Public Relations used as a persuasive tool in communication

Companies that are in the public’s eye needs some sort of persuasive tool to help them maintain an image that will help them attain the public’s approval. Many companies turn to public relations as their persuasive tool in communicating to the public. If a company has a good public relations team this will essentially help the company particularly in times of need. A company’s main goal is to been viewed positively in the media. However, there will be times when the credibility of a company’s image will be tested. This is when public relations is used as a persuasive tool in communication. In cases like this, it is the public relations teams’ responsibility to persuade the media and the public that the company is compensating for their actions and are working to make it better. This can be very difficult, that is why at times you see the public relations executives usually advise their clients to make some sort of public appearance to help better their tarnished image. In many cases this does work and changes how the media and the public view a specific company. A perfect example of how public relations is used as a persuasive tool is the BP oil spill. When this hit the media, both the media and the public had a negative view towards the company because many of the executives seemed to not be phased or care about the situation because it did not effect them directly but effected BP’s sales. Their public relations team must have advised them to show some sympathy towards what has happened in order to help their image, because eventually BP created videos that showed the public they were helping clean up the gulf. This in turn helped bring their public image into a more positive light compared to before. This just shows how persuasive public relations can be used as a tool in communications.