PRN 2120 – Foundations of Public Relations. Semester 1, 2011. Assessment 2
Media depictions (including film and television) are a primary source of how the citizenry learns about a profession.
(Susanne Johnston, 2010a, p. 1)
word count without references: 1600 (approx)
Including references: 2113
From an early age filmic texts like newsreels and movie informed and influenced me. Later, television, another one-way communication process, exposed me to a North American sitcom Bewitched, and to consumerism. This lengthy series depicted the fantasy life story of an inexperienced young advertising executive, his family and his profession. The story was based on an intertwined metanarrative, a binary made up of an archaic and a modern myth. This powerful narrative provided an important personal learning experience for me. The integrity of Darrin the advertising-executive-character was established by compliance with current, major, ethical, cultural standards. Throughout this essay I rely on the theory of public relations, media, communications and culture to reveal just a few of the countless ways public relations affected the series’ construction. I also argue this comprehensive screen depiction of public relations profoundly influenced my understanding of the profession in an enduring, positive way.
In 1950’s country Western Australia pre-ordained international and national news and movies only arrived once a month – in tin canisters – and without advertisements. Advertising historian Gawen Rudder exactly encapsulates my feelings when he says: “In the ‘50s and so on, advertising was so new and so novel that we watched open-mouthed. Like, “Isn’t this brilliant?” even if it wasn’t brilliant.” (The History of Advertising, 29th. May, 2003, p.1). One very successful American television series introduced me to advertising. This was Bewitched, a “fantasy sitcom” (“Bewitched”, n.d.). This powerful narrative had instant appeal; “as our film industry became more sophisticated … so did our advertising style” (Rudder, cited by The History of Advertising, 29th. May, 2003, p. 2).
Operating “under the umbrella of advertising” (Johnston, 2010b, p. 198), Bewitched was a televised ‘smash’ that ran from September 1964 until July, 1972 (“Bewitched”, n.d.). On one level the series was overt, transparent – and successful. It did not conceal it was a huge “press agentry [exercise] … the most common form of public relations” (Grunig cited by Harrison, 2011, p. 88), and, according to Crawford, within a century what Australians ate for breakfast depended upon advertising (2008). At that time I already knew “public relations functions were carried out” (Johnston, 2010b, p. 189). I was aware of being ‘sold’ Uncle Toby’s Oats and Chevrolet, and that those companies were major sponsors (All About the Bewitched Music Theme).
The television screen depicted the novel life and work environments of Darrin and his circle. Just as Lee (2004, p. 157) describes, these new concepts and ideas soon transfixed me. The underpinning strategy incorporated a well-defined:
hierarchy of effects … this theory suggests the sequence
in which people may come to be persuaded. The sequence
is: (1) awareness; (2) comprehension; (3) agreement or
acceptance; and (4) retention of the acceptance and
consequent behaviour change
Mackey, cited by Johnston & Zawawi, 2003, pp. 61, 62.
Classified as a “fantasy sitcom” (About TV.com Australia), the “comedy, romance …genres” also applied (Johnston, 2010, p. 189). Bewitched was much, much more, “a prism through which the subject[s] can be viewed” – and persuaded (Lee, as cited by Johnston, 2010a, p. 5).. As Edgerton explains “television [sheds] additional or nuanced light” (as cited by Johnston, 2010a, p. 5), and during eight years the series made its target audience aware of: “bigotry, racism, consumerism, materialism, human vanity, women’s liberation and mass hysteria” (“Bewitched”, n.d.). This popular culture entertainment “contributed to … discussion in a meaningful way” (Johnston, 2010a, p. 7).
As Lee (2004, p. 157) generally describes, Bewitched fitted neatly into some topics. They are what Johnston more specifically calls public relations themes; “power, fame, truth, deception, morality and love” (2010b, p. 189). While comprehending the series was providing a continuous stream of novel and engaging information, I never questioned the pedagogical form of the narrative – I was in agreement.
Foucault describes this type of one-way communication as “discourse” (as cited in Social Science Information). Harrison quotes L’Etang, who says discourse are “patterns of language that may communicate (and may seek to persuade) a particular set of values or knowledge” (2011, p. 86). This series provided what Johnston calls “understandings learned through television and film become part of the collective memory of a group within society” (2010a, p. 6). These exist in every society, where:
the production …
is at once controlled, selected, organised and redistributed
according to a certain number of procedures, whose role it
is to avert [the society’s] powers and its dangers, to cope
with chance events, to evade its ponderous, awesome
materiality
(Foucault, 1971, as cited in Social Science Information)
In this screen depiction the discourse and characters are components of what Barthes describes as a “myth … [or a] body of ideas, beliefs and practices”. He explains the function of myth in communication and culture is “to naturalise what is not natural or given but what is constructed”, that myth is an “ideology … being a body of ideas, beliefs and practices … [that] operate to promote the values and interests of dominant groups” (J. Hall, 2010, p. 3). The series promoted new values and interests via a not-entirely-new, Australian myth.
These values and interests of a “dominant coalition” (Grunig, as cited by Harrison, 2011, p. 167) and were housed in a “negotiated construction … to maintain their … ‘spontaneous consent’ of subordinate classes” (Strinati, 1995, p. 147). The new myth was an example of Gramsci’s “cultural hegemony” theory (p. 148). It contained a binary structure that contrasted two major Western-society “metanarratives”, or “absolute, universal and all-embracing claims to knowledge and truth” (p. 209), and appearing clearly on the surface of the text was an old, traditional, religion-based myth; heterosexual marriage. This myth appeared to be the primary context and was tightly associated with British-Empire dominance of the still-colonial society. However, Darrin’s was a ‘mixed-marriage’. Another, younger, more vigorous metanarrative lived unseen within the discourse: the American Dream.
Darrin the male junior advertising technician in the series is American; young, white, positive; a living embodiment, a “positive depiction” (Johnston, 2010b, p. 190), of the American Dream. Harrison states that “public relations practitioners are central to these power/knowledge processes through their role as discourse technologists” (2011, p. 86). Darrin the discourse technologist has a multi-faceted personal life intimately linked to his work-environment, the advertising house, the advertising campaigns he is involved in developing and Larry, his older boss. The narrative deliberately creates various potentially negative conflicts. The cultural theorist Stuart Hall reveals the binaries and negatives are tools that help “maintain the state in a capitalist society” (1986, n.p.).
The adversarial nature of this filmic text reinforces established value systems – and delivers the new ideologies. Darrin becomes an unlikely angel – delivering messages of modernity – by dealing with conflicting dualism in a mild-mannered way. Darrin is “cast as [the] strong socially responsible” individual, perfectly positioned to herald important covert, yet “commonsense” messages. (Johnston, 2010b, p. 204). The narrative often “incorporated … textuality … to preserve the collective memory” (p. 193). Both are communication device found in communications theories. Mackey says “theories are essential to understanding because the theories we hold influence what we consider to be ethical behaviour” (cited in Johnston & Zawawi, 2003, p. 47). A good example of media ethics theory in practice is the last episode on 23rd. February, 1972, when Darrin
learns that honesty is not exactly the best policy when he
jeopardises an important account. It seems as though he may
have lost the account, but the client likes the honesty between
Darrin and Larry and gives them a break
(“Bewitched”, n.d.).
While Darrin in gender/race/ethnicity is the dominant major public relations industry stereotypes of the era (Johnston, 2010a, p. 11) and possibly classifies as an “intellectual lightweight” who displays some “unfulfilled, obsequious” characteristics, he is not “cynical, greedy, isolated … [or] manipulative” (Johnston,2010b, pp. 190, 191). Darrin exhibited other attractive features – an open mind, egalitarian nature, modesty, and willingness to learn. In the episode Darrin and achieves all five of Grunig’s “ethical duties in the workplace … duty to self, client, employer, profession and society” (Harrison, 2011, pp. 128, 129).
In this episode and many others, Darrin is not assisted by Larry, the boss or public relations management. A successful old-style advertising magnate, Larry displays many classic advertising-character faults of today; “cynical, greedy …manipulative” (Johnston, 2010, pp. 190, 191). Darrin conquers all these binaries, plus other-world problems created by his in-laws. American film critic A. O. Scott, when reviewing the critical public relations documentary The Corporation, states:
Surviv[ing] at least as much on seduction as on coercion,
and that it [capitalist society] has flourished not
simply by means of chicanery and domination but
by extending, and often fulfilling,
promises of freedom, creativity and individual choices
(30 June, 2004, n.p.).
Bewitched, did not coerce, it promised freedoms, creativity and individual choices. By delivering layers of new ideas it proposed cultural change. On an overt level, the narrative depicted Darrin, a young advertising executive, and a seductive picture of his family and life, and his values. Uncle Toby’s Oats was included in the individual choices proffered. Forty years later, my family still prizes that particular oats brand – over all others. With the benefit of hindsight, and of education at ECU, it is possible to see I was in agreement with the lesson, I retained that agreement and I changed my views and behaviour to an affiliation to the American Dream.
Bewitched was classified as fantasy/comedy/romance but also used sophisticated media, communications and cultural theory strategies. These were used to deliver a story of the advertising profession. The young advertising technician Darrin and older manager Larry characters presented a binary of the good and bad of the profession. The lead role Darrin dealt with many crises. In his private and professional life he exhibited little discrimination, was ethical and could co-habit when times were different and people were strange. Via the one-way-communication medium of television, this screen portrayal provided a valuable balanced/positive pedagogic model over an impressive period. The series generated public analysis and consideration of important issues, at a time when that society was not particularly thoughtful. While openly and successfully advertising new consumer products to Australia in the 1950s and 60s, the television series Bewitched also depicted the advertising profession, and in showing the way the profession conveyed information to the masses, it revealed the public relations component. This series was itself an impressive example of public relations as it was a massive, well-planned and executed, vastly successful, covert campaign. This influential narrative met the dominant coalition’s public relations objectives on both functional and management levels: firstly it resulted in successful sales records; secondly it openly, positively and successfully introduced the advertising profession to Australians. Lastly, the campaign was a brilliant public relations propaganda/press agency model covertly equipped a generation of Australians to deal positively with the chaos of modernity. Until recently – when a new metanarrative was recently installed.
Reference
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Crawford, R. (2008). But wait, there’s more …: a history of Australian advertising, 1900-
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