Advertising

Types of Public Relations Advertising

Public relations advertising takes several forms.

Institutional advertising promotes an organization (versus merely a product or service) and typically is used to announce a new corporate identity, to attract investors, to enhance an organization's overall reputation, or to reach out to local communities by promoting the sponsor as a good citizen engaged in social concerns such as the environment.

Financial advertising is used by for-profit corporations to announce new financial developments. Securities underwriters routinely publish simple tombstone ads when new securities are offered for a client. These ads are published as a matter of public record as reputation enhancement, not as an offer to sell or a solicitation to purchase securities (which requires receipt of a prospectus). Many firms try to attract investor interest through ads that tout their financial performance. Other financial ads are used in contested tender offers, where proponents or opponents of an acquisition urge shareholders to either sell or not sell their shares to the acquirer. Minority shareholders and activists also use advertising to sway shareholder votes in proxy fights or other actions to be considered at corporate annual meetings.

Issues advertising enables an organization to speak out on an important social problem or situation in which it has a stake. Advocacy advertising is being used with increased frequency as part of issues management programs to sway public opinion on public discussions of social issues. Issues ads also can be run as part of government relations programs to influence voters in local ballot measures, referenda, and initiatives and to reach congressmen, state legislators, and local officials when votes are pending on important legislation.

Political advertising is used to lend support to political candidates that a sponsoring organization supports (or to undermine or attack a candidate they oppose). Such independent expenditures are permissible under federal election laws (and under state laws) but have been the focus of intense scrutiny in recent years as labor unions, corporations, and advocacy groups have become major factors in elections.

Crisis advertising involves the use of print ads or broadcast commercials to inform people about how an organization is responding to an adverse situation—such as a natural disaster, strike, or other event that disrupts service or relationships.

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