“Absolute power” or “Now we can talk about it”
Here they are, employees of the PR agency Prentiss McCabe, personifying “absolute power” in the series, although you couldn’t tell by their looks! Still from the TV series
"Power corrupts,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”Historian John Dahlberg-Acton
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”Historian John Dahlberg-Acton
People and story. And it so happened that in England in the early 2000s they staged a radio show “Absolute Power”. She liked it and was adapted into a comedy series with the same name (2003–2005). It shows the work of the PR agency Prentiss McCabe, which advises pop stars and early politicians in England, and is headed by Charles Prentiss (popular film actor Stephen Fry) and Martin McCabe (also popular John Bird).
It’s a little difficult for Russian TV viewers to watch the series. We are unfamiliar with the faces mentioned there, the names of the films and radio programs that the characters talk about, and the atmosphere itself is “not ours.” But it shows well what modern PR can do. And the author of the article stood at the origins of Russian PR (the first to teach it was at MGIMO, the second at LETI, and the third at Penza State University, which was then just “Technical University” in 1995).
And since a lot of time has passed since then, the opportunity has arisen to talk about the events of those years. The story will be about the events that took place in Russia. But... without indicating specific cities. The heroes of the story are also anonymous, the names of some of them, for obvious reasons, will never be known by the Motherland! But the story about what 99% of Russians did not have the slightest idea about will, of course, be very interesting to VO readers.
The events discussed in this material began long before 1995 - in 1991. True, the first book about PR in the USSR had already been published, and the first agencies already existed. Mainly in Moscow.
And then the State Emergency Committee... There are rallies in the streets, passions are boiling in the squares... What should an ordinary journalist from a provincial newspaper do, especially since his editor officially supported the “putsch” and stated this in print? And then one author remembered that he had friends abroad, in England and the USA, and in his city there was an international fax and telex station. That’s exactly how it was then: one such station for the whole city.
He went there... “Is there a connection?” “There is a connection!” “Can I contact you?” “Yes, you can!” (Where is Lenin’s idea: seize bridges, telegraphs and telephones, right?) And this, of course, made him happy.
He sat down and wrote several faxes to his friends that there was a military coup in Russia, that the legitimate president was isolated in Faros, that they needed to contact their media, and through them to the governments, so that they demanded that the “Chepists” give the floor to Gorbachev on TV in presence... of a mass of people. So that the State Emergency Committee does not support and sell food, medicine and computers to the USSR. And then... the “putsch will end” by December.
He also asked to send him newspapers with this appeal of his and... to provide assistance, because he had started a dangerous business. The journalist paid some ridiculous money for the message. And cats scratch at my soul. But he immediately called his friends in Moscow, at the editorial office of a familiar newspaper, and they told him that our newspaper was closed by the “chepists”, but... “we are now printing a circulation of 300 in France, and today they will bring it to us by plane!”
Well, there soon the CCHR gave up his soul to God and... Exactly two weeks later, he received thick envelopes with newspapers “from there”, where his appeal was published, and then... parcels from all over the world with “material assistance to a true fighter for democracy.” And it was a good help, because no matter how you came to drink coffee with him, he always had it of the highest grade, and most importantly - when? In 1991–1992!
So timely information in the right direction - and this is the basis of any PR work - always leads to a positive result, even if only for one person!
But PR is a double-edged sword. Its inept use is costly for the user himself.
And it so happened that immediately after 1991, in one provincial city, a registered democrat was elected governor, and he did so much there that in 1994 they decided to re-elect him. And, seeing that the chair under him was shaking and shaking violently, he decided to turn to the help of the press. Apparently, I watched the movie “Fantômas”, where he says that even a great man without the press is worth nothing!
And published a newspaper! As many as three rooms... Bright, colorful, with color photos. "Club of Governors and Mayors"! Moreover, the newspaper did not indicate who published it and where it was published. And this was his second mistake! Because the first mistake was the very publication of a color newspaper in an area where all other newspapers were black and white.
Readers began to ask: is this a regional newspaper or a federal one? Judging by the fact that the newspaper favors the governor, it is a regional newspaper, but members of the Federation Council and the governors of Chukotka and Kamchatka, who do not even closely border this region, write about him in it.
And then a local church leader from the pages of this newspaper declared that “Mr. Ensky is pleasing to the Lord!” – and this became the straw that broke the camel’s back. Everyone began to throw mud at this governor, and he, of course, lost the election.
I still can’t believe that he himself thought of “digging his own grave.” So, someone told him? Probably some “stranger among his own”, because, knowing those conditions, not a single honest PR person would have advised him to do this!
A problem arose in another region: it fell into the “red belt,” that is, into the group of regions that voted for communist deputies and thereby put them in the Duma. Moscow treated such areas frankly poorly. In every way. And this was explained to people in the press and on TV, but they still continued to vote for deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
And so, when the next elections were about to begin, five local sociological agencies conducted relevant surveys and found out that “the people will again vote for the communists.” And there was a PR specialist who didn’t like it. He had no money, since his university did not pay salaries for two or three months, but there were students. And he thought a little and sent them to conduct their survey.
It was necessary to go to the streets, to the center and residential areas, to the streets of wooden buildings, asking people one single question: “Isn’t it time for Ensk to leave the “red belt”? Well, further: gender, age, education, job... Without full name, of course, but with a signature.
There were 50 students, each had to interview 10 people, which corresponded to a representative sample for a city with a population of 500 people, so in the end this PR man even received 000 questionnaires. I processed them, and it turned out that the majority of respondents said: “It’s time”!
He immediately ran to the radio: “I have a bomb!” An independent survey showed that Ensk is leaving the “red belt”!” And the editor doubts: “What about the surveys of five agencies?” “And they were bribed! Party gold! What can you say to this?
News went on air. And the PR man went on TV and spoke right from the screen about the survey, and about the students, and even shook him with a stack of sheets right on the air! And people in the city began to discuss and argue... Just like in the fairy tale about Winnie the Pooh: “he comes in and comes out...”
And it all ended with 56% voting for one Democratic deputy. That is, this PR man was right! Which he did not fail to announce from the television screen.
And then he meets one of his acquaintances from these five agencies, and he says to him: “I followed all this carefully and made sure that you knew in advance that this would be the result. But how? No one bribed us... Why is that so?”
And the PR man grinned and said: “Yes, I knew. But I won’t tell you why that is, it’s a professional secret!”
But now we can talk about it.
The fact is that students have always been... lazy. And when they were told where to go, they naturally became lazy, and they interviewed relatives and friends, relatives of friends and friends of their relatives - that is, they received information only from one socially most mature stratum. None of them, of course, went to the wooden “Dog Paradise”. But when they were asked where they conducted the survey, they all unanimously named all areas of the city. And is it possible not to believe them? People necessary trust!
And then gubernatorial elections were to take place in another city. And there were three candidates: a communist, an “independent” and “from the brothers”. We found out about this in one... PR firm and decided that “communism” would not work.” They came to the “independent”, and he told them: “I’m poor, I have nothing to pay you with!” And they told him: “And we are out of principle. Should PR people have at least some principles?”
They conducted a survey, identified three existing streams of information and... advised this “independent”... to pompously send his wife on vacation to Bulgaria and so that she would not come until his victory! Well, he did just that, and all the “enemy” media loudly trumpeted that “Ivanov (let there be Ivanov!) sent his wife to Bulgaria, because he is clearly afraid of losing the elections!”
And they began to write about him with humor - “Oh, is this the Ivanov who sent his wife to Bulgaria?!”, “Ivanov, how is his wife resting there?”, “Who are you, Ivanov, having fun with in the bathhouse when your wife is resting in Bulgaria? - Well, and similar statements, our people love such sarcastic verbal exercises, even in VO this manifests itself.
But Ivanov does not pay attention to these equivocations (on the advice of his PR men), but firmly sticks to his line. And, judging by the polls, his rating began to grow! Here his opponents became completely enraged. And so it began! “Ivanov is the one who sent his wife to Bulgaria.” But what bad thing can you say about Ivanov? Only that he sent his wife to Bulgaria.
And people saw that they were spreading rot on Ivanov over little things, but in Rus', from time immemorial, who have they loved? That's right: fools and the offended. And it was Ivanov who was offended in the eyes of the people, and unfairly.
As a result, three information flows (two of strangers and with other people’s money, which is the funniest thing) merged into one, in which only Ivanov appeared all the time, pushing all other candidates into the background.
Who was the main figure in all the newspaper stories? Ivanov, of course. Who sent his wife to Bulgaria, which means he is “a caring person, he loves his wife!”
That's how the overwhelming majority voted for him.
Well, his wife arrived immediately, he met her at the station with a huge bouquet of flowers, and TV showed it all to the delight of his voters!
And since local elections were held very often in the country in the 90s, many such examples could be found. But... it will be better next time to talk about local PR during the Russian presidential elections, there were a lot of interesting things there too...
To be continued ...
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