Advanced Public Relations
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2025
Pages: 396
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Advanced Public Relations takes the introductory public relations textbook to the next level. Chapters go beyond standard approaches to the field of study by diving deeper into topics of interest to students. For example, the chapter on social media is focused on helping students navigate the brutal demands of social media while guarding against the dangers posed to minds and bodies. As a public relations professor who ran campaigns for politicians, worked for clients in the comedy industry, and also worked in the media, the author uses exciting, timely, and often funny examples throughout to keep readers engaged. Readers should not be surprised to learn from the successes and failures of luminaries ranging from Reba McEntire, Madonna, and Tom Ford to Julius Caesar, Edward Bernays, Jamie Dimon, and "the greatest showman" P.T. Barnum. Replete with photos helping illustrate every page, an approachable style encourages readers to stay engaged throughout. This book features topics that are crucial to understanding public relations yet tend to elude typical public relations textbooks, such as chapters on Fashion, Demeanor, International Business, Deception. Standard chapters also appear, such as crisis communication and scandals, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), however readers are exposed to perspectives they would not tend to learn about in other textbooks, such as how to combat the Catch-22 of CSR, the proper attitude toward clients, and the potential harms of spokespeople hurting business.
There are seventeen chapters, written in a comfortable style and full of entertaining anecdotes, while also introducing readers to valuable and interesting concepts and theories. They are divided into three sections. The first section, comprised of the first three chapters, focuses on the history of public relations. The field has grown from dictators and emperors conquering lands with image-building public relations tactics, to carnival barkers and professional hype publicists, to a more socially-conscious profession concerned with ethical protocols, environmental sustainability, and corporate responsibility, alongside an academic field driven by data collection and scientific techniques. The second section focuses on general principles. Readers learn about writing for diverse audiences, crisis communication and scandals, ethics and legalities, how to give presentations to clients, and other practical approaches to succeeding in our competitive marketplace. The third section of chapters focuses on popular industries that students seem to be most interested in, including sports, entertainment, politics, fashion, and international business.
Many chapters feature Q&As in which an expert in the field is interviewed about the subject matter. For example, a public relations professional working for a Miami agency specializing in fashion clients is interviewed for the fashion chapter. A professional "fixer" for politicians' scandals is interviewed for the crisis communication chapter. An experienced lobbyist is interviewed for the political communication chapter. An experienced executive from international business communication is interviewed for the international relations chapter. And a public relations professional specializing in social media is interviewed for the social media chapter. Particular emphasis is on helping students get good jobs in the lucrative industry, and thoughtful tips for students tackling internships. Many chapters also feature Case Study Workshops, which elevate the content to useful applications that help enliven the learning process.
Chapter 1: Building empires through public relations
Introduction: Reba McEntire
Tracing historic roots of public relations
Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
Caesar Augustus
The Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment
Napoleon Bonaparte
Chapter 2: Innovating public relations
Introduction: U.S. origins
P.T. Barnum
Marilyn Laurie
Arthur Page
George Creel
Claudette Colvin
Ida Wells
Irene Inouye
John Muir
Case Study Workshop: A reformed huckster is inspired to clean up his act
Chapter 3: Developing public relations agencies
Edward Bernays
Ivy Lee and George F. Parker
Inez Kaiser
Daniel Edelman
Joseph Baker
Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter
Harold Burson
Al Fleishman
Q&A about Bernays’s legacy
Chapter 4: Defining public relations
Introduction: Definitions matter
Public relations as a field of communication
Mutually beneficial relationships?
Excellence theory
International considerations
Marketing
Advertising
Similarities between public relations, advertising, and marketing
A lucrative profession
PRSA
Q&A with a student leader about PRSSA
Chapter 5: Developing a strategic campaign
Introduction: Your attitude toward a potential client
Introductory meeting with the client
Ten things to learn from your client at introductory session
Going to the client HQ
Situational analysis
Secondary research
Primary research
Analyzing your data
Goals, objectives, tactics
Campaign book ingredients
Final presentations
Q&A with an expert on conducting campaigns and giving presentations to clients
Chapter 6: Staying mentally and physically safe while working in social media
Introduction: Surgeon General’s Warning
Be aware of potential burnout and anxiety
Don’t look at your phone while driving
Don’t look are your phone when walking outside
Have an accountability partner
Don’t Phub Around
Having a healthy appreciation of influencers
Eight tips for working with influencers
Case Study Workshop: Cell phones in the classroom
Q&A with social media expert in public relations
Chapter 7: Demeanor
Introduction: Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes
Nonverbal communication and dual modes of processing
Visual primacy theory and the power of politicians’ nonverbals
Demeanor
Believability cues of sincere and insincere demeanor
Facial cues of (dis)honesty
Case study workshop: A fugitive displays believable demeanor
Chapter 8: Writing in a diverse field for diverse audiences
Introduction: A lawyer’s “f-you” letter and the power of picking up the phone and sleeping on it
Objectives of public relations writing
Writing prolifically
Familiarize yourself with AP Style but don’t obsess over it
Basic Tips
High-profile writing
Speechwriting
E-mail pitches
Press releases
Q&A with a public relations professional about good writing for diverse audiences
Chapter 9: Ethics and legalities
Introduction: Madonna and the freedom of stifled creativity
PRSA and PRSSA Codes of Ethics
Defamation
Defaming public figures
False claims
Puffery
Disclosure and copyright
The Gillett Amendment
Case Study Workshop: Megalopolis film trailerQ&A about ethical practices across the public relations industry
Chapter 10: Crisis communication, scandals, and issues management
Introduction: Defining a crisis and issues management
Image repair theory
Denial
Evading responsibility
Reducing offensiveness
Corrective action
Mortification
Stealing thunder
An Experiment testing image repair theory
Developing a pre-crisis action plan
Descriptive theory of behavioral crisis communication
An Experiment testing the descriptive theory of behavioral crisis communication
Case Study Workshop: Chick-Fil-A and Taco Bell
Q&A about crisis communication and managing scandals
Chapter 11: Corporate social responsibility
Introduction: The Catch-22 of CSR
What is corporate social responsibility?
Why communicating CSR backfires and how to make it authentic
Another irony of CSR
Communicating CSR inwardly and externally
Activist CEOs
Q&A about applying for internships and jobs
Chapter 12: International business relations
Introduction: Trading with Japan
Reciprocity
Risks of reciprocity
Social exchange theory
Internationalization
Communication accommodation theory
Sojourning
Q&A with a public relations expert in international business relations
Chapter 13: Deception
Introduction: Good and bad spin
Paul Grice as a founder of how deception works
Interpersonal deception theory
Truth-default theory
Defining deception, lying and various types of duplicity
Equivocation
Evasion
Strategic ambiguity
Paltering
Obfuscation
Artful dodging
Case Study Workshop: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau
Chapter 14: Sports and Entertainment
Introduction: Taking the reins
The sports industry–Business communication
Online communications
Media relations
Community relations
Regulations
The entertainment industry–Business communication
The business
Media relations
Jobs
Spokespeople
Case Study Workshop: Feeling emboldened to take the reins
Q&A with entertainment public relations professional
Chapter 15: Political communication
Introduction: Weiner’s weiner and Wegner’s white bear
Routes to persuasion or resistance
Being presidential
Being liked amidst uncivil partisan media
Case Study Workshop: Jumpstarting the Straight Talk Express
Q&A with political lobbyist
Chapter 16: Fashion
Introduction: Tom Ford and an image of exclusivity while focusing on the public
Defining key components of the fashion industry and public relations
Jobs in the industry
Fashion merchandising
Influencers and parasocial interaction (PSI)
Fast fashion
Case Study Workshop: Ralph Lauren and the Olympics: The official outfitter of Team USA
Q&A with a public relations professional in the fashion industry
Chapter 17: Thinking scientifically about public relations
Introduction: Bernays promoting science-driven research in public relations
The scientific method
Hypothesis
Data collection
Variables
Manipulating variables
Experimental design
In closing
Q&A about scientific principles for public relations research
Dr. David E. Clementson is a professor of public relations at the University of Georgia. He earned his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, where he won the top doctoral student research award, and earned his MA from the University of Miami, where he won the outstanding graduate student award. He has published experiments in flagship peer-reviewed outlets including Journal of Communication, Human Communication
Research, and Communication Monographs. He won Top Paper awards from the mass communication division of the International Communication Association in 2020 and 2021. He won the Top Paper award from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology for the best paper published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology between 2018 and 2020. He was ranked in the Top 25 most prolific researchers published in communication journals, based on a five-year review in Communication Education.
He worked in public relations and journalism for about a decade. He ran successful campaigns for Democratic and Republican politicians. He worked at newspapers and magazines where he covered politics and government as well as general assignment reporting. He was the press secretary and director of communications for the Attorney General of Virginia.
His scholarly research has appeared in Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Associated Press, New York Post, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News, PBS, Market Watch, Scientific American, K-LOVE, Raw Story, MSN, Yahoo News, POLITICO magazine, New York magazine, HuffPost, The New Republic, Psychology Today, Fast Company, the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Salon, and internationally in Brazil, the Middle East, Canada, Russia, Japan, the UK, and Poland. Dr. Clementson has been an invited panelist speaking to groups including political committees, a university in Mexico, political consulting firms, and the Museum of Public Relations. He co-edited a book about communication accommodation theory. He was elected and reelected to the executive leadership of the public relations division of the National Communication Association. He was a co-advisor of PRSSA at California State University, Sacramento. He and his wife have three children. He plays the drums and performed standup comedy at clubs in New York City, Virginia, and North Carolina.