Conglomerates and the Persuasion Industries

The growth of mass media and advertising/public relations conglomerates is an additional development that disturbs critics of the persuasion industries who worry about what they consider antisocial uses of hidden persuasion and target marketing. They worry that these huge companies will find it productive to work together to make integrated marketing communications an even greater part of the creation of media content than it is now.

What do they mean? We saw earlier that advertising agency holding companies own several public relations agencies as well as ad agencies and research firms. The biggest of the holding companies, such as Omnicom and WPP, own hundreds of companies with offices around the world. If you go to WPP's website or the website of the other Big Four agency holding companies, you will confront a bewildering array of firms, (lo get an idea, take a look at the jumble of names in Figure 16.2, which reproduces the WPP holdings search page.) As we noted earlier in this chapter, they control the great percentage of top international PR firms.

As we discussed in Chapter 15, agency holding firms funnel well over half of the money to purchase media time and space for advertising. Numbers such as these suggest that WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Havas, and Interpublic—with their huge media- buying operations and their impressive direct marketing and branding firms—have enormous impact on the mass media. Unfortunately, however, it is very difficult to gauge their impact. They are secretive when it comes to discussing their integrated cross-media activities. The advertising, PR, and media trade press, which writes a lot about the individual advertising and PR firms that they own, rarely writes about the strategies and cross-discipline activities of the holding companies. Consequently, an area of the media business that is quite powerful is difficult to examine critically.

Figure 16.2 WPP’s Holdings Search Page. Source: http:// www.wpp.com/wpp/ companies/

Realistically, it would be impossible for all the companies to work together. Nevertheless, the leaders of communications services firms emphasize that their clients will see a benefit from using a company that has general advertising, specialty adver­tising, general public relations, specialty public relations, media planning, media buying, and research services under one corporate umbrella. WPP puts the idea this way: “We encourage and enable our companies of different disciplines to work together, for the benefit of clients and the satisfaction of our people.”

The development of huge persuasion-industry conglomerates is too recent for media scholars to have published a lot on the topic. Still, we might imagine that the trend would worry critics who condemn the hidden nature of public relations and excessive target marketing. “What is going on,” they would probably say, “is that the most visible media outlets, which are owned by a few companies, are increasingly working in the interests of wealthy commercial clients with PR and ad agencies that themselves are owned by just a few companies. The mutual goal of these conglomer­ates is to shape media environments so that they will persuade individuals wherever they go to buy products and ideas, whether they know it or not.”

It should be taken as a warning to media-literate citizens to be aware of the situa­tion when huge conglomerates have the capacity to present consumers with targeted content through media everywhere they go without the consumers knowing that they are being specifically targeted, by whom, and why. Some of the hidden persuasions may be useful—for example if a cosmetic story on a news channel customized to you is pitched to your skin color, you may like the idea and not care who is behind it. Some hidden persuasion, however, may be disturbing to your sense of honesty and your ability to navigate the world critically. Consider, for example, a magazine story or news spot about a new electronic device you are thinking of buying. The piece pretends to be open-minded but really serves the interests of a particular manufacturer. Consider, too, an editorial on a newspaper site that appears to have been sent to everyone as the voice of the paper but was really written to harmonize with the political beliefs of people like you so that you will feel good about the paper and continue to subscribe.

The example of the editorial is based on a rumor and is certainly rare, if it exists yet at all. Nevertheless, it is a development that could take place. Some publishers might argue that there is really nothing wrong with personalized editorials and that they would be great for business. Ethical concerns about not telling people directly that the editorials are customized may not be considered an impediment to this activity at all because, after all, the editorial was written by an employee of the paper, not someone from outside the organization. Others may respond that presenting readers with editorial opinions without informing them that other readers received different editorials (or an editorial on the same topic but with a different viewpoint!) is contrary to the editorial tradition of laying an opinion out for all to read or hear.

The electronic device example, in contrast, is extremely common. Much product evaluation in the mass media is deeply influenced by, if not the creation of, public relations activities. So is much writing about culture and politics, from news spots about fashion and travel to magazine profiles of corporate and political leaders. We may feel chagrined that we don't understand the hidden intentions of these stories even as we use them in our daily lives to make sense of how we think about other worlds and where we stand in ours.

Chapter Review

Questions for Discussion and Critical Thinking

1. Why would contemporary public relations practitioners be more likely to invoke Edward Bernays than P. T. Barnum as a respected figure for their industry?

2. Explain how the consumer marketing and media relations categories of public relations activities will often overlap.

3. Why and how might a company use event marketing with respect to video games? Can you discover a situation in which that took place?

4. If reporters have as negative a view of PR as they typically say they do, why is the use of public relations output so widespread?

Internet Resources

Public Relations Society ot America (http://www.prsa.org/)

Based in New York City, the PRSA calls itself the world’s largest organization for public relations professionals. This website presents an overview of the associa­tion s acti\ ities, v\ ith areas dedicated to jobs, networking, professional develop- meat, and publications.

The Museum ot Public Relations (http://www.prmuseum.com/bernays/bernays_1929a.html)

This is an online overview of important figures and events in the history of pub­lic relations. It includes a video of Edward Bernays reflecting on his career and on the public relations profession.

Omnicom Group (http://www.omnicomgroup.com/)

One of the Big Four agency holding companies, Omnicom has a website that illustrates the astonishing breadth of advertising, public relations, and other marketing communications firms that such conglomerates own. The site includes case studies and a map of the firm’s offices around the world.