Ethics clearly plays a huge roll in the public relations world. It is all about the determination of what is right and what is wrong. I personally never really looked into the meaning of ethics until being assigned this blog, but I would have to say, ethics is important to everything. Celebrities, sports, business, ect. all have to deal with ethics every day.
“ Celebrities, and famous people in turn, help to bring people, including adults, together in conversation and social interaction”, (Choi & Berger, 2010).
After reading about ethics, all I could think about was how celebrities are always getting into trouble and always are being sued, or put into jail. The most recent activity that came to mind would be Justin Bieber. This kid is 19 years old and is in trouble for a DUI. 19 years old and he is already being questioned for deportion back to Canada. A New York Times journalist, Ruben Navarrette Jr. states his opinion on Justin Bieber and describes his situation about being a foreigner to the US, “There are different categories of foreigners, and each will have a different experience with the law: undocumented immigrant, visa holder, green card holder and naturalized U.S. citizen. The closer you are to the beginning of that list, the easier it is to remove you. As it should be,” (2014, Navarrette Jr.). For a celebrity being here on visa, this is unethical in many ways.
Why in the world would you abuse your privileges of being a US citizen when you have such an easy life? You’d think he would try to be a little appreciative about his living situation and not think he can do whatever he wants. According to Public Relations Society of America, the code of ethics should follow these principles:
“Translating values into principles of ethical practice, the Code advises professionals to:
- Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.
- Foster informed decision making through open communication.
- Protect confidential and private information.
- Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.
- Avoid conflicts of interest.
- Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession”
(PRSA, 2014)
Relation of Justin Bieber and Public Relations is that “work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession”. This code principle plays a huge role in both subjects. Just like public relations, Bieber needs to be professional and gain trust from the public with his job, especially not being a true citizen of the US. After his stunt people are trying to kick him out of the states and back to Canada. How crazy is that? Clearly his definition of ethics needs to be revised because if any other business did something against the law there would be major consequences due to the ways of ethics.
Ethics matters because it lays down the laws when it comes to common sense. You should always think to yourself, “Should I be doing this?” or “What are the consequences”. But really, lets be honest, if you have to think about it, usually its probably not a good idea. Public relation projects use ethics daily. In order to be successful in the business you have to do the right thing or else your project will be a failure. Ethics are what makes or breaks a PR firm.
So for all the Belibers hoping and praying Justin will be okay, maybe you should think about if he even cares? Maybe the luxury is creating his ego to get bigger and bigger everyday to where he thinks he is invincible and everything he does it ethical? I guess that’s for the judge to decide.
Choi, C. J., & Berger, R. (2010). Ethics of celebrities and their increasing influence in 21st century society. Journal of Business Ethics, 91(3), 313-318. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0090-4
Navarrette Jr., R. (2014). Revoke bieber’s visa. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/01/30/when-visa-holders-behave-badly-in-the-us/revoke-biebers-visa
PRSA, (2014). Ethical Guidance for Public Relations Practitioners. Retrieved from http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/#.Uu_J2vldVAp.