Week 11 - The one where Terence talked about the Asian perspective of PR

Ah, here we are at the crossroads once again...no wait, it's the end of the line rather than a crossroad..haha

Anyway, this chapter connects to me very personally as it talks about the perspective of Public Relations of the Asian nations and culture in comparison to the state of affairs we see in the Western countries. Talking about locality always gets me jumping around - call it patriotism or the want of showing off Singapore to friends everywhere, issues pertaining to Singapore always had a soft spot in me heart.

Hence, the disagreement, from the readings, that PR in Singapore IS still for the sole purpose of government propaganda.

Well, let's talk about the state of PR in the Asian context first, shall we? I agree with the readings that there is still work to be done if Asia was to match up to the standards that is in place within the Western nations now. However, a different strategy has to be employed within Asia if we were to rise up and fulfill our potential as Asians are naturally conservative and respect authority.

Not saying that the Western culture don't do both of those, but a comparison of public reaction to PR campaigns of a similar context is probably enough to gauge the differences in tolerance level between the two culture.

As mentioned earlier in my blog post about PR ethics, the mailbox-vandalism PR stunt that Singapore Post undertook earlier this year, in promotion of an arts event related to the Youth Olympics Games 2010, received island-wise criticism and distaste. So much so that the CEO of SingPost had to offer an apology at a media conference to appease the Singapore citizens.

Compare that with the Marc Ecko stunt where they appeared to "vandalise" Air Force One - it turned out to be a staged PR stunt as the plane was a private jet which was designed to look like AF1 - and the difference in opinions was drastic. Americans wow-ed at the stunt, offering praise and amazement at the ability to pull off such an act and even having it on tape. After the viral marketing hype wore down and the true nature of the campaign was revealed, there was backlash nor stone-casting. They still revered it as a creative concept of PR, unlike their Singaporean counterparts.

All in all, improving the state of PR affairs in Singapore is not just a matter of casting away our culture and traditions. These 2 aspects makes us unique compared to others and we shouldn't case it away. Rather, we should tweak strategies that are successful in the States and finetune them to work in the Asian culture.

With that said, I think it's about time Asia slowly open up to being more receptive in new ideas too ;) - we could use abit of humour and creativity in our lives, otherwise life will just be plain boring...

Terence, for the final time....OUT!