Reddit mentions: The best public relations books

Let me preface this by saying that I feel like a huge karmawhore for reposting this again, but I think that this information is valuable and important for people to know. I've read through some of this thread and there's some important information that is being glossed over, so once again I present my response to an askreddit thread a while back about companies that have forever lost your business:


Nestle. Fuck Nestle.

I recently graduated with a degree in Public Relations and in one of my case studies classes, we looked at Nestle and how it unethically promoted the use of their baby formula in developing countries. You see, Nestle would offer free samples of baby formula (marketing it as healthier than breast milk) to new mothers in hospitals and maternity wards, which generally seems like a good thing as long as you have no idea how lactation works. Once the mother in this developing country began using this "free" formula instead of her own breast milk, her lactation would often cease thereby forcing the mother to maintain her child's diet of formula which was often unaffordable. Also, formula is mixed with water and giving water from developing countries to infants is generally a poor choice.

For more information, this Wiki article backs up my story: Nestle Boycott. If anyone would be more interested in scholarly references, I can provide those as well.

Edit 1: So I didn't realize how huge this would get... I ended up leaving out a whole bunch of information because it was very, very late when I posted this. I was hoping the wiki article would handle things.

Further information on this particular case:

The issue I am referring to occured in the 70s. Many mothers in these developing countries ended up giving thier newborns very, very diluted formula bottles because they simply couldn't afford the cost of the formula that they were effectively unwillingly committed to. This led to many, many infant deaths from malnutrition.

Another important fact to note is that Nestle representatives would often dress as nurses in these Maternity wards to further influence their customers into thinking formula was their best choice.

Many Redditors are commenting on the issue of HIV infected breastmilk vs. formula. This issue is easily covered by this statement: In the case of HIV+ mothers, if the water is clean in your region and you can afford formula, use formula; if the water is contaminated in your region, breastfeed.

For those questioning the current practices of Nestle compared to this seemingly one-time incident, Nestle has been an unethical company for decades. The most recent issue that has surfaced with Nestle is their current power grab for water. This was recently outlined in a Reddit post here.

For those who want references:

This is the book we used in class. It outlines the issue very well and as unbiased as can be. Otherwise, here's some MLA citation of journal articles for you:

Baker, James C. "The international infant formula controversy: a dilemma in corporate social responsibility." Journal of Business Ethics 4.3 (1985): 181-190.

George, Susan. "Nestle Alimentana SA: the limits to public relations." Economic and Political Weekly (1978): 1591-1602.

Gilly, Mary C., and John L. Graham. "A macroeconomic study of the effects of promotion on the consumption of infant formula in developing countries." Journal of Macromarketing 8.1 (1988): 21-31.

Edit 2: I knew I forgot something!

Some Redditors are being discouraged by just how many brands Nestle owns so here's a list of all of Nestle's products: Nestle Products. If you do intend to boycott Nestle, you're actually going to have to give up a lot of foods. But! On the plus side, most of them are highly processed and generally unhealthy for you anyway, so you'll also be healthier!

Final Edit

Thanks to all for the feedback! I've attempted to respond to the majority of your questions and I will continue to field any and all questions as best as I can. I only hope that you have found this conversation to be constructive. I would just like to leave you all with one comment (which may seem lofty, but you rarely get a chance like this).

Every dollar you spend is a vote. Remember that. Every time you support a company that ignores basic human rights, you are actively voting against the interests of humanity. I know it's difficult and frustrating to take these issues into consideration before purchasing products, but please, do your best. Every person is responsible for their own actions and if you're not helping humanity, you're hindering it.

Thanks, Reddit. Stay classy.

One of the principles Jane Jacobs mentioned in "Cities and the Wealth of Nations" was that regions that replaced imports would become cities. A nation with wealthy cities would become a wealthy nation.

> But even better are the less read The Economy of Cities (1970) and Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1984), twin volumes which do nothing less than demolish and rebuild macroeconomics. Economics went wrong, she explains, with the work her titles allude to, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. Nations aren't the proper unit of macroeconomic analysis; cities are.

http://www.zompist.com/jacobs.html
The Zompist article is probably the best introduction to her economics.

> > The missing process-- the engine Jacobs finds for all economic life-- is import replacement. She illustrates this with the beginnings of industrial life in Japan. Starting in the late 1800s, Japan imported bicycles. Repair shops sprang up in Tokyo, at first cannibalizing broken bicycles for parts. When enough of these existed, workshops started producing some of the most-used parts locally. More and more parts were made, until ultimately Tokyo could produce its own bicycles and export them to other Japanese cities.

> Note a couple things about this story. Jacobs goes out of her way to point out that this process had to be economically feasible. That is, bicycles assembled in Japan had to be less expensive than imported models. Note also that Jacobs leaves out any mention of government subsidies for this measure of import replacement. Nor, does she credit some large entity, like a bank or manufacturer, with developing this strategy. Jacobs was not an academic so she doesn't source this story. Someone, somewhere may have looked into this to see if a large entity actually did coordinate this process. But the point is that Jacobs was consistently leery of large entities, especially the government, and especially when they meddled in the marketplace. Her illustrations of economic success revolve around competitive small businesses growing organically, not some single monopolistic enterprise with powerful friends.

http://alwaysintransit.typepad.com/hyde_park_urbanist/2008/02/jane-jacobs-on.html

> China’s macro strategy of encouraging Foreign Direct Investment in building factories based on foreign technology, brand names and global distribution, meant that it became the workshop to the world. Because the Chinese are so skilled at imitating (or just plain stealing) foreign manufacturing techniques and designs, China has been able to continuously diversify its product lines – not just for export, but for import substitution.

> This latter fact, according to Jane Jacobs, is the crucial component in national economic development. Her seminal book, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, showed that emerging economies driven overwhelmingly by export growth usually failed, whereas economies that combined export growth with successful import replacement succeeded. Argentina is a perfect example of an inefficient, export reliant economy that sank lower and lower in the global rankings each decade; Korea, a splendid import replacer, progressed from having per capita GDP that was roughly one-fifth of Argentina in 1960 to comparability with Canada today.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/67782-jane-jacobs-on-why-china-and-india-will-continue-to-grow

Is it fixable? I'm not sure it is fixable.

• Community and Family - People are increasingly choosing consumerism over family welfare, that is: consumption over fertility; debt over family budget discipline; fiscal advantage to oneself at the expense of community welfare.
  
• Higher Education - Universities are more interested in credentials than providing high quality education.
  
• Bad Science - Elevation of economics as the main "science" to consider in making major political decisions.
  
• Bad Government - Governments are more interested in deep-pocket interest groups than the welfare of the population.
  
• Bad Culture - A culture that prevents people from understanding/realising the deterioration of fundamental physical resources which the entire community depends on.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_Ahead
  
  In Dark Age Ahead, she's basically describing the culture war going on in the US. The political forces denying reality in order to save politically favored groups are the same forces that prevent the US from thriving and prevent the US from recovering. Just look at the stupidities coming from the religious fanatics who've taken over much of the politics in the US. We've got creationism vs science, for example. There are 2 good books that describe how these forces have corrupted medicine, science and the media: Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and gambles with Your Future, and Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry .

Hey folks, awkward host here. Glad you've "enjoyed" the video. To answer a few of your questions/comments:

-The video’s production values are not as good as I wish they were. This was shot four years ago, before (most of) the influx of cash into online media/video. TechCrunch invested in video but it was nothing compared to what you see today (the fact that our cameras weren’t even HD drove me nuts). It was edited by one talented guy on super-fast turnarounds. The fact that this was one of my first attempts at hosting anything, ever, probably contributes just a tad (I was hired as a writer).

-Yeeaaaah I can’t watch the guitar scene either. We knew it would be cringe-inducing at the time (though in hindsight, probably not to this degree). The logic was roughly: in the first episode of this series I get ‘kicked out’ of the office at the end. You’ve got to end it somehow and the show is called TC Cribs (in MTV Cribs the camera guy gets kicked out at the end). We thought we'd make it a recurring thing, hence the guitar sequence, but eventually decided it was too contrived. The YouTube episode has some creepy gnomes at the end.

-I am an awkward guy. That’s just me. It isn’t all daisies but sometimes you can embrace your quirks it can work out okay. For example, I was really lucky and got to play myself on HBO’s Silicon Valley last season (I host the tech conference they go to in the last couple of episodes).

Oh, you want more cringing? You do realize I host 10 more of these Cribs episodes right?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHRxVckaE8dawZGx5QRttMt19X-lN7K4t
(you gotta scroll to the bottom for the first 11 episodes; I left TechCrunch after that).

Oh, and don't forget the bloopers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJzJE5HOrQk&list=PLHRxVckaE8dawZGx5QRttMt19X-lN7K4t&index=56

Shameless plug: if anyone is interested in startups and the tech press, I wrote a book about them. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFAT238

Here is a free copy of Edward Bernay's 'Propaganda' definitely start there. I have a special place in my heart for the book Toxic Sludge is Good For You which is an excellent expose on the public relations industry.

I'm trying to think of a book that really stands out on overall marketing and nothing is coming to mind at the moment, but of the textbooks I used in my marketing program one of the easiest to read and most helpful was "The Public Relations Writer's Handbook": https://www.amazon.com/Public-Relations-Writers-Handbook-Digital/dp/0787986313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486581186&sr=8-1&keywords=public+relations+handbook

An interesting fun one that's a quick read is "Damn Good Advice (For People with Talent!)" by George Lois: https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Good-Advice-People-Talent/dp/0714863483/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486581296&sr=1-1&keywords=damn+good+advice

I'll add more if I think of anything.

Thank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate your feedback.

I highly recommend investing in these books:

• Demystifying Public Speaking {https://abookapart.com/products/demystifying-public-speaking }
  
  
• The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie {http://library.umac.mo/ebooks/b17773544.pdf }
  
  
• How to Deliver a TED Talk {https://www.amazon.com/How-Deliver-TED-Talk-Presentations/dp/0071831592/ }
  
  
• Public Speaking for Engineers {https://www.amazon.com/Public-Speaking-Engineers-Communicating-Effectively-ebook/dp/B072W6C3Y8 }
  
  Good luck! And I hope you have a swell time on stage!

I like to give people a chance to earn my business back. "A complaint is a gift" in the business world. A business owner that sees people who complain about their service as "a child" that they don't want to do business with is leaving money on the table all the time. most of the time those people complaining have money and want to spend it. The job of a business owner is to figure out how to turn that complaint into revenue. Which they can usually do every time if they try. Customers that walk away and never come back without telling you what it takes to earn their business is a business owners worst nightmare. People that take the time to complain, and voice their opinion and give you a chance to make money off them again, are your best customers.

If you feel differently, you are entitled to your opinion. but I suggest if you own a business you read this book. I have been using this philosophy in my business for 3 years now. I feel it has improved my customer service a lot. and I really value this philosophy. So I give others the opportunity to earn my business back when I am not happy. If they do not treat that as a gift. I will find a partner that does.

http://www.amazon.com/Complaint-Is-Gift-Recovering-Customer/dp/1576755827/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368742689&sr=8-2&keywords=a+complaint+is+a+gift

You mean you don't wake up every day and enjoy a fresh glass of Roundup? It's delicious and nutritious and the non-profit that dumps it in our streams and rivers is in no way responsible for this ad-comment.

This is nothing new, by the way.

Toxic Sludge is Good for You

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Hi Everybody, my book link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VFJQTP9 Feel free to check it out. Love You all.

All corporations have claimed great social benefit of their pollution from the beginning of the last century.

http://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Sludge-Good-For-You/dp/1567510604

I got some good ideas about that from this book:
Measuring Public Relations: The Data Driven Communicator's Guide To Success by Katie Delahaye

Toxic Sludge is Good For You is a good read.

Here are half-a-dozen good ones for you:

• The Axemaker's Gift: Technology's Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture, by James Burke and Robert Ornstein
  
• Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner
  
• Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, by Cathy Young
  
• The Essential William H. Whyte, ed. Albert LaFarge
  
• No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, by Naomi Klein
  
• Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton

This book may interest you, although I'm not sure there's any real way to protect against the ol' three-letter-agencies

Thank you for the recommendation. Will definitely read.

Link to: This is How you Pitch by Ed Zitron on Amazon

All of them are excellent and he covered a wide range of topics and you should choose the book accordingly. Be it trends, research, crisis communication, strategic communications, Online PR, spin doctoring etc.

I would not recommend him if you merely want to get your feet wet, since he has very advanced material and charges accordingly. This excellent book about strategic communication for example. Look at the price tag...

This is a tough one! Lots of good textbooks out there. This is the one I use: http://www.amazon.ca/books/dp/0205770886. Lots of references to pop culture, too! You'll want to think about hiring a publicist if you're a pop band, too :).

Hello, I am looking for a PDF download of the following book:

“The Practice of Public Relations 13th Edition “ by Fraser P. Seitel

ISBN: 978-0-13-417011-4

https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Public-Relations-13th/dp/0134170113

$5 PayPal

Thanks!

u/NineLine_ED try reading this and maybe sharing with those at ED. https://www.amazon.com/Public-Relations-Dummies-Eric-Yaverbaum-ebook/dp/B004DGJJKE

I haven't read them but you can check these:

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Talk-Success-Introverts-Conversations/dp/1794389342

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Talk-Introverts-Instantly-relationship-ebook/dp/B01IKPQ7AI

https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Anyone-Conversation-Introverts-ebook/dp/B00O75B2E2

https://www.amazon.com/Introverts-Guide-Conversation-Discover-Extroverts/dp/1500576786

(I Googled introverts conversation book)

http://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Sludge-Good-For-You/dp/1567510604

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0205770886/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

I remember reading about this here

Requesting:

An Introduction to Public Relations and Communication Management, 2e 2nd Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Public-Relations-Communication-Management/dp/0195578600

Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics by Wilcox and Cameron is probably the intro text out there. https://www.amazon.ca/Public-Relations-Strategies-Tactics-10th/dp/0205770886

https://www.amazon.com/THINK-Public-Relations-Dennis-Wilcox/dp/0205857256

https://www.amazon.ca/Burned-Out-Bloggers-Guide-PR-ebook/dp/B00NFAT238

html version

Edit: Side note, I found this because my government professor is having us read Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry. I always knew that media was influenced by outsiders, but not to this extent. Highly recommended.

The idea of "a personal brand" is key. Your personal brand is how people people perceive you.

But, based on your short post, I think you should stop being sarcastic and grumpy. It's now about how people perceive you, it's about how your behavior affects others.

Unfortunately, this type of risk assessment is done in nearly every major industry. Read Toxic Sludge is Good for You for some particularly scary examples.

A lot of people get confused by how the media seems to defend an irrational system (capitalism) by misinformation and lies by omission whilst employing rational people (journalists) and not directly bribing or coercing them, which would be the conspiracy theory you're quite rightly not proposing. This book really helped me to understand a key aspect of how this symbiosis operates.

Oldie but a goodie: https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Us-Were-Experts-Manipulates/dp/096518868X


It's a very, VERY bad idea to get to a point where you blindly trust authority figures. Even worse when the culture says you're a bad person for not blindly trusting authority figures. Right now, the Portland reddit culture downvotes you if you even ask a question.


My point is not to engage in endless debate about any particular vaccine, it's to fight that culture that says it's not ok to ask questions. It's harmful; it's the same culture that lets people blindly support Trump.

No shit. Memes weren’t as common 10 yrs ago.
This book was written over 20 yrs ago and it talks about how media can be manipulated. It’s evidence that ppl have been believing shit just as much as they do now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1567510604/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522570431&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Lies%2C+Damn+Lies+and+the+Public+Relations+Industry&dpPl=1&dpID=71XADYYG13L&ref=plSrch

You really need to stop believing bullshit without evidence.


Recency bias is a hell of a drug

The Heartland institute is the main propaganda organ for injecting right wing falsehoods into the climate debate. As it turns out, they were also the main propaganda organ for confusing the issue re tobacco for decades, causing millions of deaths. There was no ambiguity in the science about smoking and there is no ambiguity in the science about the causes of the current climate change, so if you think there is, you have wedded yourself to the manifestly evil Heartland Institute. (Not that WUWT is any better but that's another topic).

A good book on the subject of how the PR industry successfully distorts perception of reality (although a bit dated now) is http://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Sludge-Good-For-You/dp/1567510604 "Toxic Sludge is Good for You". It's history of how the PR industry kept people smoking since the conclusive studies of the 1950s is particularly damning.

Of course, lung cancer is an infinitesimally small thing compared with the danger from climate change, which will kill billions if not stopped, and it can only be stopped by the full efforts of entire civilizations at this point -- so those who continue to indulge in casting doubt are indeed the very worst criminals in all history.