As I have previously mentioned in one of my posts on the history of PR, Edward Bernays is the most significant name when it comes to campaigns and launching PR as an independent profession. At that time, the ''father of Public Relations'' was basically setting the rules of the game on his own, and that included a rather sensitive element - ethics (https://bit.ly/2DZOjFa).
In all honesty, to even start with, back then there was no many rules set for the public relations profession as it was just uprising as an independent craft. Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee were the ones unfolding the magic of PR at work through actions they did, but one has to wonder - were they ethical in a way we consider ethics in business in today's world?
One of the most interesting cases in the favor of actions with the ''old'' (read: non-existing) rules, and definitely an example of wrong behavior in PR, is Bernays' campaign for promoting bacon as healthy for Beech-Nut Packing Company (https://bit.ly/2UelPNJ). In short, he was determined to get the job done at all costs, so he managed to get roughly around 4 500 physicians to confirm that ''a heavy breakfast was the best way to start the day due to the loss of energy overnight''.
After having newspaper hype this story around, bacon and eggs soon became the main components of a typical American breakfast, and Beech-Nut was thriving. It goes without saying that cholesterol and high amounts of saturated fats in bacon are far from healthy, yet Bernays managed to put such a(n) (unethical) spin on the story that in a way it is even admirable, rather awry but still worth thinking about.
On the other side, nowadays, there is a whole new world of organizations that are repairing the image of ethics in business and PR, and one of them is Conscious Coffees (https://bit.ly/2JQdSbF). This coffee-supplying company even has it in it's name - ''Since its founding, Conscious Coffees has worked tirelessly to improve its production pipelines to benefit growers, farmers, and suppliers across South America''.
Through their logo, production principles and interactive initiatives within the community, they ''practice what they preach''' and are setting an example for other business on how to transparently run project with honesty and care for the public and the environment. On their website and other social media accounts they share all the stories they do for contributing to ethical business (https://bit.ly/2SvGFXe) making them even more connected to their customers (largely millennials), as they value honesty and empathy over a brand name, shown in a recent study (https://bit.ly/2SsJloe).
So there we have it - old vacant principles of PR versus new, well improved and more preferable rules changing the 'game' in a positive course.
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