PR Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

PR Assignment - Essay Example One area where public opinion has been used for positive influence is in the political field. In the United States and most European countries, although public opinion poll results are sometimes not a true reflection of election results, there is a tendency of voters supporting the political candidate who is portrayed as a winner in the polls. On the other hand, public opinion can be used as a negative influence. In the Yugoslav Wars, public opinion in form of propaganda was used to breed hatred and incite the Serbians against other ethnic groups such as the Croats and Albanians (Price 93). There are three main factors that are involved in source credibility (KoEun 112). These are supposed expertise, attractiveness and a source’s trustworthiness. Expertise can be defined as having capability, knowledge and sufficient skills in a given field of specialization. Trustworthiness refers to the capacity of believing somebody as being honest. Attractfulness refers to the motivation towards something or somebody. An example of a product that can be influenced by source credibility is the design of different websites. For any website to appeal to its customers, it must feed them with true and gorgeous information. This cannot be achieved unless skilled and highly qualified personnel are employed to do the web designing. A crisis can be defined as a threat to operations that can have a negative impact if not appropriately handled (Coombs 6). It refers to the probable damage that a crisis can cause on a given organization or industry and its stakeholders. Examples of crises include industrial accidents, industrial product harm and organizational communication breakdown among others. If not properly handled, such crises may result in reduced financial gains and loss of an organization’s reputation. 4.) There are many ways to respond to a crisis on conflict. Timothy W. Coombs offers several