X-Factor X-Mas?

Since 2005 the coveted Christmas number one slot has been filled by the winner of that year's X-Factor. However, this year may be about to change that. A protest vote has started out on social networking site Facebook.

Despite being the most popular winner yet of the show, which is now in its sixth series, taking almost two thirds of the 10 million votes cast in the final, Joe McElderry is still battling with Rage Against The Machine's 1992 release, 'Killing In The Name'. Being a metal band they are a stark contrast to what we are used to for Christmas number ones especially when we remember such hits as Bob the 'Builder's Can We Fix It?' and not forgetting Mr. Blobby's 'Mr. Blobby'. Killing in the name is a hard hitting non-sensical song which features a variety of verses that contain the same sentence repeated over and over, ending with the last verse of "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" yelled sixteen times... Very Christmassy. In my view this song works only if the band's name was Rage Against The Machine That Has Learning And Hearing Difficulties... However, now is not the time to pick apart just one artist. No no no. Joe McElderry, the boy who nobody had heard of half a year ago with his weak vocal chords. If he's still in the public eye in two years time I'll buy him a drink. He'll probably end up in theatre or if he's lucky 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here' which may well be hosted by John and Edward by then.

Anyway, back to the race for the Christmas number one. The Rage Against The Machine song became a contender after a group was started on Facebook. The money spent on this single goes towards the charitable organisation SHELTER. Originally the group had amassed over 700,000 followers before "The group went down last night in which a member of Facebook's PR team contacted to say it was a 'bug'". Since then a new group has started with an emergency back-up group already prepared. These groups are spread by their many followers to their Facebook friends which of course has infuriated me as my inbox is now cluttered with people asking me to join. Well of course by now I’ve heard the song and will not sully my name by having it associated to me. This group has also gained popularity by appearing on interviews with music magazines, websites and national news networks. It is with this web of PR that many bookies are now placing Killing in the name as favourite to win this year’s Christmas number one.

Killer Hamsters

Is the Ministry Of Defence breeding weaponry? Are they planning to unleash a pack of slavering killer hamsters onto our unsuspecting enemies? Short answer: No. Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooo.

This story is of course about the controversial Go Go Hamsters. These toys are set to be on the top of all children's Christmas wish list across the UK. They can act like normal hamsters with the added bonus of not shitting everywhere and dieing. The controversy surrounding this product is reported by PRweek.com: "Go Go Hamsters came under the spotlight yesterday after a US watchdog said the toys had too much of a toxic chemical in their fur. The Good Guide, an independent US-based consumer group, published a report last week in which one item in the range, the hamster Mr Squiggles, was alleged to contain more than the permitted level of the chemical antimony."

A statement was then released by the PR company Citigate. Citigate director Fiona Tooley, who has handled PR support for The Character Group for 20 years, said: ‘We have been doing damage limitation. We do not want worried parents out there. It has had to be handled quickly and sensitively.' This quick statement has enabled the product to remain one of the most popular Christmas gifts this year.

PRemeberance Day

And so the next general election looms. After being held off until the last minute the political PR machines are churning back to life.

Both the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and the leader for the opposition, David Cameron reportedly had their own camera crews brought with them to the remembrance day service on November the 11th at Westminster Abbey in order for them to be shown grieving in 'a good light'. It seems to me that politics gives public relations a bad name. Constantly hyped spin surrounds all political events these days and as a result it seems that nothing can now be taken seriously. It is now seen as commonplace for a campaigning politician to be pictured holding a child or standing with the proletariat in order to show themself as a 'people person'.

I for one am getting completely sick and tired of the constant oneupmanship between the Labour and Tory parties. As each party vies to show itself as better by degrading their opposition through shrewd and petty means. An example of these stupidities is shown in their recent childlike portrayals of the leaders as Jedward.

Levy Listens?

As a brainwashed follower of the mighty Tottenham Hotspurs - Forced into a 'Spurs' onesie from birth - I have grown used to the chairman of the club, Daniel Levy in not caring what the fans are saying. The most noticeable being the sacking of the much adored Martin Jol of which I'm not afraid to say that I may, or may not, have shed a tear over.

When I first saw the plans for a new stadium I was elated. After being one of the top clubs in selling to capacity during league games a bigger stadium will enable more supporters to see their club. Also it would enable us to effectively rival The Emirates of Arsenal F.C. Although, herein lies the problem. The fans started becoming worried that this new stadium was becoming a carbon-copy of The Emirates merely so that we could say "Oooo look we've got a swanky new modern stadium too". These fears were emulated by the fact that the new stadium appeared to be in the generic bowl shape favoured by all new British stadia such as The Emirates and Wembley. This shape has been criticised for its lack of atmosphere, having personally been to the new Wembley I did not notice too much of a lack of atmosphere but it does defiantly fail to impress when compared with the roar of The Lane when the passion of the game comes to a head.

After hearing of these objections the board at Tottenham decided to err away rom a total bowl shape and now plans show a larger single stand behind one of the goals. This is alot like Dortmund's Westfalenstadion and the Kop at Anfield, if this can somehow keep Spurs' atmosphere at a high then hopefully the spirit of the Lane can live on.

Bernie Kingsley, Chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust, said: "I am delighted that the Club has placed the experience of regular supporters at the top of their agenda and I'm convinced this will be a Stadium of which our supporters will be proud. The single-tier stand in particular, which we requested at the outset, will create an even more intimidating atmosphere for the visiting team. Together with the improved open spaces and modern facilities, this is an exciting time for all Tottenham supporters and the Club and we look forward to moving into our new home."

Public Relations v Propaganda

Is public relations just propaganda? Is there a difference?

There are two highly contrasting schools of thought on this subject; one is that all public relations is propaganda, the other states that none of it is.

The word 'propaganda' originates from the Latin, propagare "to propagate". It was then taken by the Catholic church to propagate the faith. L'Etang noted that the word propaganda started as a neutral word. However the term became pejorative after the Second World War. This was partly because of the Reichsminister of Propaganda for the German Nazi Party, Joseph Goebbels. It was his anti-Semitic propaganda that inspired the Kristallnacht however this was in response to Theodore N. Kaufman's 'Germany Must Perish!' which in itself was anti-German propaganda. This was then followed up by the USSR during the Cold War as they tried to promote Communism. This is seen in the left picture which given my 6 month learning of the Russian language, roughly translates as 'Nation and Army are Uniform'. This, twinned with Russia's national service promotes the ideals of the workers and the soldiers uniting together against a common oppressor. One of the most well known fictitious novels involving propaganda is George Orwell's 1984 in which Big Brother portrays the values of INGSOC through a capitalist regime. In adding to the previous Cold War propaganda, it was leaked that the USSR was working on 'Psychic Soldiers' who ultimately could force others to act outside their will. In working to try and counter this the Americans founded 'neuromarketing'. Neuromarketing stimulates the brain into adapting favourably to different tastes et cetera . An example of this was reported in The Guardian which showed that people preferred the taste of Pepsi better than Coca-Cola in blind tests butpreferred the Coke once they knew what it was that they were drinking.


Pratkanis and Aronson point out that 'Every day we are bombarded with one persuasive communication after another. These appeals persuade not through the manipulation of symbols and of our most basic human emotions. For better or worse, ours is an age of propaganda.' To further this, Grunig and Hunt locate propaganda in the press agency model, the first of their four models: 'Public relations serves a propaganda function in the press agentry/publicity model. Practitioners spread the faith of the organisation involved, often through incomplete, distorted, or half-true information.' This links some public relations activity to propaganda such as advertising. So both PR and propaganda are persuasive mediums, in my view propaganda tries to sculpt an ideal whilst PR tries to show that an ideal has been reached. A contemporary example of persuasive PR that has come to the fore is Tony Blair's spin campaign with Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson. An article in the New York Times defines spin as a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. It was this "propaganda" that discredited Mr. Blair and as a result the majority of what he said was almost immediately dismissed as spin.


This suggests that PR and propaganda go hand in hand together or perhaps more appropriately they each walk across the same tightrope in which one slip could see them discredited.

What is PR?

In 1976, Rex Harlow scoured through 472 definitions of public relations to come up with the following paragraph:

Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and co-operation between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasis the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilise change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.

Luckily, however there is a more simplified explanation

Public relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.

For me this is what defines Public Relations as immediately you are placed in the driver’s seat as everything is affected as a result of what you do.

The leading professional Public Relations body in the United Kingdom is CIPR, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, they stated that Public Relations is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and understanding between an organisation and its publics.

This adds to the business relations side of PR as it helps to promote organisations and maintain relations with its public.

So this seems to be what PR is. Sounds good.