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Multicultural Public Relations – A Social-Interpretive Approach

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Book Review -- Multicultural Public Relations – A Social-Interpretive Approach By Stephen P. Banks, Ph.D. Iowa State University Press ISBN # 0813829402

Multicultural Public Relations – A Social-Interpretive Approach

We have a bias against most academic books because they have a tendency to rely heavily on a compilation, rehash and analysis of research and other academicians’ work. At the same time they tend to be long on theory and short on practice. Fortunately, Dr. Banks only spends enough time in this area to ensure that his book qualifies as a serious reference guide for other educators and men and women looking to gain the fundamentals to they can enter the field.

To his credit though Dr. Banks does point out the Achilles heel of most public relations programs and public relations professionals. We increasingly acknowledge and give lip service to cultural and socio-economic diversity while we focus only token public relations programs and efforts in these areas.

Multicultural Public Relations does serve as a good wake-up call however at both the macro and micro levels. Those of us who make heavy use web-based communities have come to understand that the company doesn’t have one target market – for example video production tool users – but rather a profusion of sub-markets that gather from around the globe on a daily basis in Web sites and chat rooms.

Using the example we just noted we’ll explore how one area grew like a living, breathing organism.

The site was initially set up for consumers who owned camcorders, PCs and wanted to do their own video production. The first cell quickly divided into two for Mac and PC users. The two quickly divided again into analog camcorders/video input and digital input. Soon these divided into NTSC and PAL (video standards in various countries). The mitosis process has continued with new chat rooms (cells) for SOHO, documentary, animation and special effects, specific ethnic and religious groups, more than a dozen nationalities as well as sports and hobbies.

As we sit in and monitor the chat room activities (identifying ourselves as company representatives when information or input is provided) it is interesting to watch people move between the site chat areas and blend in with the socio-cultural activities of the various groups.

Each individual at the Web site is an individual cell in his or her own rights but they also blend into and mutually support the discussions and activities of the various chat rooms.

The challenge for Dr. Banks and every public relations professional is that our audiences are simultaneously becoming more diverse and more monolithic. In the example above it is easy to see the diversity as sub-chat rooms open and people join to discuss specific ethnic, religious and socio-economic issues. At the same time the nationality differences disappear because you can “see” participants from .au, .de, .jp, .uk, .gov, .edu and other suffixes that give an indication of where the individual lives or works.

However, Dr. Banks does a good job of raising awareness for public relations professionals in our more traditional, more physically bound world. He also helps the reader become more acutely aware that shotgunning messages will often ricochet and can occasionally do more harm than good.

While California has a huge (and rapidly growing) Hispanic and Asian population there are tremendous socio-economic differences between Mexican, Puerto Rican, Colombian and Panamanian populations as well as between Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Malaysian populations. These changes, as Dr. Banks points out calls for professionals to redefine their efforts and activities as well as the effectiveness of programs which goes well beyond cursory knowledge of the various cultures.

While Multicultural Public Relations does a good job of stimulating us to think about the issues and challenges we would have liked to see him cover more good and/or bad examples of specific programs. What his book did do was prompt us think about the issues and challenges facing us. It can be a good launching platform that will promote further dialogue.

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