Value of Ethics

Nowadays, “ethics” or “ethical” has become a very popular word. Professional organizations in various fields establish the codes of ethics in succession to discipline their members’ practices. In the United States, the principal code of PR profession is that of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). PRSA’s first Code of Professional Standards was adopted in 1954, and the newest iteration of the code appeared in 2000.

(Retrieved from PRSA Official Web site: http://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/ethics/?utm_campaign=PRSASearch&utm_source=PRSAWebsite&utm_medium=SSearch&utm_term=the%20codes%20of%20ethical)

However, do you have ever asked yourself why PR practitioners need codes of ethics to bind themselves? And why so many people still make wrong choices in front of ethical issues after the appearance of ethical codes? In the development history of human civilization, it’s not hard for us to find that anything with lots of people’s advocacy is exactly what the society needs and lacks at that time. As to people’s sense of ethics, it’s the same case.

Today’s topic reminds me of the performance of China’s central government after

Great Sichuan Earthquake.  May 12, 2008, a deadly earthquake measured at 8.0M_s and 7.9 M_w hit Sichuan province of China. As a result, 69,197 people are dead, 374,176 injured, 18,222 listed as missing, and 4.8 million people became homeless. It was also felt in nearby countries and as far away as both Beijing and Shanghai——1,500 kilometres and 1,700 kilometres away——where office buildings swayed with the tremor.

(The locations of the earthquake area. Retrieved from Wiki Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_Sichuan_earthquake_map_no_labels.svg)

However, just 90 minutes after the main quake, Premier Wen flew to the earthquake area from the capital, Beijing, to oversee the rescue work in danger of strong aftershocks, some exceeding magnitude 6. During his stay there, Premier Wen didn’t sleep well for couple of days and never stopped visiting one victims’ settlement after another. Once he arrived in a settlement, the first sentence of him was always the same; that is, right now the crucial task for us was, at all costs, to rescue as many people as we can.

Premier Wen Jiabao is standing at the earthquake area. Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://www.dahe.cn/xwzx/zt/hnzt/08hndz/dzzx/W020080523328269377632.jpg

From the occurrence of the main quake to the end of rescue, Premier Wen has been Sichuan for up to seven times. During the period, countless victims under the collapsed house were encouraged by him and survived in the end. Countless audiences sitting in front of televisions were deeply moved by his words and behaviors. He even wrote four characters on the blackboard of the school to inspire survival children to get stronger and rebuild their homelands. “A country will emerge stronger from adversities.” At that time, China performed like America after the attack on Pearl Harbor, “America suffered, but America grew stronger.”

(Premier Wen Jiabao wrote four Chinese characters on the blackboard, which mans a country will emerge stronger from adversities. Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://www.tj.gov.cn/zwgk/zwxx/zwyw/200805/W020080523588993531812.jpg)

China’s government gains lots of popularity among people from the event. Many people attribute it to the PR campaign launched by the government after the disaster. Well, as to me, I would rather believe it’s a natural expression of the responsibility and sadness, as a governor. If it were a well-planned campaign, it’s definitely ethical.

Through the event, I would say, ethics is not something that we need to think over and plan. Anyone who performs to be ethical will have a tendency to be unethical. Actually, the reason for why people need the codes of ethics to discipline their behaviors is because they always consider being ethical as a connotation of sacrificing profits. Therefore, only when PR practitioners realized the value of ethics from their bottom heart, there will be no ethical faults existing in the field. And that will be the real achievement of ethics.

So what is value of ethics? It could be a bottle of water, an encouragement sentence, a sweet smile, a warm hug, a life of wild animal, good weather, ecological balance, mountains of natural resources, victims’ lives in the disaster……everything that could be.

(Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://randomwisdomblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/ethics_header.jpg)

Thoughts from Comparison of Two Different College Cultures

In our daily life, we always mention culture and use cultural backgrounds to explain some “weird” phenomenon out of our expectations. But few of us can give a clear and exclusive definition to the concept of culture. The Wikipedia even said, culture is a term that has different meanings, to hide its embarrassment of failure to explain it. However, as members of a society, we have to face the culture everyday. Although it’s untouchable and invisible, it does influence our thoughts, decisions and behaviors every moment. So in today’s post, I’m going to pick up one aspect of two different college cultures existing in China and America to discuss.

(Cultural studies is complex. Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://stevehalle.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/george-trimbur-cultural-studies.png?w=440&h=273)

I have spent three years of undergraduate in China, and experienced a very typical Chinese college student’s life. If you ask me, after graduation, what things of that period are most impressive to me, I would say national PR planning contests. In fact, most Chinese college students have experiences of participation in contests, personally or as a team member. The campus is full of various advertising banners of different types of contests in different levels and fields. Some of them are host by nationally professional organizations, and others are sponsored by companies on purpose of selecting potential employees. Due to large numbers of participants, contests are mostly competitive. But sever competition never reduces students’ enthusiasm, partially because the good contest performance can upgrade the GPA , and bring unexpected opportunities for future career development.

(Advertising Banners of Contests in Chinese College Campuses, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://news.cqu.edu.cn/news/info/uploadfile/200711/20071118100341139.jpg)

However, after I come to America, my campus life has changed accordingly. In KSU, advertising banners of contests are replaced by colorful chalking writings to promote parties and sports games on the ground. I seldom see students gathering to prepare for some contest. Compared to Chinese college students, Americans more often get together to do a specific project assigned by a course instructor or an employer in the internship corporation. Even in my American classmates’ leisure time, they would rather host parties with some specific interesting themes than build up teams to participate in contests. In a Chinese college student’s resume, you may find his or her outstanding performance in some contests. But for an American student, he or she will put more efforts on highlighting his or her internships in some good company, working experience with some great person and excellent projects they’ve done before.

(American students enjoy chalk writing on the ground. Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://www.iheartcleveland.com/ihc/blog/uploaded_images/chalk-779690.jpg)

(Promotional Chalk Writings On the Ground of an American University, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://media.yaledailynews.com/media/cache/images/2009/10/13/carvalho_chalk-0851_jpg_512x1000_q85.jpg)

From such a tiny aspect of college cultural differences, we can clearly see the different focus of these two education systems. In China, not only in the university, even from the primary school, parents and teachers always encourage children to be a first ranking student in the class. But in America, university instructors and educators pay more attention to cultivating students’ ability to cooperate with others through teamwork assignments. If I would attach the nature of competition to Chinese colleges culture, thus American colleges, in my eyes, have a cooperative culture. Therefore, nowadays, it’s normal to see Chinese classmates lack trust on each other and have a very strong sense of competition.

(Intercultural Communication, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://library.csun.edu/kdabbour/images/intercultural.gif)

But my purpose of writing this post is not only to introduce one college culture to the other nation’s students, but also want to demonstrate that culture is not something you can understand from books alone. It needs our daily attentions, deep thoughts and personal experiences. As to PR persons, we often have to face some group of people who share the same communication needs but have different cultural backgrounds. In such a situation, what we should do is not stopping at the analysis of phenomenon, but continuing to find out the deeper reasons and motivations behind their expressions, decisions and behaviors. Or else intercultural communication cannot be effective.

The following video will provide some tips for you about inter-cultural communication. Hope you appreciate it. If you have any questions about Chinese culture, feel free to ask me. I will try my best to help you.

Power of “www.expo.cn” / Expo 2010 Shanghai Online Platform

Continuing the same topic, today my focus will put on the unique PR strategy adopted by Expo 2010 Shanghai; that is, Expo Online. As long as the opening of the Expo, a three-dimensional Expo park in the virtual world was launched. Netizens can get access to “visit” more than 150 pavilions and obtain “online passports and visa stamps.”

(Spectacular fireworks explode over China Pavilion at the Expo Park during the opening ceremony for the Expo 2010 Shanghai, April 30, 2010, Retrieved from Xihua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-05/01/c_13275398.htm)

Expo Online is planned, established, and controlled by both the Communication & Promotion Department and the Information Technology Department of the bureau. On the official Web site of Expo 2010 Shanghai, there’s a conspicuous button with alternating colors of orange and green in the heading section, which is the starting point of the virtual journey of MAGIC. Many people say Expo Online seems to be another exposition host by the government at the same time. But in my eyes, compared to the extra works of platform construction, the additional attractiveness brought to the Expo will be more impressive and everlasting.

(Banner of Expo Online Web site, Retrieved from Expo Online Official Web site: http://en.expo.cn/help.html)

In the short-term, thanks to the strengths of Internet, Expo Online is able to deliver unlimited amounts and types of information to every corner of the world to inform and influence countless audiences without the trouble of time differences. For people who cannot visit Shanghai during the Expo, the 3-D navigation makes it possible to experience the grand event and witness the fruits of human civilization from all around the world. For those who will come to the park, the tourist attractions, live broadcasting of regular events and online assistance in booking tickets on the site will provide enough useful information to get them well-prepared for the coming trip. Even for the current visitors who lost their ways in such a big Expo park with an area of 5.28 square kilometers, the platform can be used as a live map to guide and recommend the right directions. Therefore, Expo Online can not only increase the popularity of the event within the world, but also bring more convenience to visitors.

(Banner of Expo 2010 Shanghai Web site, Retrieved from Expo 2010 Shanghai Official Web site: http://en.expo2010.cn/services/hqfw.htm)

Based on the above strengths, Shanghai Expo will get more attractive to the participants accordingly. First of all, the online platform supplies a channel to integrate the participants’ worldwide resources and intelligence to support the exhibition beyond distances. Secondly, through the online presence, the participants can introduce their country’s image to the world in a more creative way without limitations of time conflicts and restrictions of space. Last but not least, the adoption of online interaction makes the communication between exhibitors and viewers more symmetrical and effective, which contains large amounts of cooperative and development opportunities to both sides.

Otherwise, not like the real buildings that have to be dismantled after the Expo, curtains of the online Expo will never fall. In another word, the physical Expo will come to an end, but the online platform can be preserved for the future generation. In that way, the efforts of the contributors of the event will be sustained forever. The trial of Expo Online will provide a new way for world expositions to pass on human being’s brilliance and intelligence in an economical way. And no one will forget the creativeness of Expo Shanghai Online. Therefore, from the perspective of PR, it’s hard for us to ignore the everlasting power of the online Expo.

Put Integrated PR into Practice / Expo 2010 Shanghai Promotion Strategy

Keep the promise I’ve made in the previous post. Today my topic will be a detailed explanation of Expo 2010 Shanghai promotion strategy. As a PR person coming from Shanghai and looking at it out of the city, I’m holding a more objective and professional attitude to study and evaluate the promotion strategy according to the communication effects.

As we all know, the attractiveness of a worldwide event is not only the large amounts of current visible profits brought by tourism, consumption and donation, but also those invisible countless benefits brought by good reputation built on the basis of successful host. Shanghai Expo will not be an exception. October 30, 2003, the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination (If you need translate, recommend Google Chrome to you.) was established and started to plan, organize, operate and control the event. Among all of its 32 departments, the function of Communication and Promotion Department is to make promotion strategy and deal with everything related to information before, during and after the Expo.

(President of the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://www.expo2010.cn/expocn/pics/2/2306.jpg)

Generally speaking, the early promotion was a big success and has made a large contribution to the grand opening of Expo. And in my eyes, the reason for the success, to a large extent, should be attributed to the adoption of integrated PR.

Here, I drew inspiration from integrated marketing communications to create the new term, integrated PR. According to Wikipedia, why people use “integrated” to describe the way of marketing is because it integrates all marketing tools, approaches, and resources within a company to maximize impact on the consumer mind and results into maximum profit at minimum cost. In the aspect of information channels, it’s a combination of online and offline marketing. Categorized into a data-driven approach, integrated marketing communications focuses on identifying consumer insights and developing a strategy with the right channels to build a stronger brand-consumer relationship.

(Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://innovationreactor.typepad.com/innovation_reactor/images/2008/05/09/integrated_marketing_model_5.jpg)

(The Processes of Integrated Marketing Communications, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://www.datadrivenmarcom.com/images/imc.jpg)

(The Procedures of Integrated Marketing Process, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/file.php/3734/B324_1_006i.jpg)

Obviously, in the practice of integrated marketing communications, people only put their efforts on how to integrate the available resources and technologies in their own hands, but ignored the power of integration of publics themselves. However, making use of inter-influences among the audience will make communication much more effective and efficient. In another word, the information sender should integrate the different groups of publics with different needs (cultural backgrounds) together and stimulate spontaneous communications (interactions) among them.

(The Symmetrical Communication Process, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~renglish/370/notes/chapt18/chap_18_01.gif)

Take the Expo promotion as an example, on the one hand, the government pays much attention to the combination of communicating channels and campaigns to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media, such as building the official web-site from the first beginning, keeping updating news on time, using search engine optimization (SEO) in the major Chinese search engine, posting official promotion videos onto podcasts at the start of every promotion circle, writing news reports on traditional prints (newspapers, magazines), mailing promotion booklets to people’s home within Shanghai, organizing different forms of activities to reach different publics with different preference, etc. On the other hand, the government makes full use of the theme of the Expo, “Better City, Better Life,” to stick a responsive chord in the hearts of the citizens and encourage them to help the government promote Shanghai Expo in the form of interpersonal communication.

Undoubtedly, integrated PR, beyond integrated marketing communications, is an economical and efficient way of promotion. Don’t you think so?

Two videos delivering the them of “Better City, Better Life” include diverse groups of people in the content. Everyone can find his or her own position in the video and comes up a sense of participation, which is helpful to stimulate spontaneous interpersonal communications among the audience to help the government to promote the Expo.

Produce for Shanghai citizens:

Produce for foreigners:

A Big Event You Can Not Miss——Expo 2010 Shanghai

May 1 is a very normal weekend day for Americans. But it carries big meanings for Chinese. Of course, if you are a person with strong interest in China, it will also be a special day for you. Today, Expo 2010 Shanghai opens, and the duration will be six months, 184 days.

(Retrieved from Wikipedia Web site: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Shanghai_World_Expo.png)

To China’s central government and the world, it’s undoubtedly a big event. But to the city Shanghai and its citizens, it seems more like a festival. On the one hand, in order to leave enough space for foreign visitors and people who come from other places of China, the municipal government launches Expo holiday scheme for the opening and closing weeks, and encourages citizens to leave Shanghai during that periods. Most Shanghai citizens get extra holidays thanks to Expo.

(Location of Shanghai Municipality within China, Retrieved from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:China_Shanghai.svg)

On the other hand, in order to present the world a successful, splendid and unforgettable exposition, the city has prepared for the event in various areas and aspects for a long time. Before my leaving last summer, China Pavilion and some other pavilions have already been completed, and all the pavilions have started to build. Other auxiliary urban facilities were also under construction, like the subway, skyway, green landscapes, English translation for road names, etc. In addition, since several years ago, those service industry workers have started learning English for the sake of better communications with foreigners. They say communications without language barriers can deliver their sincerity and help to give good impression of the city on foreigners because popularity among visitors can bring lots of development opportunities to city in the future. Therefore, the opening of Expo is the time for Shanghai citizens to witness the fruit of their preparatory efforts. No one can conceal his or her happiness and pride in the deep heart.

(Shanghai Pudong Skyline, Retrieved from Wikipedia Web site:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pudong_Skyline,_Shanghai,_PRC.jpg)

(The Bund in Puxi of Shanghai, Retrieved from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ShanghaiBundpic2.jpg)

(Chinese-English Road Names in Shanghai, Retrieved from Google Image Search Web site: http://img1.gtimg.com/2010/pics/19186/19186632.jpg)

Of course, as a blogger, what I’m planning to do is not just to tell you the event and share my excitement as a Shanghainese with all your guys, but also to demonstrate the reasons for your attentions to the event and what aspects deserve your further explorations from the perspective of PR.

First of all, although Expo just opens and we cannot jump to a conclusion whether it’s successful or not, I still want to say, to some extent, it’s a success promotion in the framework of PR. As long as China holds more and more international events, it has accumulated a wealth of experience in terms of organization and promotion. It starts to realize the value of a successful host and knows how to deal with publics with divers needs and cultural backgrounds. This time, through Expo promotion practice, I even can see a new definition and understanding of the term, integrated PR (integrated marketing communications), given by the host. Secondly, there’s a unique PR strategy——online Expo that needs to be spotlighted. Actually, it’s a first trial in the more-than-150-year development history of World Exposition. Through the new form of expo, we can experience the power of Internet and online marketing.

Based on the above two aspects, I will continue detailed discussion respectively in future posts. If you are interested in them, don’t forget to come back and share your thoughts later. Anyway, I sincerely hope Expo 2010 Shanghai will bring lots of fun and joys to your life.

Speaking from PR Theory Development in China…

It’s the seventh post in my blog. It’s the time for me to touch the theoretic aspect of China’s PR development, even though I’m not willing to do that, because I should treat all of my audience fairly. I would have served PR practitioners too much if I still continued rambling PR practices in China. However, my reluctance doesn’t mean I hate theory. In fact, I’m a person with a strong tendency of theoretic thinking. Unfortunately, I was born in a place without a good culture of theoretic innovation, and have been taught by a group of people who lack enough awareness of and passion for building theory for 20 years. Yeah, it is China!

Just like what Carl H. Botan and Vincent Hazleton (2006) mentioned in the book, Public Relations Theory II (P. 15):

(“We have not yet heard enough reports or seen enough scholarly publications from China to suggest that theory development has emerged as a major area of interest there…public relations is generally seen as just part of the economic revolution going on in China and that the rapidly growing number of educational programs addressing public relations in China, and in Southeast Asia, seem to be pitched at the technical level to meet market demands.”)

As a person with 3-year PR undergraduate studying experience in Shanghai, one of the major cities in China, as well as more than half a year PR graduate studying opportunity in America, I really witness the big difference between those two countries in the aspect of professional PR education. Botan and Hazleton’ Public Relations Theory II (2006) is the textbook of my basic PR professional course, PR Theory & Process, last semester in America, and Yanan Ju’s Principles of Public Relations III (Chinese version, 2005) was required by my basic PR professional course, Study of Public Relations, in the first semester in China. From the results of the comparison of the names of these two books, we can deduce two different professional educational purposes and expectations of these two educational systems, which is much bigger than the proper difference existing between the level of undergraduate and graduate. It’s obvious to see Chinese PR educators’ neglect of theoretic teaching and learning, as well as Americans’ importance attached to them. If some people attempts to use PR development situation as an excuse to explain Chinese educators’ mistake away, I will call it self-deception.

In my opinion, it’s our Chinese educators’ neglect that results in today’s situation. Here, I have two videos to recommend to you. One is talking about creating a culture of innovation, and the other one is about creating an innovation mindset. Actually, good innovation environment is one of the essential prerequisites for successful innovation. And good innovation culture and atmosphere (software aspect) plays a much more important role than good innovation equipment and technology (hardware aspect). In the view of philosophy, the former is the principal contradiction, and the latter is the secondary contradiction. The principal always decides the result because the sources of new ideas are people’s minds not computers, and it is most people’s minds that constitute the culture.

Nowadays, it’s often to read articles in Chinese newspapers with the topic like why Nobel Prizes always neglect China, and why Americans can be God’s beloved sons. I think one of the most important reasons that can be used to explain the situation is Chinese people’s minds lack of innovation tendency. And it’s due to Chinese education that doesn’t encourage “students” to develop a habit of innovation. Just like the mistake——plagiarism——I’ve made at the start point of building this blog. Of course it’s unreasonable for me to fully attribute the mistake to the education I’ve received in China. But the fact is that such kind of mistake not only happens to me. Many other Chinese students who study abroad suffer similar experiences with me. Therefore, it would be another mistake if we neglected the negative influence the education has made upon us. The field of PR is just not an exception.

All in all, my purpose of the post is: for PR professors, help you understand your Chinese students and don’t feel surprised at their poor innovative skills; for PR students, especially Chinese, suggest you to intentionally develop a habit of innovation because it’s supposed to bring us much more than that of knowledge itself; for Chinese PR educators, alert you to realize the shortcomings of our education and improve it. Actually, education with poor quality has no difference from poison of mind. If you don’t agree with my points mentioned in this article, feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Review Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Press Conference, March 14

About two weeks ago, March 14, the curtain descended on the 2010 Annual Meeting of National People’s Congress. Just like what you will watch in the video, it was a significant event on China’s political calendar.

(The News Conference for the Third Plenary Session of the 11^th National People’s Congress of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 14, retrieved from Xinhua. Net: http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2010-03/14/content_13168127.htm)

Each year the meeting is finished with Chinese Premier addressed questions from international media, called the press conference here. However, it is not a very old custom for the country, and it can be considered as a baby of the ongoing process of political democratization brought by the implementation of reform and opening-up policy because it adopts a form of free questions-and-answers. Also, that’s the reason why so many Chinese citizens watch the live conference on TV, pay attention to Premier’s words and discuss all the issues mentioned during the conference on the Internet afterwards. Similarly, the permission of free comments on the event can be seen another clear manifestation of gradual political democratization happening on the national soil with a history of 5000-year monarchy.

Of course, the purpose of my review is not only to represent the result of China’s 30-year political democratization. After all, it’s not a blog about politics. Additionally, I aimed to introduce a good information channel for foreigners, especially for those PR persons, to keep abreast of the latest changes happening on the other side of the bridge.

(Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, retrieved from Xinhua. Net: http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2010-03/14/content_13168127.htm)

In fact, there are many reasons that can be explained the popularity of the conference among Chinese people. Apart from the symbolization of political democratization and the citizens’ instinct of care for their national government, the contents of the conference is another important factor that’s not supposed to be neglected. Obviously, all the questions asked by the journalists are connected with the latest sensitive issues around China that people concern, including Chinese citizens and foreigners. Meanwhile, all the answers made by the Premier are concise and authentic. We cannot expect the government’s public apology in such kind of situation, but we can clearly see the government’s sincerity and transparency because what the Premier’s thinking about are what his citizens mostly concern. It is helpful for China’s central government to increase its popularity among the citizens worldwide. Therefore, it cannot be denied that behind the strategy, if it can be called a strategy, is standing PR thinking. In another word, it is the introduction of modern PR that builds a new path between the government and the citizens in the eastern ancient civilization.

(International Journalists at the press conference March 14, retrieved from SOHU. com: http://business.sohu.com/20100314/n270809415.shtml)

However, when I use PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) ethical codes to evaluate the conference, it reminds me of something that I have to share with you. During my undergraduate studying in China, the instructor of my course, The Contemporary World Politics and Economy, said that all the questions successfully raised in the conference were prepared by the central government itself beforehand. If it is true, we can say it’s a wonderful performance. All the people are good performers. The journalists arranged to “read” questions perform as journalists, and others perform as journalistic audience. To most of us, such kind of assumption may be acceptable because it’s a popular game within the world of politic. But in the real world, the conjecture is demonstrated not to be important. At least, those questions are “cooked” according to the citizens’ appetite. Who knows, and who cares.

Above all, I strongly recommend the conference to you as a channel of information. Through the conference, you can keep abreast of what the hottest social issues are in China. Through those issues, you can understand what Chinese people mostly concern. Through their concerns, you get closer to your publics’ heart in China. And the most effective communication happens from heart to heart. Do you agree with me?