PRSA Issues Campaign Challenge: INTEGRITY

Love it or hate it, the simple fact remains: Negative attack ads WORK!

For decades, the masses have complained about the onslaught of negative political attack ads that dominate the airwaves during election season -- most notably, every four years during the presidential campaigns.

This year is no exception, with nary a commercial break that isn't laced with insults of some form or another...

While there appears to be unanimous disgust for these kinds of ads (from both sides of the aisle), research and elections results continue to show that they do, in fact, influence voter behavior. What to do? What to do?

The Public Relations Society of America has joined the debate this year, issuing a plea to both camps to knock off the character attacks and get back to the business of positioning platforms and issues in the public domain. Check out the message below, sent to the entire PRSA membership last week:

PRSA issued a Media Advisory, announcing that it has submitted formal challenges to the McCain and Obama campaigns to commit to the highest standards of ethical practice in every facet of their campaign communications. In a letter to Robert Gibbs (Obama for America) and a letter to Jill Hazelbaker (John McCain 2008), PRSA Chair & CEO Jeffrey Julin, on behalf of the PRSA Board of Directors, asks the campaigns to sign a formal pledge obligating them to abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics in all communications, stating that:

“The use of innuendo, incomplete information, surrogate messaging and character attacks, whether in political discourse or other forms of commercial free speech, raises serious concerns for our organization and its 32,000 members, each of whom signs a pledge to the PRSA Code of Ethics. In fact, ethical practice is the most important obligation of PRSA membership, and we maintain that our obligations extend not only to those we represent, but also to the publics they serve. We view the code as a model for other professions, organizations and professionals, including political campaigns.”

PRSA has yet to receive signed pledge forms back from the campaigns, but is responding to media interview requests as we continue to speak out publicly and vigorously on the issue.
Another element of this advocacy program is the PRSA Facebook group, “Clean & Fair Campaign 2008,” intended to communicate broad, grassroots support for our positions. To be successful, we need to have large enough numbers to have the clout of a de facto national petition, the credibility for a solid story, and even recognition as a national movement. WE NEED YOUR HELP. If each of you joins today, we quickly move the needle up to at least the 32,000 of you who belong to the PRSA community.