Charlatans running PR in big corporations

By Erick Wamanji

There are lamentations in boardrooms and the Press that the corporate world has relegated public relations and communication into the abyss. Some say it is the height of ignorance considering the critical role of image building and communication to the bottom line. Such organisations are shooting themselves in the foot.

A PR chap has the capacity to mold and turn around an ugly outfit into an admirable and profitable firm.

Masqueraders have infiltrated the profession. But the woes that bedevil communication departments are self-authored. Most officers are lethargic and have become shrewd masters of outsourcing. This new trend is also a fertile ground for graft. It defeats logic to ride on high perks while one cannot even craft a simple sentence for a press release or design a brochure or take pictures. They just call the agency guy.

PR is a management job not just a craft. But one cannot manage that he/she does not know.

Emerging practioners are simply a consortium of brokers. They lack strategic thinking and often scheme and gossip to protect their turf. Some are pathological liars.

As a manager, I would never employ a middleman whose work is to dial the agency. Most PR officers cannot demonstrate the intellectual contribution they bring to the enterprise. Most are at home tying balloons, laying red carpets and ushering guests; jobs that can be done by Standard Three pupils. Most are still stuck in the old rut of lovely smiles and beautiful faces when in reality the profession has changed to the brains.

Undergraduate qualification in communication is not enough. Asserting skills either in writing, speech making, persuasion, photography, filming and strategy is king.

The dearth of such skills is the source of all these tribulations.

At university, PR students considered it a bother and waste of time to study global politics, writing, economics or religion. The students loved classes on organising an event. The final exam was to organise a mock event. Money was easily raised to buy cakes and soft drinks while balloons and flowers were set plus loud music.

There is a conspiracy in town on where to outsource, when to outsource and what to outsource. The result is mediocrity and runaway graft.

Some PR officers have created phantom companies to win tenders for the same companies they work for and inflate prices.

While your everyday press guy has the word ‘ethics’ dangling back his mind as he searches for a story, his cousin at the PR office can hardly define ethics.

Communication is a critical cog in any enterprise. However, most management lacks the basic understanding of what really PR is and who qualifies to practise. And that is why CEOs swallow hook, line and sinker any crap told about PR and communication. Organisations then settle for third-rate practitioners as long as they have certificates. Some corporate top dogs still think communication is propaganda. Others still consider communication as ‘MCeeing’, serving tea or talking nicely.

PR is about understanding the trends, economics, politics, social issues and local and global discourses and then designing actions and messages that are in sync with reality.

I empathise with those whose departments have been foolishly downgraded. We have seen lawyers, marketers, teachers and sociologists entrenching themselves into PR and squarely insisting their expertise because the real practitioners failed.

The talent, craft and the art that comes with communication; its very science is too intricate, too critical to be left to every charlatan. Time is up for the professionals to stand up.

The author is a communications consultant.