Ch11 Public Relations Engineering Public Consent Test Bank

Chapter 11 “Public Relations: Engineering Public Consent”

Multiple-Choice Questions

Mark all answers that apply for each question. The correct answers are shown in bold type.

1. The father of public relations was:

_____ A. Sigmund Freud.

_____ B. Edward Bernays.

_____ C. William Benoit.

_____ D. James Grunig.

1. Public relations differs from advertising in that it is which one of the following?

_____ A. A marketing function.

_____ B. A management function.

_____ C. A media function.

_____ D. An educational function.

1. Bernays defined the job of public relations as:

_____ A. Image restoration.

_____ B. Press agentry.

_____ C. Engineering public ponsent.

_____ D. Analyzing publics.

1. Kevin Moloney described the promotional techniques and competitive communication used in PR as which one of the following?

_____ A. Adversarial advocacy.

_____ B. Organizational communication.

_____ C. Ideological communication.

_____ D. Weak propaganda.

1. Today the term most used to identify public relations that manipulates public sentiment at the expense of full disclosure is which one of the following?

_____ A. Spin.

_____ B. BS.

_____ C. The big lie.

_____ D. Boilerplate.

1. Kevin Moloney criticized the Excellence Report and recommendations from professors James and Larissa Gruning as:

_____ A. Communicative idealism.

_____ B. Blatantly opportunistic communication.

_____ C. Manipulative communication.

_____ D. Professorial propaganda.

1. Grunig and Hunt (1984) established four models to describe the types of public relations in the United States. Identify those models that do belong in their four types:

_____ A. Press agentry.

_____ B. Two-way symmetrical.

_____ C. Two-way asymmetrical.

_____ D. Three-way mass communication.

1. Grunig stated that “organizations get more of what they want when they give up some of what they want.” He was defending which model of PR?

_____ A. Public information.

_____ B. Asymmetrical.

_____ C. Symmetrical (two way).

_____ D. Press agentry/publicity.

1. According to the professors James and Larissa Grunig, marketing is concerned with products, services, and consumer markets whereas public relations is concerned with:

_____ A. Educational functions for the public.

_____ B. All relevant publics of that organization.

_____ C. Product placement.

_____ D. Video news releases.

1. Matt Shaw, the vice president of the Council of Public Relations, said which two of the following?

_____ A. “Advertising should merge with PR.”

_____ B. “When advertising grows up it wants to be public relations.”

_____ C. There “is a lot of coveting (and more) of our turf.”

_____ D. “Public relations is more sophisticated than advertising.”

1. A paradigm shift toward public relations and away from marketing has occurred because of which of the following?

_____ A. New media and rapid growth in the industry.

_____ B. Poor management in marketing.

_____ C. Integrated communication models.

_____ D. The Excellence Report.

1. Which of the following functions was not listed in the Public Relations Handbook as a rhetorical function?

_____ A. Launch a product.

_____ B. Implement standards of social responsibility.

_____ C. Build, repair, or maintain relationships.

_____ D. Accept taking issue stands.

1. The firms of Ogilvy Public Relations World Wide and J. L. McGregor & Company have been hired to serve which government?

_____ A. Japan.

_____ B. Korea.

_____ C. China.

_____ D. Brazil.

1. China is the third largest food supplier to the United States, after Canada and Mexico. China has sent which of the following products that were contaminated?

_____ A. Pet food.

_____ B. Lead-painted toy trains.

_____ C. Toothpaste and seafood.

_____ D. All of the above.

1. One of the primary functions of PR is to educate the public. Which of the following issues was made into a movie and won an award in 2007?

_____ A. Oil spills.

_____ B. Climate change.

_____ C. Unemployment.

_____ D. Health care.

1. Torie Clarke wrote Lipstick on a Pig and advised clients to do which of the following?

_____ A. Stonewall the press.

_____ B. When you screw up, say so—fast!

_____ C. Order an investigation.

_____ D. Put lipstick on your pig.

1. Torie Clarke recommended transparency in government and business because:

_____ A. It makes good things shine and bad ones go away.

_____ B. You cannot hide faults in the Information Age.

_____ C. Publicity should focus only on your good.

_____ D. Cosmetic changes can save your hide.

1. William Benoit’s theory of image restoration offers a number of strategies to repair reputations. Among these are:

_____ A. Denial.

_____ B. Evading responsibility.

_____ C. Outright lying.

_____ D. Attacking the accuser.

1. Which of the following involves the guilty party confessing his or her guilt, asking for forgiveness, and offering a sincere apology?

_____ A. Compensation.

_____ B. Transcendence.

_____ C. Mortification.

_____ D. Differentiation.

1. During Pete Rose’s lifetime, he has used two of Benoit’s strategies at different times. They are:

_____ A. Mortification.

_____ B. Corrective action.

_____ C. Denial.

_____ D. Defeasibility.

1. Public relations agents have won awards for handling crises in which of the following?

_____ A. The National Hockey League’s cancelation of the 2004–2005 season.

_____ B. MCI after a corporate scandal.

_____ C. Explaining the war on terror and embedding journalists.

_____ D. All of the above.

1. “Engineering public consent” ethically includes which of the following?

_____ A. Educating the public.

_____ B. Explaining positions on issues.

_____ C. A hidden agenda.

_____ D. Internal and external communication.

1. Edward Bernays combined theories of sociology and psychology. He was the blood nephew of:

_____ A. Adolph Hitler.

_____ B. Morton Adler.

_____ C. Sigmund Freud.

_____ D. Thomas Merton.

1. Following the food and toy scandal involving China, the government took which of the following actions?

_____ A. Executed the head of their FDA for accepting bribes.

_____ B. Hired top public relations teams.

_____ C. Performed damage control before the 2008 Olympics.

_____ D. All of the above.

1. Operation Iraqi Freedom was a U.S. effort to explain the war on terror through:

_____ A. Top-secret documents.

_____ B. Embedded journalists.

_____ C. Special events on bases.

_____ D. Then Secretary Rumsfeld’s speeches.

and Questions

1. The Nazi regime used Edward Bernays’s writings on public relations to win support for their actions.
2. The U.S. government used Bernays’s work for the first government propaganda campaign during World War I.
3. Public relations is a marketing function.
4. Today the word propaganda is a pejorative term.
5. Spin means using full disclosure and not manipulating the public’s opinion.
6. According to Grunig and Hunt, press agentry/publicity and public information are both two-way models of PR.
7. In a symmetrical model, communication runs from the organization and from the public to the organization regarding attitudes and behaviors.
8. Many criticize this symmetrical model as too idealistic.
9. The Excellence Study conducted by the professors James E. Grunig and Larissa A. Grunig was too small to be significant.
10. The Grunigs separated public relations from marketing because they believed it would diminish communication to have them together.
11. The advertising budgets are growing at a rate of three times greater than public relations budgets.
12. There are substantive turf wars between PR and advertising.
13. The trend is away from integrated communication models for organizations.
14. Research methods and analysis are irrelevant for PR.
15. Public relations involves many publics—mass media, consumers, shareholders, employees, management, and regulators.
16. The role of public relations specialists is to cover up faulty practices or products.
17. An Inconvenient Truth was highly ineffective as a public relations special event to educate the public on climate change.
18. The movie An Inconvenient Truth was an attempt by Al Gore to initiate a worldwide conversation about climate change.
19. Changing the name of “global warming” to “climate change” has no effect rhetorically.
20. Torie Clarke said “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.”
21. The “Chappaquiddick principle” advises that there is never a good time to tell bad news, but the sooner you do, the better.
22. In the Keatings Five scandal Torie Clarke told Senator John McCain to stonewall the press.
23. William L. Benoit wrote a book, Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies: A Theory of Image Restoration, that excuses bad behavior.
24. Denial is a common strategy used by individuals who have been accused of wrongdoing, but often they later confess and use mortification as a strategy.
25. The intentions of the actor are irrelevant in placing blame or taking responsibility.
26. A common strategy in image restoration is attacking the accuser.
27. Pete Rose, the baseball player accused of betting on his team, used first denial and then mortification to clear his reputation.
28. The Excellence Report attempted to identify best practices in public relations.
29. Governments have no need for public relations initiatives.
30. Edward Bernays referred to public relations as propaganda in the early 20th century.

Essay Questions

Please answer all parts of each question and be specific, offering examples or other evidence to support your answers.

1. Explain the four models of public relations that Grunig and Hunt described in the book Managing Public Relations. Give examples to support your answer.
2. Explain Edward Bernays’s ideas on public relations and how he became known as the father of PR.
3. Explain why Kevin Moloney called public relations “weak propaganda” and believed that it was intended to persuade through selective facts and emotions, yet in a least manipulative way.
4. Compare and contrast the functions of public relations and marketing.
5. Two public relations firms—Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and J. L. McGregor & Company—have been hired by China to improve their image globally. What should the two firms do about China’s scandal over foods, toys, medicines, and toothpaste being contaminated? Ethically, what should the PR practitioners do?
6. Discuss the effect that the movie An Inconvenient Truth had on various publics.
7. Discuss the advice that Torie Clarke gave in her book Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game regarding how to handle a scandal or crisis.
8. Explain William L. Benoit’s theory of image restoration. Explain the various strategies that he offered to analyze personal or professional disasters. Give examples to support each strategy.
9. Discuss the skills that the commission on public relations established that undergraduates should have to enter the profession of public relations.
10. Where would you draw the line between giving the public sufficient information to make informed choices and manipulating their attitudes, values, and beliefs to support your organization if you were a public relations professional?