PR firms must ask themselves, and their clients, much tougher questions about the ethical implications of the positions they take, argues Chandran Nair.

The concept of spin has become so synonymous with modern public relations that some PR firms have even started to name themselves after it. The idea behind ventures such as Spin Communications or The Big Spin is, of course, that these professionals will do whatever it takes, even at times sailing close to the ethical wind, to depict their clients in a favourable light.

But, given the all-too-frequent practice of having PR and corporate affairs personnel also managing corporate responsibility, does the mandate of “spin doctor” fit well with being responsible and accountable for the social impacts of goods and services?

In many cases, a competitive business environment leads the gatekeepers of corporate reputation to put the finer points of ethics on the back burner. As more PR professionals are lauded for their crisis management and damage control skills, the tendency is for them to be called upon for quick fixes. If a company is caught dumping chemicals in the river, the PR team is called first; if activists are protesting against the treatment of workers in the supply chain, the PR team is again at the frontline.

In these instances, reputation management often takes precedence over telling the truth, with doing the right thing coming in third place. Crisis situations aside, it is the PR professional who often has the task of selling undesirable products to consumers.

Assuming commitment to social responsibility and profit generation are generally not mutually exclusive (unless you work for the likes of the tobacco industry), why do so many PR executives tend to feel the need to deliberately underplay the former to maximise the latter? Work environments that fail to encourage transparency, openness and dialogue and operate with perverse incentives in place only encourage bad behaviour. The overall result is that professionals who should know better allow short-term goals to ride roughshod over long-term interests.

How can companies address these problems so that corporate affairs professionals can excel at reputation management while maintaining high levels of integrity? If more effort were spent on ensuring that PR professionals understood the importance of their independence they would be able to bring much greater value to their clients and companies. PR executives should in fact have the mandate to make certain that their companies fulfil their legal obligations, and ensure that the public is not misled on issues relevant to the company’s social obligations.

Tough questions

The ideal scenario would be to inculcate the values of “behaviour before brand” in a corporate culture, so that PR professionals understand they are also ethical guardians in a changing landscape where global issues like climate change must be tackled. For this to happen, PR executives must be expected to ask the tough questions about corporate behaviour before they resort to spinning a story for the media.

Important questions for PR firms to address include why the company is engaged in this activity; what the wider social implications are, and whether they are defensible; whether the company’s position is intellectually honest; and whether the PR firm is being asked to defend a position it, or the client even, does not believe in.

There is an illustrious list of PR firms and executives who have, for example, helped major companies deny climate change, and argue against legislation to protect children from unhealthy products. To avoid going down this path, companies must be honest with themselves, starting with those at the top. Until top management is willing to be transparent about impacts and reporting, including the grey areas, corporate social responsibility will play second fiddle to spin.

To create a culture of honesty, there is a real need to build competence and have the appropriate internal institutional arrangements in place. This also means being wary of misleading external advice. Corporate social responsibility managers should be aware that advisers who urge them to claim they are carbon neutral or to compete for sustainability awards that do not stand up to scrutiny are essentially promoting PR gimmicks rather than truly exploring the challenges and opportunities. Only when companies start addressing this ethical quandary will reputation management and the sustainability agenda be able to thrive simultaneously.

Chandran Nair is founder and chief executive of Global Institute for Tomorrow.