Of all my teachers at Christopher Columbus Junior High School in Canoga Park, California, one of the two I remember most vividly is Miss Chernowsky. She taught art. A tall, stern-looking woman who reminded me of Margaret Hamilton (who played the wicked witch of the west in "The Wizard of Oz"), Miss Chernowsky told me on the first day of class that she expected me to be trouble. I don't remember why, but I must have mouthed off or been disruptive or fallen asleep or something. In any case, I was terrified of Miss Chernowsky for a few days, until her instruction inspired me and I began turning in work that she liked. By the end of the semester, we were getting along fine.

The recollection of this tale is a long way of getting around to the idea that sometimes people get off on the wrong foot. In some cases, that leads to a lifetime of acrimony. Other times, these people have an opportunity to put the right foot forward and the acrimony becomes a distant memory.

Amanda Chapel and I got off on the wrong foot. Lately, though, we've had the opportunity to exchange several emails that have been congenial, friendly, and constructive. We've had a couple encounters in Second Life -- or, at least, our avatars have -- and that also has helped us find common ground. Now, Amanda has asked to lead an effort among PR professionals to author a "week in review" of Strumpette.

To be perfectly frank, I'm a bit worried about this. Not because Amanda, mind you, but because of my schedule. I've barely contributed to my own blog in the last few weeks. But I want to keep moving the best foot forward. So I'll do the best I can. I'll employ the guideline of brevity as a virtue and reach out to some of my colleagues who may want to contribute to the effort.

In any case, thanks, Amanda, for the opportunity.

Marketing Isn't PR

Two themes arose from my reading of the last week's worth of Strumpette posts, including those by Amanda and by guest columnists/bloggers. One is that the concept of public relations isn't very well understood. The other is that we in the profession usually have nobody but ourselves to blame for the perceptions ascribed to us.

Phil Hall was the first to cause my eyebrow to lift when I read his piece about the next level beyond product placement: Producing your own movie or TV show. Phil's right; this is old news. I remember long before I went to work for Mattel in the mid-1980s, my son was watching a half-hour animated TV series called "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe." I also knew Mattel produced toys of the same name. I assumed the TV series had spawned the toys until I read about the objections of an activist group that labeled the show a 30-minute commercial. It turns out Mattel was behind the series. At that point, I didn't care. My wife and I had already watched a couple episodes to make sure it was okay for our son. It was inoffensive and always made a valuable point for kids to learn. Whether the chicken came first or the egg didn't matter.

After joining Mattel, I found out this was a common practice in the toy industry. Remember Thundercats? Transformers? (That one's back as a big-budget special effects movie.)

So I'm right on board with just about everything Phil said, although I'm growing skeptical about the value of product placement. People are already getting inured to it. The problem I had with Phil's piece was right at the top, where he wrote, "It’s one thing to gain PR points via product placement..."

See, that's not PR. That's marketing. They're two different animals. You pay for product placement, just as you pay to have a 30-second spot aired or a double-truck advertising spread to be printed in a high-gloss magazine. You earn PR. In fact, my favorite definition of public relations comes from the Institute for Public Relations: "A deliberate, planned, and sustained effort to institute and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics."

The Blurring of the Lines

Here's the problem: Most of the firms that are considered public relations agencies are actually communications agencies. They have PR practices but they also have marketing practices along with a host of others, ranging from branding to promotions. As if that's not confusing enough, the line is blurring thanks to the advent of social media. The principles behind solid public relations aren't changing, but the methods used to achieve PR goals most certainly are. It's confusing as hell, and we, as a profession, aren't doing much to clear it up. That's why the recent idiocy in Boston with promotional light boards that looked like improvised explosive devices leading to traffic snarls and public panic was dubbed a "PR stunt."

It also doesn't help our reputation when we behave in ethically challenged ways. It doesn't matter whether that behavior is born of timidity or the quest for a buck. It all leads down the same path.

Ethics Above All

Amanda wrote about 5WPR winning the "Girls Gone Wild" account. I congratulate Ronn Torrosian for the win -- winning any account takes hard work and perseverance, and I'm sure he earned it. On the other hand, there are certain accounts I wouldn't touch with (as my British colleague Neville Hobson would say) with a barge pole. This is one of them. Tobacco companies are another. In a profession that knows better than any other that perception is reality, the perception is that we're happy to sell cancer and pornography as long as it helps us meet our billable hourly targets.

And in a profession that is so damned visible, it doesn't matter that plenty of agencies and practitioners honor codes that preclude their accepting such accounts. We're all painted with the same brush.

And Eric Dezenhall points out another PR behavior that doesn't help our image. We're too timid to suggest companies do the right thing, particularly when the right thing means simply apologizing. We use weasel words like "We regret any inconvenience your experience with our company may have caused you" instead of what we should say, which is, "What happened to you sucks and we're really, really sorry."

(Of course, the lawyers usually have a hand in this, noting that an apology can be construed as an admission of guilt which can lead to liability. Well, um, yeah. The question, though, is whether a human admission that we fucked up can produce goodwill and reputation worth far more than a payment costs. Well, thank God there's a profession with a reputation worse than ours.)

The Real Deal

None of which means that everybody views PR as something lower than a crack-dealing pedophile. I am sick and weary of hearing everybody parrot the complaint that management won't give PR a seat at the management table. It just ain't true. Plenty of senior PR practitioners have seats at plenty of management tables. Of course, they're not the ones doing the whining. They got to the management table by providing measurable value to their organizations and clients, by helping their clients and bosses sleep better at night, by genuinely (as the definition suggests) maintaining mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. Let's face it. If your idea of PR is cranking out a crappy press release with made-up executive quotes and no news just so your client can get a little ink, then you don't deserve a seat at the management table.

Okay, so that wasn't brief and I rambled. But I covered most of last week's Strumpette posts and I can summarize the whole mess this way:

The line between PR and other communication disciplines is blurring. It's up to public relations practitioners to know where to draw the line, to behave ethically, to counsel companies to do the right thing, and to use our skills and the tools available to us -- including the new ones in the social media space that aren't going anywhere -- to establish solid relationships with our publics, to contribute to bottom-line business goals, and to help our clients and bosses sleep better at night.

Until next week...

Shel Holtz, vice president of new marketing for crayon and co-host of the For Immediate Release. Shel has nearly 30 years of experience in organizational communications. He is the author of four communications-related books, including "Blogging for Business;” and is a regular on the communication speaking circuit. He is accredited by the International Association of Business Communicators, and is the recipient of five IABC international Gold Quill awards for communication excellence. In 2005, IABC named Shel a Fellow — the association's highest honor.