What Are We Accepting in The Name of Humanity?

“The only way to practice ethical PR is to work in the NGO or voluntary sector, all the rest is corporate propaganda or spin”

If this statement is proposed in front of any random individual I believe they would vehemently agree. Before studying PR I probably would have agreed too. This is simply because NGO’s have a predetermined positive status in people’s mind. It is because of their noble philanthropic causes and objectives for doing good for the society that NGO’s enjoy this benefit.

The truth is NGO’s today share a similar stance and stature in the society as businesses. “ They share with big businesses an ability to leap borders and operate internationally.” (Morris and Goldsworthy 123) No one even bothers to ask or interrogate how NGO’s have attained this status.

The truth is that NGO’s have attained this position by doing the same things as corporations and business have done. Like corporations and businesses NGO’s also have communication and media departments where they plan campaigns. After determining the purposes of the campaign the (PR teams) aka communications teams take charge to promote the campaign through the persuasive mix. It is after this that the fundraising events are held via which NGO’s aim to raise funds and attract more volunteers to work for their causes.

Just like businesses and corporate counterparts NGO’s also use the common PR techniques such as celebrity endorsement to attain the attention of media. It is just because they are NGO’s that their news tends to more attention and the messages that they tend to put across are seldom challenged. What messages they promote and what they do in these charity events and campaigns are never questioned or scrutinized. NGO’s are free to use various publicity stunts and often it has been seen on various cases that NGO’s have over stepped the boundaries to make emotional appeals (even by breaking laws sometime.) If events as such would occur in the private sector or government PR they would be severely penalized.

Another important aspect where NGOs enjoy benefits is accountability and transparency. For NGOs there are no universal standards of accountability. They are allowed to get away by providing ‘patchy’ information regarding their use of funds. This is incomprehensible when it comes to democratic governments or companies who have to provide a large amount of information for public information and scrutiny.

Keeping all the above stated in mind can anyone determine if how NGOs practice PR is any different from other sectors? More importantly, should we be overlooking all these important details just because NGOs work for a philanthropic cause and not for a profit margin? Should we provide blind support and call NGOs ethical –just for the cause of their help to humanity?