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Introduction
In the last half century at least, public relations literature has largely shunned the word persuasion. Yet, public relations remain predominantly about communication with intent. That is, to inform, raise awareness or educate, or to influence attitudes, or to influence behavior ([25] Hendrix, 1998, pp. 23-9, see discussion on public relations objectives as informational, attitudinal or behavioural).
Persuasion is integral to all categories and vital to the last two. One cannot inform without the message receiver at least implicitly being persuaded that the topic is worthy of attention. To influence attitudes or behaviour, the part played by persuasion only strengthens. Influencing attitudes about gender equality requires doubters to be persuaded. Moreover, persuasion is indivisible from communication if the objective is to change the behaviour of smokers, or people who engage in unsafe sex, or users of unsterile syringes to inject illicit drugs.
Hence, the term, the role and the process of persuasion must be openly discussed in public relations. The questions should revolve around the limits of persuasion. Those limits should be prescribed by ethics.
The scope of this paper will be limited to the free will of audiences to be informed, or to change attitudes or behaviour. Coercion is excluded because in day-to-day public relations work it could never be considered ethical. Also excluded is attitude or behavior change elicited by systematic reward and punishment because the focus here is on change motivated internally and not linked to external or transient inducements ([31] Kelman, 1981, see discussion of compliance, identification and internalisation.). Lastly, this paper excludes one-on-one influence. This is to maintain a manageable scope, but also because the focus here is not on individual psychological idiosyncrasies but on aggregate effects across large groups. This one-to-many framework reflects the bulk of daily public relations communications and will be the scope of this paper.
This inquiry is motivated by a gap in public relations literature, which avoids confronting the practice of persuasion and neglects to explain the role of the public interest. The intent of this inquiry then is to answer:
How can ethical persuasion be integrated into public relations practice, what is the role of the public interest, and what might be the essential standards for ethical persuasion?
The outcome of paper will...