EH 340: Portrayal of PR in Film and Television

Introduction

Public relations is often misunderstood as a profession. This misunderstanding stems from several things such as people not knowing what exactly public relations is, stereotypical ideas of a public relations practitioner, negative portrayals of the profession, not enough publicity for the public relations profession, and more. Through my research, I plan to find out why public relations is so misunderstood and misrepresented as a profession in films and television shows by looking at the how characters are portrayed, what skills the characters show, what gender the characters are, if the characters are major or minor, where the characters work, what the characters job is, what type of film or television show it is, and if there are stereotypes shown in the television show or film.

What is Public Relations?

According to the Public Relations Society of America, Inc. (PRSA), public relations does not simply have one definition. Public relations has been around as early as the 20th century and has been given several different definitions that constantly evolve into new definitions throughout our changing world. The definition for public relations changes as its role in the public and the technology we use changes. For example, in previous years social media would not be considered a concern for public relations. However, as social media has increasingly become a larger part of the way the public receives information it is now a factor that public relations practitioners must look at.

In earlier definitions of public relations, the profession is typically described as publicity. However, in more modern definitions, the profession’s description focuses more on engagement and relationship building rather than press stunts and publicity. In 1982 the PRSA adopted the following definition: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”3 Decades later the PRSA adapted their definition of public relations, and the new definition still stands today. The PRSA’s new definition is as follows: “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Public relations involves a variety of skills that are all encompassed together to perform a job. Public relations practitioners have to be able to connect with their clients and the public. Public relations practitioners must build relationships with a company’s stakeholders, but they also must connect with the public while framing the organization's public image. They also must be able to anticipate and analyze the public and the public’s reactions in order to maintain and protect the reputation of an organization. Often, public relations practitioners will have to write press releases, research case studies, write crisis communication plans, create media kits, and more.

There are several areas or disciplines within the public relations professions. To name a few disciplines within PR, there is crisis communications, media relations, speechwriting, marketing communications, corporate communications, content creation, and reputation management.

Common Misconceptions of PR

There are a lot of misconceptions about public relations and public relations practitioners in the media, particularly in movies and television. Public relations is often connected with negative connotations based on inaccurate information that movies and television portray.

For example, one common misconception is how public relations is often associated with the master of spinning. People think that public relations is all about putting a spin on everything so that it works out in yours and your client’s favor. However, while public relations practitioners may spin a tad, that isn’t all that they do and they don’t do it all the time. In fact, a major element that public relations practitioners are taught to use is transparency. Another common misconception about public relations practitioners is that they can do everything. It is true that public relations practitioners have a variety of different jobs and responsibilities, but they cannot do everything. People also often think that public relations is only needed during a crisis or that only bad products need public relations. However, public relations is always needed for both good and bad products because there is such a thing as bad publicity. Public relations is also associated with instant results, which is not true. Public relations practitioners work on building trust between their client and the public through being transparent and honest, which is a long process. Public relations does not grant you automatic results that will skyrocket your sales, but it does help your organization build relationships with the public.

Why Look at Film and Television?

Film and television often portrays public relations and public relations practitioners in a negative light. Film and television often portray misconceptions and stereotypes about public relations, which affects how people look and think about the profession. For example, a common stereotype about public relations practitioners is that they are stone cold sharks who only care about their jobs and will stop at nothing to achieve the outcome they want.

When watching a film or television, the viewer only sees the perception that the director wants you to see. The viewers’ perceptions are skewed and does not allow them to really understand the public relations profession. When watching film or television, viewers are forming mediated perceptions. Mediated perceptions are formed when someone is not physically present and the viewer’s “sensory impressions have been filtered through by people” before ever receiving them.” Mediated perceptions are indirect or second-hand experiences for the viewer. Mediated perceptions play a role in how viewers perceive the characters. For example, if you only see what the director wants you to see, you never receive the whole picture. Therefore, the director can make the viewer think whatever he or she wants, whether it is true or false, negative or positive.

Methodology & Research Questions

Throughout the years, public relations has been given a bad name due to negative, inaccurate, and stereotypical portrayals in the media. The purpose of this paper is to learn how public relations and public relations practitioners are portrayed in film and television shows. By researching a variety of films and television shows, I will analyse how public relations is portrayed in both media types. Are the portrayals accurate? Are the portrayals more negative or more positive? What skills are associated with the public relations profession through these portrayals? How often is public relations portrayed in film and television? Have these portrayals played a role in the recent rise of the public relations profession? Is one media type more popular than the other? Which media type has more influence on the public’s opinion of the profession? Are film portrayals different from television portrayals? Are the characters more male or female? Are they main characters or side characters? These are the types of questions that I plan to answer in this paper.

Furthermore, I also plan to look at two mass communication theories. The first mass communication theory is the cultivation theory and the second is the framing theory. The cultivation theory is the idea that people who watch more televisions are more susceptible to messages in the media. This theory states that people who watch more television are also more susceptible to believing what the the media says is real. This theory helps provide context to how important the portrayal of public relations in film and television is because it shows that these portrayals, whether they are accurate or inaccurate, are being pushed on the viewers who are susceptible believing them as the truth without any further research. Similar to the cultivation theory, the framing theory also helps provide context to how important the portrayal of the public relations profession in the media is. The framing theory is the idea that the media does not provide the public with the whole picture.The media focuses its attention on one aspect or area of a subject and places it inside a frame, which is all that the public sees. The public is provided with a cropped image, rather than seeing the whole picture. This theory also suggests that how something is framed and presented towards you affects how you choose to process that information. This means that how public relations and public relations practitioners are portrayed could affect how the world views them and from opinions about them.

Television and Film Selection

When I began choosing the films and television shows that I wanted to analyze, I began by creating two lists. The first list was for films that I knew had characters in the public relations field, and the second list was for television shows that I knew had characters in the public relations field. I found that the number of television shows was outnumbered immensely by the number of films. I found twenty-five movies and fourteen television shows. A few of the movies I found include the followings: Sex and the City 1, Sex and the City 2, Phone Booth, Jersey Girl, The Queen, Hancock, Wag the Dog, Jerry Maguire, The Candidate, Primary Colors, Our Brand is Crisis, Better Caul Saul, 12 Men of Christmas, State of Play, In the Loop, The Ides of March, Weiner, America’s Sweethearts, Frost Nixon, Absolutely Famous, A League of their Own, Sweet Smell of Success, Thank You for Smoking, Girl’s Trip, Old Dogs, and The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. A few of the television shows I found include the following: Scandal, The West Wing, Parks and Recreation, What I Like About You, The Crazy Ones, Mad Men, Absolute Power, Sex and the City, House of Cards, Flack, The Politician, Designated Survivor, Madame Secretary, and P.R..

For the purpose of this paper, I then began to narrow down the selection of television shows and films to analyze. I chose to analyze the following films: Sex and the City 1, Sex and the City 2, Hancock, 12 Men of Christmas, and A League of their Own. From the two lists, I chose to analyze the following television shows: Scandal, The West Wing, Parks and Recreation, and Sex and the City.I chose these because they were a few of the more popular films and televisions shows that I found. I also chose these because I was familiar with them prior to my research, which eradicated the need for binge-watching all of the films and television shows. These options were also more accessible for the public, as they were released more recently than others from the list.

PR Portrayals in Film

In the film, Hancock (2008), there are three main characters, two who are people with superpowers and one who is a publicist. Ray Embrey, the publicist, is married to Mary Embrey, who has secret superpowers. Hancock is a well known superhero in the city who has a bad reputation. After Hancock saves Ray’s life, Ray makes it his mission to improve Hancock’s public image. Ray is truthful with his client, Hancock, he doesn’t sugar coat anything. In fact, Ray actually tells Hancock that he is “an asshole.” Ray devises a step-by-step plan to guide Hancock away from his bad image towards his new, and improved public image. The film provides insight into what the public relations profession actually involves. The whole movie is full of scenes of Ray working and doing his job. This portrayal is positive and accurate, aside from the superheroes. It does have a lot of exposure as well due to it being a big movie that received a lot of press when it was released. This film is still very popular and very well known today.

In the films Sex and the City 1 (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), and in the Sex and the City television show (1998 - 2004) there are four female main characters who are all best friends in New York. There is Carrie Bradshaw (a columnist), Samantha Jones (a publicist), Charlotte York Goldenblatt (an art dealer), and Miranda Hobbes (a lawyer). While all of these four women are main characters and important to the storyline of the films and the television series, the character that I will be focusing on is the character of Samantha Jones, the publicist. Samantha is a public relations executive who has her own company. In the films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), and in the Sex and the City television show (1998 - 2004) she is portrayed as this rich, Manhattan woman who was afraid of nothing. We are often shown her walking through the city, shopping, drinking, or eating lunch with her girls. However, we are not ever really shown much about her work. There are not many scenes where you actually see her doing business. Samantha’s character makes the profession seem easy and glamourous, not hard or like actual work. This portrayal makes the profession seem mostly like partying than business. This portrayal isn’t necessarily negative, just inaccurate. It is more on the side of extremely positive, which makes it inaccurate versus the extremely negative side. Therefore, it is still a stereotypical portrayal of the profession, but not a negative portrayal. Furthermore, this particular character has a lot of exposure and influence on the public during her time in the television series that ran for six years plus the two, very popular movies.

In the film, 12 Men of Christmas (2009), a New York City publicist, named E.J. Baxter, finds herself betrayed by her boss and fiancé. After being betrayed, she moves to Kalispell, Montana where she is in charge of rebranding the town to attract more tourists. She begins promoting a charity calendar for the town’s volunteer Kalispell Search and Rescue team. She begins using her public relations skills to persuade the men in the small, Montana town to model for a calendar. She begins to run with the idea and labels it the “12 Men of Christmas'' calendar. In the calendar, the nearly naked men are posing while doing everyday chores such as fishing, chopping wood, etc. While a good idea, most of the men were very unwilling to participate until EJ persuaded them to participate.

In the film, A League of Their Own (1992), the story revolves around two sisters, named Dottie and Kit, who work on their family’s dairy farm and play softball in their free time. This film is set during the World War II era where most of the men were away at war. One day the sisters were offered an opportunity to play for a women’s professional baseball league, which was replacing the men’s league until the war was over. The two sisters then become members of the Rockford Peaches team. The women still were subject to the misogynistic ideas of the time period and were made to wear short skirts while playing baseball. They were also made to go to a school for ladies where they were taught to sit, stand, and dress like proper ladies. They also face extreme criticism from the public due to many thinking the women should not be playing such a masculine sport..

PR Portrayals in Television

The television series Scandal (2012-2018), involves a group of people who work for a crisis management firm named Olivia Pope & Associates (OPA). Throughout the series that ran for six years, there have been several different team members including the following: Quinn Perkins, Abby Whelan, Huck, Charlie, Stephen Finch, Harrison Wright, David Rosen, Marcus Walker, and the infamous Olivia Pope (one of the main characters). In this television show there are several real skills related to the public relations profession, particularly crisis communications, portrayed. The profession is dramatized, as it is a television show, but it is one of the more real portrayals I have come across so far in my research. Some of the skills that the OPA performs in the show involve crisis management and strategic communications, as well as counseling clients on their public image.

The television show The West Wing (1999 - 2006), is about a multitude of crises that occur at the White House and how these crises are handled by the main characters who work in the White House. A few of the main characters that have been a part of the 7 year series include: Madeline Hampton, Sam Seaborn, Charlie Young, Toby Ziegler, and many more. While there are many main characters we could discuss, for the moment I will be focusing on Madeline (Mandy) Hampton. Madeline is a media consultant for the White House.

The television show Parks and Recreation (2009 - 2015), is about the Parks and Recreation Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. One of the main characters is Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the department. The show follows the Parks and Recreation Department as they are brought issues from the towns people that need to be fixed. Throughout the show, there are several instances where Leslie and her team must use public relations skills to solve the issues in the town. The show follows the Parks and Recreation Department as they are brought issues from the towns people that need to be fixed. Throughout the show, there are several instances where Leslie and her team must use public relations skills to solve the issues in the town. Analysis

In the film, Hancock (2008), the publicist Ray Embrey from Embrey Publicity, decides to take on John Hancock as his new client, after Hancock saves him from a train. At the beginning of the film, Hancock starts out as an alcoholic who destroys more things than he saves. He tries to help out, but his helping does more harm than good which is why the public hates him so much. He also appears husky and hungover constantly in the beginning of the film. It is even mentioned that Hancock is “publicity shy” and “Cannot be reached for a comment” on his behavior. Then comes Ray who changes everything. Ray is introduced as the “Bono of P.” He wears a suit and tie, and works at a publicity firm that “changes the way people see products, companies, and people.” Ray begins using his PR skills by pitching to Hancock. He tells Hancock that he does good things and people should love him and ask him for autographs, but instead they hate him and want him in jail. Ray then shows Hancock some clips from Youtube of Hancock’s bad behavior. One clip involved Hancock, almost naked, cutting in front of children who were waiting in line for ice cream. The second clip involved Walter, a whale stuck on the beach. Hancock picks up the whale and flings him into the direction of the ocean, but Walter hit a boat. Hancock then tells Ray that he “Doesn’t even remember that,” to which Ray responded “ Greenpeace and Walter do.” Ray tells Hancock that his problem is that “You’re an asshole.” Ray begins working on changing the public’s perspective of Hancock from a bum to a superhero by having Hancock do a press release to apologize for his actions, voluntarily go to jail to appease the public, attending anger and alcohol management classes, wearing a uniform, being clean and shaven, and telling the police officers good job for their work. The chief of police calls for Hancock’s help, so he suits up and flies over to the bank that is being robbed. Hancock tells the officers good job, saves the female officer from the gunfire, and stops the bomb from going off. The chief of police tells Hancock he did a good job, and the crowd of people erupt in cheers and applause. Ray’s pr skills are working and Hancock’s image is changing for the better.

In the film A League of Their Own (1992), Mr. Iwa Lowenstein works as a publicist for the women’s professional baseball team. Mr. Lowenstein was in charge of creating promotional films about the women and the league. These films focused on the women’s domestic accomplishments and their appearances more than their athletic ability, but this was just to placate the public and draw them in. After drawing them in, the public began to attend games where they became hooked on the women’s athletic abilities. He enrolled the women in a charm school that taught the women how to dress, stand, walk, and eat like proper ladies. The charm school was a tactic Mr. Lowenstein used to improve the women’s public image before he began the promotional films, which were used to draw the attention of the public, particularly the men. The better the image of the women, the more tickets were sold, the more profits Mr. Lowenstein's client, the owner of the teams, made. In the film 12 Men of Christmas (2009), the publicist EJ Baxter, moves positions from New York City to a new position in Montana where she is in charge of rebranding the town and attracting more tourists to the area, while simultaneously helping raise money for the volunteer search and rescue team. The volunteer search and rescue team raises money through raffles, sponsored triathlons, pancake breakfasts, and picnics. However, they still cannot raise enough money. EJ has a big idea of making a calendar to sell in order to raise funds for the voluntary search and rescue team. EJ’s calendar involves a photoshoot of twelve naked men, one for each month, doing different activities around the town. EJ uses her pr skills to help create the calendar, hoping it will raise enough money to help the search and rescue team buy new, updated equipment. EJ begins taking pictures of properties and the mountain views in order to “entice” tourists to the town of Kalispell. At first, everyone is opposed to the idea of the “naked” calendar, and it was even referred to as a “cheap gimmick.” EJ fires back with her presentation of numbers, showing how in the past the fundraisers have been less than successful. She points out that the previous fundraisers don’t point out the team’s assets. They provide a reason to donate because it is a good cause, but people are not as motivated to donate because they don’t really see the team and how great they are. She helps provide comfort by saying that they will not be completely naked because they will have things covering them up. She then further supports her idea by providing examples of other calendars and the profits they’ve earned in the past three years. She also remains her composure during the entire pitch, despite one of the team members constantly interrupting her and shooting her down. EJ also points out to the team members, who also own shops around town, that the majority of their customers are women who would love the calendar. She makes the point that the calendar will help increase profits for the search and rescue team, but also increase sales in their businesses.

In the films Sex and the City 1 (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), the publicist Samantha Jones is not really seen doing much pr work. Her job is made clear in the show, and there are clips of Samantha shown in her office, but there are rarely scenes of her doing work that the viewers can see. In Sex and the City 2, Samantha and her friends go on a trip to Abu Dhabi, where Samantha was invited to do a job. In the second movie, the viewers see more about her job than in the first, but still do not get to see much. There is one scene where she sits down with a group of men who have a hotel resort in Abu Dhabi. The men want Samantha to use her publicity skills to attract tourists to the resort and invite her and her friends to spend some time at the resort. However, instead of showing off her skills, the film only shows Samantha’s glamorous lifestyle. She is seen flying in first-class, staying at a 5-star resort in Abu Dhabi for free, shopping, having a lavish suite, meeting handsome men, and so much more. The same can be said for the television series Sex and the City (1998 - 2004). Samantha can be seen with clients, talking on the phone with clients, and in her office, but never doing any work. She is seen shopping, clubbing, partying, eating lunch and drinking with her friends, having lots of sex, but never work. In the television series Parks and Recreation (2009 - 2015), there are a variety of characters that all play a role in how the series is portrayed, but I focused on the character of Leslie Knope. Leslie is the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department in Pawnee, Indiana. Throughout the long running series, there are several examples where Leslie displays her skills as a public relations practitioner, but one major one is from an episode in season five where the team has to take part in an emergency response drill. In this episode, the team are given a fictional emergency and they must act accordingly to their crisis communications plan to test how effective it is. The town of Pawnee is given the emergency “Hit with the Avian Flu.” Leslie has full confidence in the team and their crisis communications plan. She uses her PR skills to effectively communicate with her team their crisis communications plan, which involves informing all residents of Pawnee and corresponding with police, firemen, and all forms of public transportation. The team must shut down the transportation, and find a way to stop the birds from spreading the contagious strain of Avian flu. However, later she finds out that no there are a variety of matter how hard they try, they will not pass the test because it was rigged for them to lose. Conclusion

Overall, through my research of various films and television shows, I have concluded that while there are a large number of films that portray the public relations profession in a negative light, there is also a large number of films that portray the profession in a positive light, a number that continues to grow as time changes. In recent years, public relations has become a rapidly growing profession, and as such it has also become more increasingly portrayed in films and television. Similarly, as more and more women join the workforce and the public relations profession, the main characters in film and television change from mostly male characters to being dominated by female characters. However, while these portrayals are more positive than in past years, they still are not entirely accurate. There are still stereotypical portrayals of the profession, that make public relations seem like something it isn’t.

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