The Primacy of Public Opinion in Public Relations

At this point it is imperative to ask the question why do organizations strive towin
public understanding, acceptance or goodwill, which after all is what publicrelations
is all about? Why do they spend huge money, time and effort just to woo the
peoples support, approval or sympathy? The answer is simple. Many organizations
just like Adolph Coors Company are finally aware that what their publics think about
them in the long run decide their fate. The peoples idea, opinion or thinking about
an organization determines how they react or act towards that organization. Since
the publics actions and inactions are brewed inthe furnace of public opinion, no
well-meaning organization can afford to ignore public feelings or attitudes towards
her. To do so would be signing the organizations death warrant. Corporate bodies
that care about the peoples actions and reactions towardsthem, which of course is
a must do for all organizations except if they are ready for crisis; devote a lot of
time and money to influence peoples opinion to their favour. This task of
influencing peoples attitudes and opinions is a major function of public relations. In
fact, every public relations effort is founded onthe acceptance of the power of public
opinion. All public relations activities areeither aimed at out-rightly changing,
influencing to an extent, or at leastmanaging the opinion of the public. Nweke
( 2007) holds a similar view:
To gain the confidence and respect of their businesscommunities, organizations are
required to properly identifyand accommodate the views of their constituencies on
issuesaffecting them and implementing programmes of action aimed at bettering
their lots. Organizations that still want toremain in business must have this at the
back of their minds.The publics must not only be seen and known, they must also
be heard and their views properly respected in organizationaldecision-making if the
organization does not want to courttrouble and submit itself to untimely death.
Cutlip and Center (1982) are aware of the dangers of public opinion neglect
andconsequently caution the power of public opinion must befirst understood and
dealt with. It provides the psychologicalenvironment in which organizations prosper
or perish (p.70).

So we react to the question above about why organizations court the

publicsfriendship by making some hypothetical statements. First, that an
organizations publics represents a dominant element of its survival and success
story. A second supposition is that because of the existing business scramble for the
publics attention, patronage, loyalty and support, wooing their favourable opinion
becomes a major way, if not the only way to the top. Corporate bodies are thusdutybound to anticipate, monitor, analyze and interpret public opinions,attitudes, and
issues that might impact positively or negatively on the operationsand plans of the
organization. By being watchful of the direction and intensity of public opinions and
attitudes, practitioners are better positioned to predict theconsequences of such

trends, preempt the publics and counsel organizationalleadership to act accordingly.

Ohiagu (2008) opines that public opinion is at theheart of public relations.
Indeed, the whole essence of public relations is to developand sustain a good
corporate image in order to command afavourable public opinion. The image is the
message or thecentre of corporate communications. This means that every public
relations activity of an organization is done to win public understanding by carving a
good image in the eyesof her various publics. This is premised on the belief that if
the image (personality) of the organization is satisfactory,then the opinion of the
public about it logically would be positive; and since peoples attitudes, actions and
inactions are based on their opinions, the positively perceivedorganization would
achieve better understanding andharmony with the people (p. 638).
It is interesting to note that Dominick (2007) in an attempt to catalogue what public
relations people do, ranked the top most function of public relations, asinfluencing
public opinion in a way that is positive to the client. Similarly, Igben(2007) believes
that: one of the ten major functions of community relations isresearching into
opinions, attitudes and expectations of the host community.Discussing ten
specialized areas of public relations, Igben (2007) equally positioned public opinion
as the first of the ten sub-sects of public relations. Out of the six tools of public
relations they listed out, Okoro, Udeze and Agbo (1999)also ranked public opinion as
the first tool.
Among the many tools of public relations is public opinion.The objective of public
relations is to develop favourable public opinion for a social or political institution.
The main task before the practitioner is to influence the individuals attitudes. This
means that he must be familiar with the source of the persons attitudes, value
systems and personality and the process which brings about change of attitude. All
these are of basic importance in understanding public opinion (p. 10)
Biagi (2005) presents Edward Bernays as one of the fathers of public relationswhose
interest was in mass psychologyhow to influence the opinions of largegroups of
people. And in 1955, Bernays wrote that public relations is the attempt by
information, persuasion and adjustment to engineer public support for anactivity,
cause, movement or institution. Nweke (2001) consents to this centre stage which
the publics and their opinionsoccupy in the scheme of things if corporate interest is
to be achieved.
The fundamental philosophy of public service is thefoundation of modern public
relations. It is a philosophy builton the premise of understanding that public
support, approvaland goodwill are essential to the existence and profitability of
business. No individual or institution in business can long prosper in todays
complex and highly competitive environment by keeping the publics aside. It is the
will of the people that sets the ultimate standard on which organizationscarry on
with their activities and successfully accomplishtheir aims (p. 70).

So an organization has no choice on whether to have public relations or not. Likeit

or not, organizations are always communicating to those publics that areimportant
to them. So the decision is whether this inevitable communicationshould be
managed positively by handling it in a planned and organized manner or whether it
should be left to an accidental, haphazardly and probablyinconsistent affair.
Success-oriented organizations should ensure that their policies, programmes,
activities and procedures should be formulated andexecuted in such a way as to
contribute to the formulation and articulation of favourable opinions (of the publics)
toward the organization.