racist, but this picture makes me believe that he is racist. Donald said he is not the person who produces this picture, he just retweeted it. But I think if he had retweeted it and made comments, that means he is supporting this. So, that does not matter whether he made it or not, he thinks that is true.

This week we also mention the technology and the business. In the future, companies need to use public relations skills through technology to communicate with customers. For example, Uber is now becoming a dominant company with the help of technology. Customers want an app that can give them a lower price to take a taxi and call a taxi at home. So, Uber called a group of private car owners who wants to do a part-time job as taxi drivers. People want to order food at home, Uber established Uber Eats to order and pay online, and deliver it to customers home. Smith (2016) stated that mobile phone applications make it possible to gather enough demand to support the Uber-all economy. This is how dominant companies use technology to realize customers' needs and satisfied their needs.

References
Cillizza, C 2020, ‘Why Trump’s photoshopped Pelosi tweet reveals his true nature’, CNN Politics, 13 January, viewed 22 January 2020, < https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/13/politics/donald-trump-pelosi-schumer/index.html>

Smith, JW 2016, ‘The Uber-all economy of the future’, The Independent Review, vol. 20, no.3, pp. 383-390.