Public Relations

Assignment 1: Social Marketing

You have been fortunate to get a paid internship for the summer working in a public relations agency, handling the Microsoft account. Your supervisor wants to do something this summer as a social marketing project. Your first assignment is to think about various social marketing projects that Microsoft might be involved with and to look at what publics, and communication tools, might be used. Please answer the following questions:

1. What social projects would fit best with Microsoft in its northwestern United States location? Provide three ideas.

2. Who might be Microsoft's key external publics for one of these projects?

3. Who are Microsoft's key internal publics, and how would you want to involve them?

4. What media would you want to use in this project?

5. What other communication tools might work well?

If you are having a hard time getting started, look at the "HUBBY HUBBY ICE CREAM" example on p. 65 of your textbook.

Public Relations

Assignment 2: Propaganda

Edward Bernays viewed public relations as "propaganda." Propaganda, defined by Edward Bernays, is "the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses." Further he said "propaganda is the science of creating circumstances, mounting events that are calculatedto stand out as newsworthy, yet at the same time they do not appear to be staged."

In the space below, come up with four ideas that fit Bernays' description of propaganda. These can be current campaigns/products, things of the past, or your own (original) ideas.

Then come up with one original idea and develop it using the following guidelines:

1. What is the product?

2. Why should it be invented? What unmet need exists?

Public Relations

Assignment 3: JetBlue

On page 90 of your textbook, a case study is provided discussing the August 9, 2010 actions of Steven Slater, a longtime flight attendant on JetBlue Airways.

Please read the case and then respond to the following questions.

1. Using the PRSA Code of Ethics (which was handed out on Day 2 of Public Relations class), identify some of the legal and ethical dilemmas that JetBlue faced in seeking to maintain relationships with key publics.

2. Do you agree (both legally and ethically) with how JetBlue responded to the incident? Why or Why Not?

ASSIGNMENT 4

ETHICS

We use ethics every day to help us honor or attain our values. Ethics are not something we have....they are something we do.

Please think about responses to the following questions:

1) What are your beliefs?

2) What things do you value?

3) What things do you hold sacred with respect to conducting business (from either the consumer or the provider standpoint)?

4) What things are you willing to compromise? Or are you not willing to compromise at all?

After becoming more aware of your feelings to the above questions, create your own statement regarding your values/code of ethics.

Please follow the following format:

- In order for me to ensure that I find personal and professional relationships that allow me to be true to my values and my own code of ethics.

Your response should be a minimum of one paragraph in length. Please double-space your response and use 12-point font.

ASSIGNMENT 5

FATAL TIGER ATTACK AT SAN FRANCISCO ZOO

Around 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, 2007, a 300-pound Siberian tiger escaped from his outdoor grotto at the San Francisco Zoo, chasing down three young men, mauling two and killing one.

In the investigation that followed, it was found that the teenage boys had taunted the tiger, but also that the 12 ½ foot fence of the grotto was 4 feet below the standard, and 7 ½ feet below what officials had reported the fence to be, making it possible for an agitated animal to jump over and escape.

As the public relations practitioner for the San Francisco Zoo, what do you do? Your response should be one to two paragraphs in length and should be both specific and insightful. Please double space your response and use 12-point font.

Assignment 6

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL REPSONSIBILIBTY

Brainstorm the various products and services offered in the United States. Come up with a list of three products or services, and answer the following questions for each:

1. What is the name of your product / service?

2. What organization/corporation/restaurant/etc produces this product / service?

3. List examples of when / how this organization/corporation/restaurant/etc was socially responsible.

4. List examples of when / how this organization/corporation/restaurant was not socially responsible.

The suggested format of this assignment is as follows:

1. Name of product / service

a. Name of organization that produces the product / service

b. Examples of how / when this organization was socially responsible

c. Examples of how / when this organization was not socially responsible.

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO DO THIS ASSIGNMENT IN PARAGRAPH FORM. BULLET-POINTS ARE ACCEPTABLE.