Ads or PR

Last week, in the advertising class, after viewing a short video of VOLVO--Life on Board project, the teacher asked for our thoughts. I was the most active student at that moment, who answered the question first. “I think it is a good PR campaign.” As seeing my teacher was a little bit confused, I repeated my answer, “I think it is a nice PR campaign idea.” After my teacher make no comment and moved to next answer, suddenly, I realized that I made a big mistake. It was in an advertising class, how dare I say that? Afterwards, the purpose that the teacher showed this video was because he thought it was a good example of new sort of ads.

Then I started to think this question: Is it true that, nowadays, quite a lot of times, the distinction between ads and PR is not that clear? Even ads experts and PR experts are confused, which may lead to more intense relations between them. So is it true that ads are falling and PR is rising? As a result, they become closer. Or maybe from the beginning, they are part of each other?

After viewing the video, what do you think?

Public Relations Industry in China

As a developing country, why PR course has been developed so fast in Chinese universities?One of my Canadian classmate told me that the reason why she came here for MA PR study at the UK is because there is no master study of PR in Canada.It is really a shock to me. As far as I know, there are lots of Chinese universities providing PR studies--both public universities as well as private ones. What are the reasons behind of this? Is it because of the needs of the economy or it is just a fashion trend? Are the courses in China teaching the same contents as developed countries?

In order to find these answers out, I decided the topic of my dissertation for my Master studies. If trying to do research on the whole public industry of China will be beyond my ability and time, I decided to choose one specific university--Sun Yat-Sen University, which have a high reputation for PR course in China, as a sample.

Sun Yat-Sen University started its PR course from 1994, which has become one of the most popular courses. The subject of PR belongs to the Department of Public Communications. Sun Yat-Sen University is the first to start undergraduate course of Public Relations among comprehensive Universities in China. This course is separated into three different research directions: governmental PR, business PR and international PR. The university even launched night course for working people. At the beginning, there are only10 students. However, in 2005, the number is 30.They invite Dr Crunnig from University of Maryland as their guest lecturer. The head of the department, Professor Weijian Liao is also a board member of Public Relations Institute of China.

Before I do any research, I think some possible reasons of the fast development of PR course might include economic driving, increased demands of Chinese companies, and enjoyment of novelty.