Monday, October 29, 2007

Steve Jobs Appology Letter to Apple iPhone Customers

I think that Steve Jobs had some good phrases in his apology, but they were clouded by his tone and pompous attitude toward the early iPhone buyers.

"We need to do a better job of taking care of our Apple customers. In trying to provide more customers with the opportunity to buy the iPhone, we jumped the gn. We offended our early iPhone customers, and for that, we are truly sorry."

I also think that in trying to protect the brand name of Apple, the company should have had more clout in choosing what messages were sent out to the public in this case, how the messages were sent and who sent them. Steve Jobs has too much power in the company.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Social Networking

Although there are so many social networking sites out there already, I think that the safest way for PR organizations to participate is by creating their own through microsites. Clients can have videos on the microsite where users can re-mash them and post them back only on the microsite. More control would exist over your messages, but the public would know exactly where they are coming from. Other interactive online material for clients can be posted and blogs can be created on the microsite as well. It would be like a YouTube or Myspace for Fleishman-Hillard or Ketchum clients. The main idea is transparency. I think that as long as people know exactly where the messages are coming from - that they are indeed coming from a PR agency, etc. - then the re-mashing of videos and blogs are okay.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Glengarry Glen Ross

I am not sure if I liked the play or not. Admittedly, I had no idea what was going on in the beginning. The only thing that I got out of the first act, was that these men were fast-talkers who were dealing in some unethical practices.

I felt that all of the characters were identifiable:
Roma- the young hotshot
Levene- the old post-hotshot trying to hold on to his past
Aaronow- the desperate old timer
Moss- the hard-ass criminal
Williamson- the guy who is just doing his job
Lingk- the push-over husband

Although Levene was the tragic hero of the story, Aaronow was the ethical hero of the play. At the bottom of the board, his character was the most desperate. The audience saw him faced with an unethical plan that will lead him to success when he needed it the most. In the end, however, Aaronow was not the one who fell to temptation. For him, it was better to be at the bottom of the Cadillac board than to risk robbing his employer, getting arrested and ruining his life.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Legal and Ethical Restraints on PR

PRSA code of Ethics and the five values:

ADVOCACY - stewardship because, as a professional, you need to respond how your publics or organization want you to.

HONESTY - truth is being transparent, you may not be completely honest and give all the facts, but the information that you do give is transparent.

EXPERTISE - freedom, you need knowledge and expertise of the rules, ethics and the profession to be free.

INDEPENDENCE - justice, by following the code of ethics, one can gain its independence by being accountable to the code.

LOYALTY - stewardship is being loyal to your publics.

FAIRNESS - humaneness requires fair treatment of all publics, whether the publics are the ones being directly targeted or ones that are indirectly affected by your work