The veteran Californian public relations consultant and part time public relations lecturer Fred Hoar used memorably to describe advertising as ‘pay for play ‘ and Public relations ,’pray for play’ !.The point he was making is similar to Lord Bell’s : the advertiser controlls the messege by paying for it and thepublic relations practioner seeks to influence and pursuade by force of argument or creative thinking ,but cannot guarentee results .
As a means of informing and pursuading ,advertising offers more control over the process (although still much uncertainty over the outcome ) .Yet it is an expensive way of conveying messeges to mass audiences so it is in effect restricted to organisations wit large budgets.And crucially advertising lacks one thing that money cannot always buy : credibility .
I was rather intrigued by the phrases ‘pay for play ‘ and ‘pray for play’ !!! Well , there is a certain level of uncertainity in all aspects afterall.
