Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

DOES THE US NEED A PR DEPARTMENT?

DOES THE US NEED A PR DEPARTMENT?

Companies often have public relations departments charged with enhancing and protecting the image of their organisations. Of course, as always, while PR activity can assist a legitimate cause, it can never make a bad service or a bad product seem really good.

If the United States of America were indeed a company, how would its image be considered by the rest of the world? This case study has some lessons for businesses on how they should not portray themselves.

In the light of the examples below, would the United States be regarded as being modern and progressive?

# The US has failed to adopt the metric system of weights and measures (SI), which is used throughout the rest of the civilised world. The authorities have even made a feature of the fact that the Freedom Tower being built on the World Trade Center site in New York is to be exactly 1776 FEET high.

# The US still uses Fahrenheit for temperatures. Actually this draws attention to its non-scientific attitude whenever it broadcasts weather reports to the rest of the world.

# Businesses in the US also refuse to use metric paper sizes such as A4, continuing to use assorted quarto and foolscap sizes instead.

# People in the US think that the duration of a day somehow lies between the duration of a month and the duration of a year. They thus persist in writing dates in the illogical MMDDYY format, to the confusion of readers in the rest of the world.

# Companies listed on stock exchanges in the US in many cases still use scrip certificates, a highly expensive and inefficient system. The stock exchanges in civilised jurisdictions generally trade shares on an uncertificated basis.

# The belief in fundamentalism is very high in the United States, leading to pressure to teach creationism in schools as though it were a scientific fact. A recent survey found that an astonishing 65.4 per cent of the population still believes in the devil.

# In some states of the United States judges are elected officials. In more enlightened jurisdictions judges are always appointed officials and they are given tenure. This gives them proper independence from political intervention.

# Hypocrisy prevails. Large sections of the population in the US claim to be pro life when discussing a woman's right to have an abortion. They see nothing inconsistent in favouring the death penalty for certain crimes. The United States is one of the very few civilised countries which still impose this form of punishment.

# American citizens are remarkably narrow-minded in relation to nudity. To illustrate, more than 500,000 viewers in the US complained to the authorities when a female nipple was shown on television for a few seconds during the broadcast of a sporting event in February 2005. Such an extreme over-reaction in this day and age seems incomprehensible to most people in the rest of the world. A news report shortly after the incident gave the following further information:

"Jackson was exposed during a routine with Justin Timberlake. Federal regulators in the US have fined the CBS TV network a record $US550,000 for pop star Janet Jackson's `wardrobe malfunction' in February.

"The singer exposed her right breast during a dance routine with Justin Timberlake at this year's Super Bowl.

"Now the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has fined 20 CBS-owned TV stations the maximum penalty for indecency - $US27,500 - each.

"The fine is the largest ever levied against a US television broadcaster.

"The breast-baring incident generated a record number of complaints - more than 500,000 - and CBS was quick to apologize."





DOES THE US NEED A PR DEPARTMENT - To learn more about this author, visit Nick Renton's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback

To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Nick Renton
(Visit Nick's Website) Nick Renton is a consulting actuary, commercial arbitrator, company director & writer. He was Executive Director of the Life Insurance Federation of Australia 1975-86. He was the founder of the Australian Shareholders' Association and has been president of the Australian Society of Security Analysts and chairman of the Commercial Law Association of Australia. Renton has had 70 books published by 11 different publishers in Australia & the US. He has written books about more different topics than any other Australian author. His Guide for Meetings & Organisations has been widely used as a reference work on all aspects of chairmanship and the running of voluntary associations since 1961. In 1992 he was awarded the prestigious H M Jackson Memorial Prize for two of his works, Understanding Dividend Imputation and the Retirement Handbook. In 1995 he received the Ken Millar Award for his best-selling Understanding the Stock Exchange and his highly controversial Company Directors: Masters or Servants? As a free community service his site invites questions on meetings procedure, family trusts, style and investment terms. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2004.

Nick Renton is a Gold author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Nick Renton's

Complete
List Of
Public-Relations
Articles

Name
Email
If you enjoyed this article, get Nick Renton's Complete List of Public-Relations Articles For FREE!

More Nick Renton
DOES THE US NEED A PR DEPARTMENT
LETTING CULTURE GET IN THE WAY OF GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS
THE GREATEST PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER EVER
A SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC RELATIONS DEVICE GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS A FREE BOOK
LETTING STUPIDITY GET IN THE WAY OF GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS
A SHORT PUBLIC RELATIONS CASE STUDY LOSERS ALL ROUND
HOW WALMART HANDLED AN AWKWARD PR PROBLEM
SEMINARS CAN BE A USEFUL CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOL
A MAJOR PUBLIC RELATIONS BLUNDER CHARGING FOR PROPAGANDA
USING YOUTUBE AS A COSTEFFECTIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOL
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
Cheryl Matthynssens  
John Brennan  
David Barr  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
The Flowing Point Icon The Flowing Point
Positive Thinking Icon Positive Thinking
Making It Happen Icon Making It Happen
Optimize For Ask Checklist Icon Optimize For Ask Checklist
Get Working Capital Icon Get Working Capital
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
The Top 10 GTD Times Posts - Best Posts for Productivity
The Top 10 GTD Times Posts
Best Posts for Productivity
 
Top 50 HR Blogs 2009
Top 50 HR Blogs 2009
Top 50 HR Blogs 2009
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
Epi Amouzou Avetonou, Togo,
Epi Amouzou
Avetonou, Togo
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Brian Scudamore, $200k to $8 Mil in 5 years
Brian Scudamore
$200k to $8 Mil in 5 years
Lee Segal, >1,800% Growth in 5 Years
Lee Segal
>1,800% Growth in 5 Years
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
William Hewlett David Packard, Hewlett-Packard
William Wrigley Jr., Wrigley
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
Timothy Ferriss, 4 Hour Work Week
Timothy Ferriss
4 Hour Work Week
Zig Ziglar, See You At The Top
Zig Ziglar
See You At The Top
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     Get Prospects Chasing YouSuper Size the Experience You Bring to the Table in EVERY Interaction
By Alan Boyer
     Power Sales Words That Paint Powerful Pictures in the Prospectives Mind
By Alan Boyer
     30 Seconds to Explosive Networking & Sales Results
By Alan Boyer

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More Information