The Hindu Business Line : Be perceptive of culture

You probably know the `Blind Men of Hindoostan' story. "One man touches the leg and thinks the elephant is a tree. Another touches the tail and thinks it is a rope. A third touches the tusk and thinks the elephant is a spear ... "

The tale shows how multiple truths can exist simultaneously, interpret Patricia A. Curtin and T. Kenn Gaither in International Public Relations from Sage (www.sagepublications.com) . They find the story apt for public relations (PR) because one has to operate ethically with multiple truths. "A formidable challenge for a discipline that seeks to divorce itself from pejorative terms such as propaganda and deceit."

The book cites the research of E. Fursich and M.B. Robins on `the self-representation of sub-Saharan African nations on the World Wide Web'. A key finding of the researchers was that the `reflected' identity created on the Web mirrored Western interests, to promote tourism and generate investment. "A West African country with a Web site, such as Burundi, ceases to exist as an actual country and instead becomes a creation in cyberspace ... Its Web site presents its point of view, unfettered by intermediaries such as media, gives the country a storefront in the global marketplace ... "

Similarly, Russia uses trade fairs to build its image as `a technology-driven economy with much to offer potential investors'. A trade show, in the words of the authors, is `an ongoing dance between consumer and producer, an exercise in finding middle ground for productive exchange ... a meeting place where cultures and business practices collide, creating a composite driven by personal interactions'. Russia, one learns, invests heavily in trade shows to counter `the insular perception of Russia during the communist era'.

Any international PR has to be perceptive of culture, say the authors. "What works in Timbuktu (Mali) may be totally ineffective in Tuscaloosa (the US) and even offensive in Tijuana (Mexico)." For example, the US department stores failed in Chile `because they misjudged Chilean tastes and consumption patterns'.

Across the world, in the Philippines, you may find a surprise in a mall: the Alabank Town Centre Mall has a church inside it, as `anchor tenant', occupying more than 6 lakh sq. ft, and attracting `the most consistent' traffic! "The developer said the church was originally built into the mall to serve the spiritual needs of the community, but it has turned into the mall's economic engine, bringing more than 800 churchgoers per weekend service or, as the developer says, up to 8,100 potential customers on Sundays alone." A model worth trying out in other places too?

The engines driving PR will be political, economic, and cultural, declare the authors. Culture is the focal point, they insist. "How culture changes our world and how we see it will continue to confound and surprise us. The cultural-economic model gives us the tools to adapt to change and, most important, to ensure that culture is at the bull's-eye of PR campaigns." The bull's-eye, though, is a shifting one, please note.

PR need not always be about fixing problems and reputations, remind the authors. They call for broadening the scope of international PR by generating studies that don't compare the practices around the world, but instead consider them `in their own cultural context'. Rather than cast `the net of scholarly inquiry repeatedly over the same regions of the world', step `outside the comfort zones and traditional knowledge base'.

For millions of people around the world, whose very survival is at stake, PR, as commonly understood and practised, is meaningless. Context is crucial if PR has to have impact that can save lives, or eradicate disease, say the authors. "Far too often that context is in relation to the world's economic powers. To only understand and recognise PR in those dominant areas decreases the breadth of PR as a legitimate global practice."

Persuasive read.

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D. Murali