Ethical Optimist

While there are no stats on PR ethics, business ethics seem to thrive in a down economy.  Surprised? That’s the finding of The Ethics Resource Center’s National Business Ethics Survey, which finds that what it calls “the strength of ethical culture” increased 62 percent this year – a similar leap to other periods in which the economy lagged.

The measurement is based on things like employee perceptions and misconduct observed and reported.

So why do folks become more ethical when times get tougher? It part, the Center suggests, company leaders understand that unethical behavior is inherently risky, and set the standard from the top down that difficult economic times are no time to take such risks.

Employees were also more willing to report ethical violations. Now that could stem from a number of things. Part of it, I’m sure, is the fact that they’re committed to an ethical workplace – particularly if leadership is emphasizing it.

Maybe the bad economy also boosts business ethics in the sense that a tighter job market jeopardizes employees who present problems. After all, if you have to make layoffs, the people you trust implicitly are less likely to be on the list than those about whom you don’t feel that way. Maybe the employees know this too. If no one’s job is guaranteed safe, and you find out one of your co-workers is breaching ethics – well, there’s a cut the company can make . . . that isn’t you.

Anything that encourages business ethics is a good thing, of course, but the Center’s research indicated that after a spike in 2002 and 2003, the index declined again when the economy improved. Maybe business leaders will recognize this time, when the economy finally gets rolling again, that good ethical practices helped make it happen. And stick to the ethical plan.

I can’t help but snicker to think that PR people engaging in the unethical practice of fake product reviews, or at least those defending them, are now trying to cling to the First Amendment to justify their actions.

So goes the defense of Reverb Communications, the firm that represents the makers of the game Rock Band and other popular games. For several months, employees of Reverb engaged in the practice of posting online user comments – always favorable, of course – about their clients’ products. They did not identify themselves having any connection with or financial stake in the product. For all anyone would have known, they were just ordinary gamers who loved the products.

When the practice was exposed, comments to news stories about the incident – many of them from PR pros themselves – insisted that the folks at Reverb had a constitutional freedom-of-speech right to do what they were doing.

Really? Ahhh…no.

First of all, no they don’t. FTC guidelines clearly state that you have to be transparent in what you communicate on behalf of clients. Sure, you can say the product is great. There’s no regulation against that.  It’s commercial speech.  But you can’t pretend to be a disinterested observer. That’s fraud.

The FTC doesn’t agree that PR firms enjoy the same First Amendment protections as journalists, nor does it see a press release as the equivalent of a news story. That’s promotional copy you’re writing (Nike vs. Kasky). You know how you hate it when someone asks your mother what you do, and she says, “He’s in PR. It’s like advertising.” Well, I hate to tell you this, but she’s right. And you have to follow the rules accordingly.

But let’s say for the sake of argument that PR people are just like journalists. When a journalist is reporting on a story in which he or she has a vested interest, the journalist is expected at a minimum to engage in full disclosure and alert readers about the real or perceived conflict of interest.

The people who wrote these reviews didn’t do that, and that’s the real problem here. Reverb defends them by saying they bought the games with their own money and played them on their own time. Even if true, that doesn’t matter. The fact that they work for the PR firm that represents the game manufacturers is clearly relevant information that a review reader would want to know, and it’s not okay to conceal it, no matter who paid for the game or when you played it.

I don’t know what’s worse here – that these fake reviews were written, or that so many other PR pros, in defending the practice, demonstrated that they themselves have no idea what the rules are.

Yes, I hate to admit it, but sometimes, ethics don’t seem to matter, and it can be very disheartening to one such as me.

Believe me, every time I see an agency that has a track record of screwing up (and we all know who they are) win a big account, I can’t help but wonder…didn’t anybody even Google these idiots?  There are a few firms out there who are under criminal investigation for their misdeeds, yet they continue to win big business.  I can’t help but shake my head and wonder why, in an era of transparency and easy research, this continues to happen?

But why should it surprise me? All I have to do is look at the local papers to realize that the buyer is not beware.  After all, if we can reelect indicted politicians whose ethical lapses are clearly front-and-center in the media, why wouldn’t you hire a firm whose transgressions are only reported on a few web sites and trade rags?

Look at last week’s news as an example.  Voters in my home state of NJ just chose to retain the Mayor of Ridgefield despite the fact that he was arrested for bribery in a massive federal sweep.  Oh, and let’s not forget the shenanigans of NY State Senator Hiram Monserrate, who assaulted his girlfriend, and that’s the least of his sins.  Now, AP reports that Blagojevich won’t rule out a political future…why should he? We seem to be either very forgiving or very misinformed.  In fact, I’m sure Charlie Rangel expected a full house at his birthday party and was probably somewhat shocked that his fellow miscreants were afraid of his taint…after all, ethics don’t seem to be such a big deal.

Hmmm…and I call myself an optimist….

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