Public Relations practitioners sometimes have to bend the truth or present it in a way that is not very ethical in order to keep their jobs. This summer Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign came out with a video entitled “No Evidence” which used a piece of footage from Hillary Clinton where she stated, “Shame on you, Barack Obama.” I feel this ad goes against honesty in the PRSA code of ethics because it makes those voters in America who may not watch the news or really know what is going on, other than word of mouth, think that Hillary Clinton said this about president Obama’s inability to effectively run our country, while he was in office. Although, the truth is that the clip was taken from the 2008 presidential campaign where Hillary Clinton was upset at the way Barack Obama lied about her in his campaign video. I feel this is an example of an ethical lapse in the public relations industry; however, I do not foresee the ethical lapses in politics ever going away. Unfortunately politics is a sport in which you must play dirty or you will not win. I personally am in support of Mitt Romney but as a practitioner do not agree with his misuse of video clips intended to mislead, do you?
JakeinPR 