In a recent post, Strumpette takes a look at how the Taliban has enlisted a PR agency. The discussion, of course, inevitably gravitates towards ethics, and Ms. Chapel resorts to an interview that 5WPR CEO, Ronn Torossian gave earlier this year, in which he rationalized why his firm was taking on Girls Gone Wild CEO, Joe Francis, as a client:
– PR agencies take on controversial clients just like lawyers represent controversial public figures. We may not be under oath like an attorney, but we are believers in the First Amendment.
The difference, though, between PR agents and lawyers is that things like the Rule of Law and Habeas Corpus are integral parts to any Liberal Democracy, and PR isn’t. Mind you, if private firms/individuals didn’t have such a propensity to be douche bags in the first place, there really wouldn’t be much of a demand for something like PR, now would there?
I guess that’s why people think that PR is the devil’s handy work. Mind you, most people also buy products & services from equally nefarious companies with the pay checks that they get from yet another one, so I guess that it’s true what Dylan said:
it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
It’s really why growing up is all about the loss of innocence. Life happens, push comes to shove, and you end up working for one set of people that you hope your daughter will never marry so that you can pay bills to another set of similarly despicable ones. But hey, even pious assholes like the Taliban turn out to by hypocrites in the long run, so what’s the big deal?