Deck 10: Public Relations

Question 1

Which of the following items of clothing, now accepted as appropriate attire for people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds, was once shunned, even banned, because of its unsavory image?

A) Denim jeans
B) Hooded sweatshirts
C) Peg-leg pants
D) T-shirts

Answer 1

Denim jeans

Question 2

The undesirable image of denim jeans was fueled by all of the following movies EXCEPT

A) Blackboard Jungle.
B) The Caine Mutiny.
C) Rebel Without a Cause.
D) The Wild One.

Answer 2

Blackboard Jungle.

Question 3

Starting in 1957, the organizations and venues that began banning blue jeans and refusing entry to people wearing denim clothes included all of the following EXCEPT

A) major league baseball parks.
B) public and private schools all across the country.
C) theaters from Broadway to local, small towns.
D) upscale, fine-dining restaurants in major cities.

Answer 3

major league baseball parks.

Question 4

A high mark for denim and jeans came in 1961 and their previously negative image was dramatically turned around by

A) actor James Dean who wore jeans in several of his most popular movie roles.
B) the Denim Council launched a campaign "to put school children back in blue jeans."
C) news photos of Peace Corps volunteers doing good deeds while wearing jeans.
D) the U.S. Navy's decision to authorize jeans as an official work uniform.

Question 5

Public relations can be defined as a tool to

A) sell products.
B) establish beneficial relationships.
C) determine employee benefits.
D) create advertising campaigns.

Question 6

Public relations is mostly a tool used by

A) sales.
B) management.
C) accounting.
D) manufacturing.

Question 7

Dialogic theory in public relations is

A) an information monologue delivered to the public in a steady stream.
B) rooted in the belief that the company is always correct.
C) the withholding of information that is negative to the client.
D) a practice in which there is genuine dialogue to negotiate relationships.

Question 8

Among the major characteristics of dialogic theory in practice are all of the following EXCEPT

A) assurance.
B) empathy.
C) mutuality.
D) risk.

Question 9

One of the most important features of the dialogic theory of public relations is

A) certainty.
B) commitment.
C) persistence.
D) self-assurance.

Question 10

The dialogic theory of public relations stresses all of the following EXCEPT

A) awareness that the audience is a means to a desired end.
B) honesty and trust in communication.
C) openness as an ideal of the democratic tradition.
D) positive regard for other people and groups.

Question 11

Public relations practitioners doing their best work contribute to the common good of the whole society in all of the following ways EXCEPT

A) activating the social conscience of the organization for which they work.
B) communicating the interests of their organization to the public.
C) creating positive public impressions of everything their organization does.
D) seeking mutual adjustments among the institutions within society.

Question 12

A key difference between PR and advertising is that PR

A) always pays for the placement of its messages.
B) controls what the media will do with a message.
C) is an upper-level management activity.
D) is always acting in a purely reactive role.

Question 13

Why is the success of a PR effort difficult to gauge?

A) PR tries to build good will which is intangible and hard to measure in concrete terms.
B) Advertising efforts always receive more attention and are more visible.
C) PR is too long-term a function to be measurable.
D) PR's efforts are usually rooted in a larger advertising plan.

Question 14

A feature of advertising NOT shared by public relations is that

A) the organization controls the message.
B) messages are always self-serving.
C) messages that reach the audience may have been edited by the media.
D) time and space are purchased.

Question 15

This is a packet provided to news reporters to tell the story in an advantageous way.

A) media kit
B) b-roll
C) video release
D) media package

Question 16

An informational story, whether written words or a fully-produced broadcast piece, given to the news media in hopes it will be passed on to the media's audiences is called a

A) media blast.
B) media feed .
C) news bulletin.
D) news release.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT true about news releases?

A) Studies have shown that 50-80% of all news stories rely on information from news releases.
B) They're written to look like they originated from a news medium, not a PR person.
C) They're meant to be ready-to-use so they can be inserted in a publication, posting, or broadcast.
D) Whomever submits the release pays a flat rate for each release given to a news medium.

Question 18

During the 1800s, social Darwinism was used to justify abuses by

A) big businesses.
B) public relations professionals.
C) government officials.
D) corporate advertisers.

Question 19

One problem railroads faced during the late 1800s that was corrected by solid public relations was

A) secretive policies.
B) excessively high fares.
C) adversarial government relations.
D) poor safety records.

Question 20

Ivy Lee, an early public relations practitioner, encouraged his clients to deal with negative publicity by

A) spin mastery and releasing counteracting positive stories.
B) aggressively denying the problem.
C) stonewalling and refusing to talk with reporters.
D) telling the truth while putting a human face on their organization and its accomplishments.

Question 21

Ivy Lee's new ideas about winning public support included all of the following EXCEPT

A) keeping sensitive issues like strike-breaking strategies off the public record.
B) assisting reporters who wanted information or interviews with executives.
C) allowing the public to see the human side of industry leaders.
D) issuing summaries of corporate executive meetings.

Question 22

After a massacre at a Colorado mining camp, this PR professional helped John D. Rockefeller improve his image.

A) P.T. Barnum
B) George Creel
C) Ivy Lee
D) Edward Bernays

Question 23

What did Ivy Lee advise John D. Rockefeller Jr. to do after the Ludlow Massacre?

A) lay low for three years
B) deny all wrongdoing
C) file libel suits against critics
D) tour the Ludlow area to show his sincere concern

Question 24

What myth-shattering episode occurred following Rockefeller's address to miners and wives after the Ludlow massacre?

A) Rockefeller cried publicly and took personal responsibility.
B) Rockefeller danced with almost every miner's wife.
C) Rockefeller gave every miner and his family $100.
D) Rockefeller announced a scholarship program for miners.

Question 25

Who made puffery promotion a high art?

A) George Creel
B) Elmer Davis
C) Paul Garrett
D) P.T. Barnum

Question 26

Extravagant claims about one's product or organization are referred to as

A) advertising.
B) public relations.
C) flakking.
D) puffery.

Question 27

The potential for public relations on a massive scale was demonstrated first by

A) Elmer Davis' Office of War Information.
B) William Henry Vanderbilt's "The public be damned."
C) George Baer's social paternalism.
D) George Creel's Committee on Public Information.

Question 28

Who was tasked by Woodrow Wilson with turning around widespread sentiment against U.S. involvement in WWI?

A) George Creel
B) Elmer Davis
C) Ivy Lee
D) Arthur Page

Question 29

During World War II, the Office of War Information was under the direction of

A) George Creel.
B) Elmer Davis.
C) Ivy Lee.
D) Arthur Page.

Question 30

Working for AT&T in 1927, Arthur Page established the role of public relations as a

A) partner of advertising.
B) top management tool.
C) grassroots program.
D) mid level program.

Question 31

Public relations works best when the person in charge of it is a

A) person who simply does what he or she is told.
B) middle-management employee who reports to an executive.
C) person who implements, but is not involved in, company decisions.
D) top-level company executive involved in decision making.

Question 32

The functional areas of responsibility for a public relations department are

A) external, internal, and media relations.
B) inner, outer, and superior relations.
C) customer, community, and government relations.
D) internal, external, and regulatory agency relations.

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT a target audience of internal public relations?

A) Shareholders.
B) Employees.
C) Unions.
D) Customers.

Question 34

What type of functional responsibility is developing optimal relations with employees?

A) inner relations
B) internal relations
C) social relations
D) endo-relations

Question 35

The component of public relations that deals with the press and other media is known as

A) publicity management.
B) media relations.
C) reputation management.
D) marketing.

Question 36

Among the alternate names that were, or still are, used for public relations are all of the following EXCEPT

A) informatics.
B) institutional communication.
C) public information.
D) strategic communication.

Question 37

One of the newest and hottest trends in renaming and refocusing public relationships to serve as a "one-stop shop" for communication needs, especially in large corporations, is

A) comprehensive communication.
B) integrated marketing communication.
C) organizational relations.
D) strategic relations.

Question 38

A corporation's coordination of advertising and PR efforts is referred to as

A) contingency planning.
B) advertorial.
C) external public relations.
D) integrated marketing communication.

Question 39

Who pioneered the enlightened self-interest concept?

A) Paul Garrett
B) Ivy Lee
C) George Baer
D) William Henry Vanderbilt

Question 40

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Paul Garrett led public relations in new directions while working at

A) Westinghouse.
B) General Motors.
C) Ford.
D) International Harvester.

Question 41

In a spirit of "enlightened self-interest" the National Association of Manufacturers in 1939 declared that the integral parts of democracy included all of the following EXCEPT

A) free enterprise.
B) free lunch.
C) free religion.
D) free speech.

Question 42

Which of the following is NOT one of the three tactical activities that are incorporated in most long-term public relations campaigns?

A) Advocacy
B) Image management
C) Positioning
D) Promotion

Question 43

Media relations includes all of the following activities EXCEPT

A) arranging access to information and interviews.
B) being available to answer reporters' inquiries.
C) reviewing and editing reporters' stories about your organization.
D) writing and producing news releases in various formats.

Question 44

The function of public relations most concerned with creating, nurturing, enhancing, and, when necessary, repairing an organization's "public face" is called

A) image control .
B) image enhancement.
C) image management.
D) Imagineering.

Question 45

What is it called when a company's image is promoted rather than a product?

A) institutional advertising
B) image management
C) adversarial PR
D) puffery

Question 46

In an elaborate attempt to make-over its image British Petroleum went so far as to drop its long-time name can henceforth call itself BP, saying that "BP" stood for

A) balanced petroleum.
B) better performance.
C) better petrol.
D) beyond petroleum.

Question 47

John Kenney, who created BP's unsuccessful campaign to enhance its image ruefully admitted that the biggest reason it failed was that it was

A) "a false front without substance."
B) "mere marketing."
C) "over-shadowed by similar campaigns from other oil companies."
D) "woefully underfunded for such a massive campaign."

Question 48

What is crisis management?

A) helping a client or organization through an emergency
B) covering up the mess a predecessor has made
C) protecting the corporate hierarchy from intensive press scrutiny
D) masking the absence of a strategic plan

Question 49

One of the best examples of effectively handling a public relations crisis came from

A) BP's handling of the Gulf Coast oil spill.
B) British Petroleum's response to an explosion and fire in a Texas oil refinery.
C) Lucky Strike's "torches of freedom" smoking campaign created by Edward Bernays.
D) Tylenol's handing of tampering that killed several people.

Question 50

Public relations people engaged in performing government relations are called

A) propagandists.
B) Ivy Leaguers.
C) PR agents.
D) lobbyists.

Question 51

Lobbyists are expediters because they know

A) about "the skeletons in the closet" and how to use such information.
B) local traditions and customs.
C) how government works and have personal contacts in powerful places.
D) how to protect their clients from harsh publicity.

Question 52

Advising candidates and groups on public policy issues, usually in elections, is known as

A) canvassing.
B) political communication.
C) electioneering.
D) media relations.

Question 53

Jack Abramoff is best known for

A) his ethical behavior in lobbying Congress.
B) his ability to defuse crises at minimal financial cost.
C) directing the campaign of President George W. Bush.
D) being convicted in one of the largest Congressional corruption scandals.

Question 54

Public relations advocacy includes all of the following EXCEPT

A) astroturfing.
B) labeling.
C) lobbying.
D) political communication.

Question 55

A public relations practitioner engaged in political communication could do all of the following EXCEPT

A) campaign management.
B) organizing front organizations.
C) survey research.
D) testifying before congressional sub-committees.

Question 56

The association for professionals working in public relations is called the

A) American Association of PR Practitioners.
B) Journalism and Public Relations Foundation.
C) Association for Integrated Communications.
D) Public Relations Society of America.

Question 57

What distinction is given to public relations professionals who are accredited by the Public Relations Society of America?

A) AP
B) APR
C) PRSA
D) PR-Certified

Question 58

Another term used to describe the practice of covering up mistakes or abuses instead of correcting them is

A) gift wrapping..
B) whitewashing.
C) plausible denial.
D) spin-doctoring.

Question 59

During the 1950s wearing jeans was condemned by right-wingers as part of the communist plot to corrupt American youth.

Question 60

The Denim Council's campaign relied heavily on the mass media to achieve its strategic goal of making jeans socially acceptable and it was very successful in turning around the image of jeans.

Question 61

Jeans makers successfully linked "Wear Denim to Work Day" with fund-raising efforts for key women's charities to promote themselves as social responsible corporations and sell more jeans.

Question 62

Public relations is a persuasive communication tool to establish beneficial relationships.

Question 63

Public relations is an important management tool.

Question 64

A constituency with which a public relations professional attempts to establish beneficial relations is called a client.

Question 65

Public relations is a mass medium.

Question 66

Most public relations ignores mass media, leaving that to advertising.

Question 67

Dialogic theory states its best to use the telephone when communicating with a hostile news reporter.

Question 68

The dialogic theory of public relations is based on being able to persuade other people and organizations to see things your way.

Question 69

The dialogic theory of mass communication centers on two-way communication, attempting to communicate with others instead of just speaking to or at them.

Question 70

The advantages of the dialogic theory of public relations is that it is highly ethical and very easy to implement.

Question 71

The more effectively public relations is practiced, the more dangers it creates for society and the more likely it is to permit tyrannical leadership to gain a foothold.

Question 72

Advertising is a management function.

Question 73

Success is easier to measure in advertising than public relations.

Question 74

Both PR and advertising sell products or services.

Question 75

PR allows an organization complete control over the message delivered to the public.

Question 76

By design, advertisements are self-serving.

Question 77

Because advertising messages appear in space or time that has been purchased for them, advertisers have full control over their messages.

Question 78

Because public relations messages are usually incorporated into the media's news reports at no cost to the organizations that submitted them, their form and content is controlled by the media.

Question 79

If the PR person who submitted a news release doesn't like the way the media edit it, he or she can demand that it be revised or be pulled from the media.

Question 80

In its earliest years, public relations was created as a response to the public disdain for big business.