Public Relations Campaign Issues - Essay Example

The growth of public relations has developed rapidly as a management function, one of the most important aspects of public relations is to establish understanding and acceptance between and organization and its publics1. Public relation campaign is one of the most common approaches to generate communication to its publics. The objective of this report is to measure the effectiveness of public relation campaign and its effect to the public. PR campaign is one of the most effective methods of communications between organization and population, as it allows organization to state its views clearly and promulgate its ideas. The current topic of the report is well-advertised and publicized Government campaign against smoking. Practically all types of the media were used in this PR campaign (ranging from traditional ones -TV, radio and newspapers) to more modern types- such as Internet. In December 1999 the department of health (NHS) of the United Kingdom has been conducing aggressive PR campaign to induce British population to stop smoking. With the effect to persuade British people to give up smoking by the year 20102. New web site managed by NHS- givingupsmoking.co.uk provides population with essential information on the negative consequences of active and passive smoking. The web site provides statistical data on the number of death caused by the smoking in the United Kingdom and also tries to emphasize positive effects that abandoning of smoking might produce. So how potential smokers are encouraged to abandon their harmful habits In order to stop smoking one should understand the reasons of this habit. On the page "Habit" 3 several reasons and explanations of smoking habits are given (ranging from Pavlovian reaction to Freud's observations). In spite of the fact that some scientific observations are necessary, one should understand that smoking is most widespread among young people aged between 20 and 344 and very technical information on this subject might not reach the targeted audience of potential smokers. In my opinion, more simple and straightforward language should be used in explaining potential harm that smoking might cause and effective methods to fight this harmful habit. I guess that current version is more suitable for educated, experienced, older smokers who have decided to quit smoking and need some additional motivation to do it, rather than for group aged between 20 and 34. Apart from mentioning, the reasons of this harmful habit the site also provides detailed information on physical, social, financial and emotional consequences of the smoking. Well known facts such as that smoking might deprive person of sleeping, increase the risk of fire at the apartments of the smokers and increase financial outlays (this is especially true for the students, ones of the most financially vulnerable group of the population) are mentioned on the web site. The web site even provides its visitors with special calculator so they would be able to calculate the sum they could save if they stopped smoking. It is clear that by putting this advertisement the company is trying to induce the persons to stop smoking as this might save them much money. Apart from factual information that encourages potential smokers to quit smoking the company also provides its customers with some useful tips on how to stop smoking. It also describes some actions that should be taken in order not to smoke. In my opinion the content of the message focuses more on psychological impact rather than physical one. In the article Alternatives to smoking 5 the company encourages those who quit smoking to shift to other tasks, more emphasize should be given to physical difficulties of fulfilling this task. However apart from this the company also advertises the negative consequences of the smoking on TV, for instance in June 2005, it cooperated with Public Health Minster Caroline Flint in well publicized advertisement campaign where the damage that smoking might cause to the sexual life was highlighted. 6 This advertisement appealed to young adults and women. Public health minister emphasized that she hoped that young men would quit smoking for good once they had seen the advert. In my opinion that was the step in the right direction, as only few people realized that inveterate smoking might inhibit tier sexual life. Apart from stressing the negative consequences of the smoking, several mini web sites were created as the part of the campaign. In February 2006, another campaign was launched to reduce smoking habits among British population. This time the target of the campaign was not just theoretical or scientific observation but a real person- Trudi Endersby a patient that had inoperable lung cancer and doctors came to the conclusion that she would die within two years. This story was chosen as the representation of the story of many families who suffer from harmful effects of smoking.7 New campaign shows tragic consequences of smoking for one family. In an interview the daughter of Trudi claimed that it was too late for them to take any effective measures to treat Trudi, however they hoped that this message would encourage other smokers to quit smoking for good8. Trudi had been an inveterate smoker who was smoking 30 cigarettes per day and refused to quit despite the warnings that were given9. Trudi Enderby has even chosen the spot where she will be buried 10. Actually she was smoking cannabis in order to reduce the pain: yet she stopped smoking only when she realized that her own children had suffered due to her smoking habits. In her interview she claimed that he ex husband was also an inveterate smoker and that in the seventies they knew very little about the harm that smoking might cause to their health. She also supported government's efforts to ban smoking at all public places though she did not believe that it would stop people smoking altogether. She said she was resolved to stop smoking, however doctors said that there was no point to stop smoking at this stage and advised her not to go through additional stress. 11 Another campaign - Big Quit was launched almost simultaneously with Enderbys advertisement. This project was launched with active participation of several radio stations around the country and was aimed to induce people to stop smoking. Apart from that, inveterate smokers are encouraged to trade their cigarettes for lollies or will be given the chance to win holiday in some exotic places12. Such music FM station as Magic 105,4, 96. 6 TFM in cooperation with Health Department tried to encourage people to quit smoking. For instance, street team of 96.6 TFM was going in the streets and asked smokers to trade tier cigarettes for some sweet presents and providing the chance for the smokers to win holiday trip to Malidives13; other FM stations followed the suit. It too early to judge about the success of the campaign as it has recently been started, however the fact that so many Fm stations participate in it is quite remarkable. This campaign was denoted as the biggest PR campaign that encourages smokers to quit. Initially it was planed that the company would be running a little bit more than one month and approximately 200 radio networks would participate in it. According to the information provided by organizers the campaign was designed to target 36 millions adults. Apart from well-publicized smoking amnesties in various towns, DJs at various stations will encourage people to quit smoking. The campaign targeted not only small regional radio networks but larger stations as well. Such radio stations as Capital radio as well as BRMB were also involved. On Fag Free Fridays all stations mentioned as well as several other ones should seek to reward people who have quitted in tier areas with different presents. Moreover, those visitors who were registered to " FAG Free Friday" had chances to win vouchers ( 100 GBP and more if they maintain their attempt to quit smoking) However, organizers were resolved not to be deceived as they promised to check the workplaces of persons who have quitted and check ex smokers on the detection of the cigarette smoke. Certainly as it was the program of the Government it was actively supported by Public Health Minister Caroline Flint who encouraged people to quit their harmful habits by joining and participating in the campaign. She made the observation that smokers are more likely to quit smoking if they are helped by other people14. This social aspect (the fact that smokers are more likely to stop smoking in the company with others was reflected in another campaign launched by the company-Together. Company realized the importance of high quality advice before the smokers stop smoking, thus another campaign- Together has been launched in order to assist inveterate smokers to quit their habits. Once the smoker has decided to quit, the company will send him/her detailed information on several necessary steps that must be taken in order to prepare the smoker for this step. The company will communicate with its client in order to give moral and psychological support and explaining how to maintain nonsmoking status, if the person gives in, moreover additional support can also be provided. This campaign emphasizes the importance of the date, that should be chosen as a quit date (according to the information of the web site one should give oneself several weeks in advance before the quit date in order to complete all necessary preparations).15 However, the main campaign is "Don't Give up giving up" that has been conducted since 1999 and has been aimed to provide smokers with additional services, such as NHS smoking helpline (which is open from 7 am till 11 pm each day) where one-to-one support can be given. According to the information provided by the web site of the company, this campaign has been quite successful as quarter of the callers who rung up this helpline gave up after one year (moreover the company claims that new warnings that have been recently placed on the packs of the cigarettes entailed increase in the number of phone calls to the company). The company also advertised new pregnancy smoking helpline, which is destined to help women quit smoking during the period of their pregnancy. Local help is also provided, as well as nicotine replacement therapy which is widely advertised. All these services have been widely promoted by national TV campaign (with active participation of those have been affected by the negative impacts of smoking). Various persons who were either ill or suffered from the smoking were interviewed or advertised in an attempt to encourage public to quit smoking. The main message of the campaign is clear- it is not easy for inveterate smoker to give up smoking, as he might experience some lapses; however the most important part is not to give up on giving up, or paraphrasing "when the going gets tough the tough gets going". The campaign encourages all smokers to maintain their attempts to give up smoking and assist them in this difficult and thorny process16. Moreover the campaign provides the possibility of downloading various logos and brand identity guide lines that can be used by health care professionals in order to advertise the campaign and promote its main messages. The company also has conducted several regional campaigns. For instance the workers who are commuting around Birmingham were targeted by health workers in order to induce them to stop smoking and these actions were taken before the total ban had been implemented. Commutates were informed about the possibilities of quitting as well as web site( www,givinupsmoking.co.uk) that can be helpful in their attempts to quit smoking17. Let us access the effectiveness of the campaign by AIMRITE18. Analyzing this campaign I came to several conclusions: 1) On the whole this PR campaign has been targeting young people, who are the largest group of smokers in this country. Certainly Fm stations with active participation of DJs might change the views of young people and could encourage them to quit this habit. 2) However, the impact of several types of the media might vary. In my opinion the content of the web site of www.givinupsmoking.co.uk might not be very interesting to young persons. Certainly, it is not an easy task as the content of the web site is destined for the communication with people of various age groups, educational and social backgrounds; yet as young people are targeted audience than more simple, less theoretical and scientific language should be used in the communication with them. It is very important as most smokers started smoking in young age and have been continuing smoking since. As far as TV advertisement with Trudi Enderby is concerned, I think that it might have quite serious impact on smokers, as it shows a real person who suffered from the illness caused by smoking and audience can see pain and anguish that such habit might bring to the family (even in spite of the fact that it is an unusual case as she was an obsessed smoker, who was smoking 30 cigarettes per day). All other types of the media (apart from FM radio stations) may produce lesser impact on the behavior of inveterate smokers. On the whole newspapers did not pay so much attention to this campaign and British printed press confined themselves to the reprinting of press releases and interviews with Trudi. In my opinion one could communicate with young audience through popular youth magazines to convey the message of the campaign. However, another type of the media- internet has been widely used in this campaign as well; nevertheless, more innovative and ingenious strategy should be used in luring young visitors to the web site of the campaign as it is not clear whether the web sites have been able to attract the attention of the targeted audience. 3) All messages of this campaign are quite clearly communicated. The most successful message is in my opinion the message of the campaign "Don't Give up giving up" as it is a well known fact that quitting of the smoking represents one of the greatest problems for inveterate smokers. Moreover, this campaign communicates several other messages- that various governments agencies will be along the way with smoker in fulfilling his task. Other messages about the damage that smoking might cause to the sexual life of young persons are also effective. However, it might be advisable to enlist in this campaign some other notable personalities such as actors or musicians, to convey this message to young persons. As views of these people might affect the behavior of young men; I guess that would be more efficient than theoretical information backed up by the statements of Caroline Flint. 4) Actually, there have been many responses from smokers to this campaign, however in my opinion most of them apparently were already resolved to quit smoking and needed some practical help to fulfill their goals. One can not judge whether this campaign has been successful in reaching typical smokers and convincing them to abandon their habit. In my opinion the overall results of the campaign have been quite successful, as the web site of the campaign claims many persons have already quitted smoking due to it. The success of the campaign depends on several factors such as clarity of the messages, means of communications and understanding of the desires wishes and problems that targeted audience face. If the campaign stays abreast of the current trends in the targeted audience it will become more successful in fulfilling its main goal- persuade British public to quit smoking. Works Cited. 1) Cutlip, Scott M (2006) Effective Public Relations 2) Givingupsmoking.co.uk . 'Don't give up giving up campaign' December 1999. 3) " Habit" < http://www.givingupsmoking.co.uk/why_give_up/Habit > 4) Cigarette Smoking, Slight fall in smoking prevalence, < http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.aspid=866> 5) Alternatives to smoking, 6) NEW SMOKING CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS DAMAGE TO SEX APPEAL, 7) SMOKING DOESN'T JUST AFFECT YOU 8) 'Smoking is killing my mum', Daily Mail, < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/ articles/health/healthmain.htmlin_article_id=377008&in_page_id=1774> 9) Girls plan mums funeral, Sun Online 10) Quit your habit, says mother near death; [Final 1 Edition], Alexandra Frean, Social Affairs Correspondent. The Times. London (UK): Feb 13, 2006. pg. 14 11) I'm saving lives by going on TV to tell people I'm dying ; EXCLUSIVE ON THE MUMOF- THREE IN ANTI-SMOKING AD; [EIRE Edition] CLARE RAYMOND. The Daily Mirror. London (UK): Feb 21, 2006. pg. 27 12) Smokers were urged to join Big Quit, < http://www.nhs.uk/england/news/article.aspxnewsid=17545> 13) The Big Quit, 14) Press release, 15) Together, 16) CAMPAIGN NEWS &.... Background, < http://www.givingupsmoking.co.uk/CNI/Background/> 17) MIDLAND: Workers urged to quit smoking; [FIRST Edition] Birmingham Post. Birmingham (UK): Mar 7, 2006. pg. 6 18) Stone (1995) Nash (1995) Smith (1993) 'Principles of Direct and Database Marketing' Read More