"Is All Publicity Good Publicity

In this paper, "publicity" will be used to mean those mentions (and re-mentions) of a product, person, good or service by the print or electronic media and that has not been paid for. In other words, if a company buys an ad that says "Buzz is a good beer" that message is "advertising" and tends to get ignored (because there are so many other competing advertising messages in the world. If, however, a newspaper or TV show says, within the framework of a story, that "Buzz is a good beer" then that becomes "publicity."

Publicity, therefore, can be said to be the art (or science) of gaining exposure for your company, product or service without directly paying for it. Instead of purchasing expensive advertising, the company (usually with the aid of a publicist) uses publicity to "spread the news" about the product for less cost and higher-impact. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary adds this definition:

"pub+lic+i+ty n. a) Information that concerns a person, group

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g glamorous women posing in glamorous settings. In one of his many memoirs about his days in marketing and promotion, he says, "The use of psychoanalysis as the basis of promotion and publicity is common today, but I believe this may have been the first instance of its application to advertising" (Bernays 1965 141). Bernays was among the first people to realize that it was important to appeal to the emotions, the psychology if you will, of a person, rather than the reasoning facilities. One of the more popular TV shows of recent years is called "Spin City" and it tells the tales of young people whose profession is, to some, lying. The idea of "spin" is to show the many sides to a story. The man who is often called "The Father of spin" is Bernays, and in a biography of him, we learn that Bernays wasn't the first PR man, but that he can be credited with being the first to manipulate public behavior and opinion by understanding the motives and symbols embraced by individuals. He was also the first to recognize the concept that has since become known as "positioning." Positioning is the act of fighting for a space in the consumer's mind so that the consumer thinks of a product or person rather than an abstract event. Ries a
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Edward Bernays, Publicity Introduction, Otnes Scott, Ries Trout, Badzinski Mitchell, Father Publicity, Spin City, Relations Industry, Collegiate Dictionary, Despite Bernays's, bad publicity, publicity publicity, edward bernays, ries trout, public relations, publicity bad, father publicity, otnes scott, called father, publicity bad publicity, publicity publicity bad, expensive advertising, ries trout 2000, lies public relations, otnes scott 1996,
Approximate Word count = 1666
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)