Let’s first break down what PR is and why it’s needed?
PR (Public Relation) is about managing people and creating targeted information that gets people talking about you or your product in the media. It should be understood that PR promotes not the product itself, but the company or manufacturer in society. With the help of PR it is possible to manage and manipulate public consciousness.
In business, PR plays an important role.
The main types of PR:
- White PR;
- Gray PR;
- Yellow PR;
- Pink PR;
- Viral PR;
- Self-promotion;
- Black PR.
White PR is a legal and truthful method of building a company’s reputation that does not affect competitors.
Gray PR – publicized truthful data about a company that tells a negative or positive story about the firm.
Yellow PR – using untrue or offensive information to attract attention. Most often yellow PR is used in politics and show business.
Pink PR is a fictionalized, heartwarming story that tells the difficult journey of a company that came to success.
Viral PR is a way of spreading the word on social media.
Self-publishing is the self-promotion of an individual’s reputation by any means necessary.
A new trend in modern business is GR or “government relations” (government relations). GR is an interaction between business and government. The more interested party, i.e. business, is the active initiator. The classic objects of Government Relations are the executive and legislative branches of government.
Black PR – used as a means to deceive and tarnish the image of companies. Often use more “dirty fighting” to destroy competitors. They use any information attacks. Black PR is also a PR and it is resorted to by many companies. Almost any PR campaign can protect you from black PR.
The most demanded PR tasks assigned to agencies for 2016-2017 (%)
The main objectives of black PR:
- undermining and degrading the enemy’s reputation;
- the destruction of business, any corporate ties;
- driving competitors out of the market;
- to slightly scare the opponent, perhaps so that he sells his shares or does not run for election.
Today it is very easy to order black PR. Examples of black PR can be found in social networks, in the media and on forums. There is a profession of “black PR” – these are people who disseminate and publish negative and untrue information in the media.
Attack methods in black PR:
- booing;
- hook and bait;
- bad praise;
- of virtual dirt;
- of public outrage;
- of dirt.
The booing method – a crowd of people is launched to complain about everything, create queues in a bank, supermarket, etc. With the help of this method it is possible to disrupt the performance of speakers, protests are created.
The hook and bait method – an information trap is formed for the object of attack, the object is lured there, and it creates compromise on itself.
The Bad Praise Method – believes in praising an opponent publicly while sowing negative public perceptions of him.
The virtual compromise method – uses a fictitious fact as compromise. Most often it can be an unrealistic wish or thought of the opponent, which is difficult to refute.
The method of public outrage – this method of black PR is very often used in politics. It is enough to find an object that can outrage the public. It can be an expensive car, a new house of a politician, etc.
The kompromat method – any information that raises doubts in the public about the competence of the company or opponent is launched.
Those in power pay a lot of money to tarnish the reputation of their opponents. A politician is ready to pay from 2-3 to a couple of hundred thousand dollars. An example of black political PR in Ukraine: according to some reports, the customers paid about 100 thousand dollars for the recording of the election video of the candidate for mayor of Kharkiv Mikhail Dobkin.
A vivid example of black PR in the USA was Bill Clinton’s sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky. Through this rumor a big scandal broke out, and Bill Clinton had to resign and leave the presidency.
The boom of black PR falls on the period of pre-election PR campaigns. Then candidates frame and smear each other in the eyes of the public. Often they use compromise – it can be real, negative facts from the biography of politicians, which were hidden from the public – “compromising material”.
Types of Compromise:
Half-truths – using real facts with the addition of made-up stories.
Not true – information that could have objective corroboration.
Lies are outright misinformation.
Examples of black PR
Unfortunately black PR was directed against Ukraine. Here are a few examples:
1. Euro 2012 scandal
Spyros Marangos, former treasurer of the Cypriot Football Federation, accused Ukraine of corruption in 2010.
According to him, the Ukrainian Federation paid a bribe of 4m euros to several UEFA members. Spyros Marangos gave an interview to the Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport in which he accused Hryhoriy Surkis of bribery. According to the Cypriot, Italy should have won the right to host Euro 2012.
In 2010, UEFA filed a lawsuit with the Swiss criminal court for spreading false information against the eXtreasurer. Since the fact of bribery was not proven, Spiros Marangos publicly apologized.
2. Poisoned corn
Germany has accused Ukraine of treating corn with the chemical substance dioxin, this happened in 2010.Dioxin was found in chicken eggs. The German agency conducted a thorough investigation, according to them, the culprit was Ukrainian corn, as Ukraine exported corn fodder to local German farmers.
The contamination of Ukrainian products was not proven. The Ukrainian side demanded an apology from Germany, but no one apologized.
3. Gun scandal
In the course of the war between Russia and Georgia, several Russian airplanes were shot down using anti-aircraft systems sold by Ukraine. In 2008, the Russian media claimed that it was arms supplies from Ukraine that pushed Tbilisi into military conflict.
To increase their ratings showbiz stars often resort to black PR. They create their own unique style. Their PR agents are constantly pouring oil on the fire spreading another rumor.
In 2003, at the MTV Video Music Awards, there was an “accidental” but passionate kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears.
Britney Spears has always had a scandalous reputation. She was accused of being unconventional, she was spotted in hot spots with another celebrity Paris Hilton, who used black PR, in order to promote herself.
Model Naomi Campbell, known to everyone for her temperament.She very often beats her housekeepers, and then tells about it in the press.
The world-famous actress Angelina Jolie likes to publicize herself. She kisses her own brother in public, she discusses and shows her romance with her husband Bill Thornton. At the moment, the actress leads a quieter and closed life from the paparazzi.
If black PR falls into the hands of an honest and good figure – then you can protect yourself from unscrupulous competitors, politicians and substandard products.
If black PR gets to competitors with bad intentions, an honest business or useful product can be destroyed with this type of PR.
Therefore, in order to protect the reputation of the company from black PR it is necessary to have in its arsenal a good PR agency to form the image of the company. Or use the services of Koloro‘ s best professionals.
How to protect yourself from black PR?
- remove negative reviews, this job takes a lot of time and effort;
- To spread positive reviews about your company, you need to use SEO and SMM tools. You can optimize pages with positive articles to drive out negativity about the company in the search engine.
- sending out press releases. It raises the position of the company for several weeks. The press release mailing should be updated regularly.
- buying pages on a website that has a good reputation on the Internet, business and community. You buy a page on a website and write about yourself, with a link to your website.
- you can use white PR tools to overshadow the negativity that has been directed towards your company.
- Create a PR project in advance that will enhance the positive image of the company. You need to develop a brand strategy first. A good online reputation plays an important role for you.
It would be best if you never had to face black PR. Therefore, it is necessary to order a PR campaign in advance and spread positive information about your business.
