PR trends contributing to growth Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PR trends contributing to growth - Assignment Example One part of the public that has increased influence on the growth of PR in organization is confrontation with activist groups like Greenpeace. Activism has become more relevant to the PR field for several reasons, including the fact that organizations have to become more effective in dealing with these groups (Theaker & Yaxley, 2013). Moreover, activism has become a major rejuvenator for organizations as management has to change the way that they manage their relationship with activist groups in society. The McLibel case is a good example of how companies have been forced to change their PR strategy to deal with activist groups, as well as providing a blueprint for research into activism’s cause and effect relationship with organizations. In this case, McDonalds had been spending almost $2 billion on promotion and advertising its products and restaurants annually because of a firm belief in defending their reputation (Theaker & Yaxley, 2013). Defense of the company’s reputation was also taken up through legal action, whereby most of their critics were forced to apologize in order to avoid litigation. However, this strategy of attempting to remain unchallenged was tested when the activist group Greenpeace attempted to effect a change in their policy. Their libel action against McDonalds started when they designed and distributed a leaflet about what was wrong about McDonalds and what the company did not want the public to know about their operations. They criticized McD onalds of being partly responsible for starvation in developing nations, as well as for the destruction of tropical rainforests. Moreover, McDonalds was also accused of exploiting children in their promotions and ads, animal cruelty, poor working conditions for employees, and serving food that could cause heart disease and cancer (Theaker & Yaxley, 2013). The activist