Influence

There are three themes that particularly stood out to me watching the film ‘Influence 2020’ namely they were: manipulation, strategic relationships, and fake news.

I think manipulation is a big red flag for everyone but it’s something we can’t always control. People with money think they have the power to buy anything including buying over people’s morals. They aren’t always held responsible because they buy their way out of facing the consequences. Public relations started off as advertising where we were manipulating people to buy certain products. Later when seeing the effect it has on behaviour, it evolved into manipulation through different media. PR was seen as spin doctors. We worked so hard to change that perception until the Bell Pottinger saga happened. Now we are right back where we started.

Another pertinent theme running throughout the film is strategic relationships. Tim Bell would never have gotten where he did in life without partnering with specific people. He understood the importance of relationships and took full advantage of them. This proves that PR has a fighting chance as a profession if it partners with the right organisations to clear up all the confusion. Partnering with big organisation will give us our credibility back because if they trust us, so will the rest of the world. The profession will remain ethical and trustworthy if they partner with the correct people.

The media as a medium is probably the biggest threat to PR. Because of how it evolved into creating an interconnected world, it has the power to make or break our profession. Regular people have become journalists and spread all types of news without the fact checks and errors. This caused mass media to be flooded with all types of fake news and assumptions. It’s a regular person so you believe them because they are so much more relatable. The credibility of PR is at risk because you would rather believe them even though you know what you are doing.

Overall, it’s scary to be a student studying a profession not knowing what the future holds. But I firmly believe that we have overcome worse and will push through even this.