A PR = A DETECTIVE

Since, I’ve mentioned of the word ‘investigation' previously, I have to confess that I associate ‘Public Relations’ with a Detective’s journey of investigating and solving the mysteries of crimes.

In fact, a PR and a detective have many things in common. They both have to investigate, research, discover new methods, specialise in problem solving and both are considered as professional strategists. The only aspect that differs, is that of the target/ goal. A detective deals with crime scenes and murders, whereas a PR deals with the media, publics and organizations.

Art and crafts as a way to express or escape from humanity. How being creative has helped me...

Composing a reflective essay is not a hard task. Although, I would say that I find it extremely difficult in writing one myself! Especially when I know that I’m going to be marked on this piece of work!

Reflective essay should demonstrate reflections, in most cases based on personal experience. In fact, not everybody is able to write successful reflective essay, including myself, because not everybody has enough skills to show personal reflections. Sometimes it is rather hard for people to demonstrate their thoughts and reflections to other people. There are also people who prefer to express everything in oral form, because they can’t present all thoughts in good written context. Sometimes it is not easy to show personal thoughts on paper.

However, if I had more time ahead of me, I would’ve drawn my self-reflective summary into a painting composition.

Art has often been found as expressive or as a way to escape life and humanity. In my life this has recently become very true. Art and crafts for me, have become ways to escape the reality of constant pain, inability to move, feeling trapped and being isolated.

Furthermore, a reflective essay is a kind of essay writing giving a profound analysis of our work that we have fulfilled. It is a flashback in the course of investigating a problem thinking about what we, students have known from it.

Public Relations Executives undertake all the work! Why should the profession of Journalism exist?

While studying Public Relations, I discovered that PRs are the ones, who undertake all the work, research, forecasting trends, including writing features and selling stories!

If Public Relation Professionals are the key to all solutions, meaning that they are multi-talented people, offering all the services a company needs to boost its reputation and image. Why should we have journalists in this world, if they just Copy/Paste the PRs' Press Releases and News Stories into their publications!? Making an unauthorized copy of work, isn't this suppose to be an infringement of Copyright?

If I was given a brief to create/produce a 'new' publication of which the industry is lacking of, I would aim to Re-unite fashion journalists with PR practitioners:

Today, everybody has heard of PR but surprisingly few people have a clear picture of what it really is and what it involves. To most people, Public Relations is just a ‘spin’. And it’s disappointing to hear that individuals and professionals state about, how one doesn’t even need a license or special certification to practice PR.

This ends up being a motive for the journalists. They create a bad picture in their minds of Public Relations, resulting to how they treat the PR's work, research, press releases, look books and stories. We have to keep in mind, that nowadays, without PRs, Journalists would have to undertake a vast variety of work and research, without having that PR help. However, brands and companies would face management and communication crisis and this would've taken us back to the 20th century, where mass production was the forefront. No one knew what promotion or public relations was. Thanks to Edward L. Bernays for introducing Communication and Reputation management, now known as Public Relations.

Keeping all these in mind, we should change the current ugly face of PR and change the bad perception while boosting its reputation. Let's correct the bad press and rumors that comes on the way. Let's reunite the public and journalists with the fresh PR industry by producing a new, interesting, innovative and creative, visual-led Fashion PR magazine, just for those interested in updating their knowledge with what's new in the industry, incorporating future trends, case studies, fashion spreads by contemporary new photographers, PR profiles of agencies & professionals and features on current events happening in the industry. PR Week is not enough in our industry! We need a publication 'WITH THE TWIST'!

9 Things We Never Knew About Dolls Houses...

• Dolls Houses are a perfect ‘Choice’ for a family Heirloom! – Passing the dolls house down the generations from the mother to her daughter and then to her daughter’s daughter and so on… It’s a wonderful sentiment and makes for a truly beautiful piece of family heritage.
• Dolls Houses Pop Up in Pop! – Today, dolls houses are top of the pops within Product Placement opportunities! Spotting DHE doll’s houses somewhere unexpected, such as on television, billboards and TV show DIY SOS. A Dolls House Emporium has appeared in Jessie J’s ‘Price Tag’ Pop promo, following on from the TV advert for Mark Ronson’s latest album which featured the very chic Malibu Beach House and not forgetting the current Tesco and Churchill ads which also feature houses from the exclusive DHE collection.
• Dolls houses are enchanting: The major aspect that draws people to dolls’ houses is their subtle, innate charm that one can explore in a perfectly created miniature.
• Dolls house carry a personal touch: While speaking to collectors of dolls houses, we may find that their attraction and fascination with the hobby is largely owing to the personal touch they carry. We can choose to create our ideal abode and enjoy total control over its inhabitants’ destiny when we enter the realm of a dolls house! We can proudly hold it in the palm of our hands; it’s a sight to behold!
• Dolls houses spur creativity: One may choose to own one’s dream home that’s complete with working lights and should one wish, even running water – at the fraction of the whopping cost of a full-size property. In other words, one may customise the dolls house in keeping with one’s tastes.
• A Therapeutic Hobby: There are no rules to the world of dolls house collecting. This hobby is about taking time to relax and enjoy creating something at our own pace, to our own design, especially for us!
• Collecting, conceiving and collating dolls houses, has become a serious hobby for many adults. This is because decorating, styling and displaying dolls houses in an eclectic way, tends to feed one’s imagination. It can be fascinating and interesting and the hours can pass very quickly. The styles, degree of sophistication and detail are amazing.
• An Investment in Miniature: ‘There is a huge demand today for these Miniatures’. If one is looking for an excuse to buy that dolls’ house they’ve had their eyes on, then DHE may have the answer – a dolls house makes the perfect family heirloom and is a fantastic investment!
• The Doll House was a major technique for Forensic Artists and Investigators, used to solve crime scenes and open cases! The art of producing an accurate reproduction of a crime scene.

Trend: UK Product Placement Rules Defined by OfCom

There has been growing enthusiasm for product placement in British television programming. The debate reached its finale yesterday with Ofcom releasing a set of rules that will define how and where products can be placed within television programmes and also what types of products will be allowed.

The move towards product placement is unsurprising, it has been a staple in US advertising for many years and with the advent of on-demand television and programme recording the reach of traditional advert breaks have been questioned. The result has been the pursuit of in-programme advertising.

The rules stipulate that a logo must be shown before the start and end of each programme featuring product placement advertising, including in between advert breaks, although this logo will only take a small proportion of the screen in the corner. Interestingly Ofcom has also stated that there must be editorial justification for including any products in a programme, an innocuous term that may be open to some interpretation.

Product placement adverts will naturally have to adhere to the existing UK advertising rules meaning that no cigarettes, alcohol, gambling or medicinal products will be shown, neither will any foods that have high percentage of fat, salt or sugar.

The type of programming will also determine whether it will be possible to place a product. For example, Ofcom have stated that children’s, religious, current affairs and consumer advice shows will not be able to show any products, and understandably no BBC television programmes will show products in accordance with its charter.

Whether the adverts will be as blatant as Wayne’s World’s five minutes of on stop product placement is unlikely, hopefully, if the rules are followed the product placements should not affect the quality or integrity of the programming, instead providing another revenue stream for independent television in the UK.

The Idea of Launching a Social Network Group Page to Commence (Provoke) a Riot!

Facebook networking causes joy or sadness, depending upon the circumstances. It appears that it can also cause a concern and statement.

Considering the influence of the mass media as a mobilising force of dissidence, loosening the Soviet’s grip on the monopoly of media power during the final years of the USSR (Kotz and Weir, 1997:60-61), we can see that technology is an immensely important facilitator of popular unrest in the modern era. Certainly, there should be no doubts as to the intrinsic value of new media, particularly digital media, to the success of the protests unfolding in the Middle East at the present time. In Libya, for instance, social networking and news websites including Facebook and al-Jazeera Arabic have been blocked as the state seeks to re-stamp its authority upon a dissenting people (BBC Website; first accessed 19.02.11).

These websites, as well as images and videos captured on mobile telephones, are immensely important means of perpetuating civil unrest in the contemporary era. Not only do these new media platforms connect dissenters, they act as verifiable proof of human rights atrocities in states where foreign journalists and independent watchdogs are routinely banned. This, in turn, only serves to increase the sense of resentment at a grass roots level, further fuelling the schism between the state and the people. As a result, we can see that, the masses can only begin to feel a sense of injustice at the hypocrisy of political leaders when they are made aware that they are being lied to in the first place. It is consequently essential to highlight the significance of the mass media as a facilitator of change at a political level. This is especially true of new media solutions where it is increasingly clear that the “perception of the world and access to it have been transformed.” (Street, 2010:164)

The political industry perpetually cheats its public of what it constantly promises

“Mr President, there is a phrase saying, “His bark is worse than his bite", I believe that in this case, the government – taking your permission – barks enough but doesn’t bite at all.” (Sroiter, 2010)

Since history seems to repeat itself, I’d like to give you a little insight on how we all are brainwashed and controlled/manipulated by the politicians.

Is this quote based on the expression of views? Formed perceptions?

We can understand that the journalist is phrasing the question into a rhetorical STATEMENT, representing the citizen. He is trying to state that the political government makes promises for a better living/society and never accomplishes to undertake these agreements.

What interested me about politics and reputation management, were the public perceptions, nature of history and its usefulness, exposes, criticisms, perspectives, indications, investigations, debates, forensics, beliefs, freedom of Press and their made-up stories which have been impacted by the authorities and their deceptions. (Referencing the United States).

My dissertation piece covers all that one should know or is interested to know about politicians and their hidden agendas.

We should be asking ourselves these rhetorical questions:

Are the Politicians deceiving? Or are they hiding content from the society?

Are we all a tool of Manipulation? Are we their Puppets?

Does Freedom of Press in The United States Include Just Making Up Stories? Or does the authority manage the Media?

Is Religion a Myth? Is Christianity a ‘Blind Submission’ to authority?

Ideally, I researched and looked into the 20^th Century, ‘the Century of the Self, controlling the masses and manipulating the unconscious’, where the politicians first used the techniques of public relations (discovered by Edward L. Bernays, Freud’s nephew), to control the masses. In other terminology, ‘A Century of Spin’, “how Public Relations Became the Cutting Edge of Corporate Power”. (David Miller and William Dinan, 2008). While digging into the core of the thesis, I discovered that Sigmund Freud’s work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. And then Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses.

Then, I took the research further, by looking in depth on exposés, tabloids, broadsheets and national stories which turned out to be pseudo events manufactured by the PR industry, and the global news stories which prove to be fiction generated by a new machinery of international propaganda. Following, I studied the author of ‘Flat Earth News’, Nick Davies, including him as part of my reference. In his book, he shows the impact of situations on a world where consumers believe a mass of stories which, in truth are as false as the idea that the Earth is flat- from the millennium bug to the WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) in Iraq- tainting government policy, perverting popular belief. Then continuing with the search of ‘the Real rulers/politicians of the World’ and the impact of Religion.

Referenced the Zeitgeist movie and literature publications, which argue and state that Christianity is not based on true and that Christianity, in fact was nothing more than a Roman story developed politically.

“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery.” (Robert G. Ingersoll, 1833-1899). The Zeitgeist documentary argues that Christianity along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age. It served to detach the species for the natural world and likewise each other. It supports blind submission to authority. It reduces human responsibility to the effect that God controls everything. In return awful crimes can be justified on the name of the divine pursuit. And most importantly, it empowers those who know the truth but use the myth to manipulate and Control societies. The religious myth is the most powerful device ever created and serves as the psychological soil upon which other myths could flourish.

Moreover, the documentary debates on how the World Trade Center was destroyed by the US Government, using planes and controlled demolition explosives planted before hand. And in addition, it explores how the world’s central banks are a scam / fraud perpetuated by bankers to enrich themselves.

Coming back to how religion had an enormous impact on politics and how those in power in post- war America used Freud’s ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Hence, politicians and planners came to believe and were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts of (that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears), had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany.

I analyzed Politics in fiction and film, especially the ones with the themes of Manipulation, terror, dystopia, public perception and totalitarianism. (eg. Metropolis, Animal Farm, The Dawn of the Dead, Lord of the Flies, Children of Men, Dreamers, etc.)