PR Trends and Public Opinion

Public Relations (PR) Trends and Public Opinion
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Introduction
The concept of public relations refers to the act of managing the flow of information between an individual or a company and the public (Bernays, 2014). Usually, companies use public relations elements to create the awareness of their products through marketing. It is the wish of most businesses to have many customers having a positive image of the firm. In order to attain this, the organizations highly rely on the public relations platforms. Although the primary purpose companies seek the help of public relations is to create an advantage, it may also damage the customers’ perception of the company therein. Furthermore, the public relations are capable of influencing the opinion of the public. In this case, therefore, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the recent trends (a positive and negative) that the public relations influenced the opinion of the public.
Background Overview
The Volkswagen: Diesel dupe
Volkswagen is a German company that majors in the production of auto motives. Initially, the company had an excellent public image, but the diesel dupe scandal had an adverse effect on the public opinion. In the advertisements, Volkswagen outlined that its automobiles were conservative and friendly to the environment. However, as per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) press release, this was not the case (Bernays, 2014). The company did install software that would detect when the vehicles were in testing.

Upon detection, the software would temporarily alter the performance of the car automatically to mitigate the emissions to the environment.
The Taco Bell’s “seasoned beef” meat lawsuit
There was an adverse effect on the public opinion after the parent company was sued due to the suspicious meat contents. In the lawsuit, the company was accused of providing the seasoned beef containing only 35% beef indicating that their advertisement was misleading. The allegations spread leading to a decrease the market base of the company. However, through various public relations campaign, Taco Bell was able to regain their customers (Smith, & Lasswell, 2015).
Role of PR in the scenarios
The Volkswagen: Diesel dupe: The EPA used the press as an element of public relations to announce their disturbing discovery concerning the software in Volkswagen vehicles. Although the CEO at Volkswagen tried to place the blame on the engineers, the German publication found it incredible and thus issued a report indicating that at least some managers were involved. In this case, the PR was very effective because the information was based on facts and evidence rather than mere speculations (Bernays, 2014).
The Taco Bell’s “seasoned beef” meat lawsuit: The Company regained the brand image by publicly sharing the ingredients and the contents of their seasoned beef. Taco provided that its product consisted of 88% beef and 12% secret recipe but not 35% beef as per the lawsuit allegations. It helped in proving and dismissing the false accusations. Further, Taco Bell began a ‘Not-so-secret-recipe’ campaign on various platforms such as local newspapers, ads, and Facebook, YouTube among others.
Results
The Volkswagen: Diesel dupe: The EPA press release created a public relations crisis at Volkswagen. Although the Company tried to place some blame on other players, it was not as successful. The press release was convincing to the public damaging the brand image of Volkswagen products.
The Taco Bell’s “seasoned beef” meat lawsuit: Through conducting the various campaigns on social platforms, Taco Bell received tremendous support from the existing and potential customers. The customers made supporting comments indicating that the public opinion was getting positive. It showed that the campaigns had a positive influence on the public and further convinced the customers that the prior allegations were false (Smith, & Lasswell, 2015). Following the supportive customer base, the Taco Bell lawsuit was dropped in less than four months.

References
Bernays, E. L. (2014). Public Relations. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Smith, B. L., & Lasswell, H. D. (2015). Propaganda, Communication and Public Opinion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.