Chapter 12

Question 1: Are public relations activities like image consulting ethical? Explain.

I think that they are, especially considering who PR reps represent. Extremely public figures, like large corporations, politicians, celebrities, etc., are put on a pedestal. However, they are ultimately human, and their faults will come out. When someone gets angry with the press, or when a business has a lawsuit on its hands, their image is bound to be tarnished. They need to do everything they can to get back on their feet.
There are some people who claim that "image consulting" is synonymous with "lying." I don't think so. If it was really lying, well, the companies that hire these PR reps could just lie on their own. They don't need anyone's help blatantly lying to the American public. They don't need someone there to tell them how to completely disregard the truth. They do, however, need someone to tell them what kind of spin to put on the news so it doesn't affect them unduly. Spinning is not lying. Spinning is figuring out how to tell the truth without drastically cutting down public image or profits. Yes, some people don't like the supposed secrecy of the whole affair, but without it, bluntness and cruel honesty would rule the day, and then companies would get nowhere.
The Bible was the first example of PR, and most people don't start complaining about how they spun the events and wrote down their own side of the story. The truth is, without PR, companies would probably be more likely to lie, since they would have difficulty admitting anything that would hurt them. This way, they tell us the truth, but we have to be smart enough to tell how drastic the truth really is.

Question 2: Showman P. T. Barnum epitomized 19th-century press agentry with exaggerated claims such as those about Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind. Do such promotional methods exist today? Are there examples?

Sure, but selling a person is the same thing as selling a product in today's world. Both PR reps and advertisers are constantly exaggerating and underemphasizing press that they think will help or hurt their business. It just so happens that PR reps are selling people instead of products, so it appears to be more dramatic and despicable for them to make outlandish claims.
However, I think that PR agents have become either more subtle or less outlandish since Barnam's exaggerated claims, because I can't think of any examples off the top of my head. I'm certain it does exist, and I don't want to be thought naive for being unable to think of any examples of how the truth has been greatly stretched to make me think better of an individual or a company; however, I can't think of anything as dramatic.