Write a note on History of Public Relations

HISTORY
• It was 1914. In America Rock‐feller family was a big name in business. But they had a bad
reputation among the common people. So it became very troublesome to run the business
successfully. To come out of this situation Rockefeller (Junior) contacted a person called IVY
Ledbetter Lee. Primarily Lee was a reporter but later on took public relations as his bread and
butter. The Rockefeller’s appointed him as public relations officers. Lee took the job as a
challenge. As a first step Lee sent a letter to the press informing the people about the real
situation. Finally the theory clicked and Rockefeller’s overcame the crisis. Lee became popular.
His theory was “The public be informed”, i.e. to inform the people at first hand about the
truth. It worked later; many organisations took help from Lee and succeeded to overcome the
crisis. It is said that Lee was the real father of modern public relations.
• In USA before Lee there were few pioneers, like Phineas T Barnum and Venderbilt, were there in
public relations. But they did not succeed. Because, Barnum’s Theory was “The public be
fooled” and Vanderbilt stressed on “The public be damned”. Before Second World War PR was
practiced less as a matter of deliberate PR policy but more out of share necessity for
disseminating information. During this stage conscious PR started. The importance of public
relations was widely accepted and appreciated in the Second World War. This stage still
continues but with a further development. In ancient age Greece, Rome and India used public
relations as a weapon for religion, cultural and expanding kingdom. In Greece the purpose of
holding Olympic games was nothing but simple PR. Preaching’s of Lord Buddha, inscriptions of
King Ashoka — all were the different ways of public relations. In the French revolution Lui the
XVI and his Royal family lost power while alienated from the mass. Later they realized the
importance of public relations. Due to social change and technological advancement the need
to mobilize public opinion was felt. Emergence of big organisations and their irresponsibility
towards society gave rise to the need for deliberated PR activity. Emergence of widely
circulated newspapers and influential press was also responsible for the need of modern public
relations.
• It has been proved that PR has a great role in developing favourable equations with each of the
various publicise with which it is concerned. External as well as internal communications ‐ in
both cases public relations can bring dramatic results. For launching a few products, work is
more than half done if an organisation establishes a reputation beforehand for quality and
reliability. Better reputation will score. Also, closest rapport should exist between the top
management and the employees through the PR set up of the Organisation.
• In India development of PR was a much slower process. Here the Tata’s started public relations
in 1892. They specially stressed on internal PR like, building Industrial Township for employees,
helping employees and their family in the educational and cultural field, etc. But, Indian
Railways gave more importance in external public relations.