PR Firms, The Lowest Of The Low, Get Another Black Eye

Facebook hired WPP Group PLC’s Burson-Marsteller to get journalists to write negative things about Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) practice of collecting private data from its users. That makes Facebook look cunning, unethical, and naive. It makes Burson-Marsteller look nearly as bad.

Like lobbyists, PR firms attempt to influence the opinions of the people who are important to their clients. It is a profession which is rarely admired. Many journalists do not even take calls from public relations executives because they know what to expect. The pitch about the PR firm’s client will be one-sided, and too predictable to be worthwhile.

In the widely regarded book, “Persuasive Industry? Spin, Public Relations and the Shaping of the Modern Media”, the authors make the case that “There is much more gray than black and white in the field of PR ethics.” There are not many people who would disagree with that opinion, the possible exception being the big companies that hire firms like Burson-Marsteller to burnish their images.

Burson-Marsteller sits on the top-tier of the global PR industry with Edelman, Hill & Knowlton, and Fleishman-Hillard. The Facebook incident makes the entire industry look bad. Whether it is fair or not, it will be assumed any of its competitors would do the same thing.  The news may also cause Burson’s rumored clients such as  Qualcomm, Sony Electronics, and State Farm to reconsider their relationships with the firm. None needs the bad PR of being associated with Burson-Marsteller now that the firm’s reputation has been tainted.

The Holmes Report recently named Burson-Marsteller the “US Agency of the Year.” If it is the best the industry has to offer, what does it say about how PR firms operate when they think no one is looking?

Douglas A. McIntyre