NGO’s activism and PR

Non-governmental organisation is there to lobby (try to change laws) or advocate for someone who has no voice or cannot be heard wit out their help. It could be argued that NGOs can easily become a threat to corporate organisations (e.g. PETA) but on the other hand can be a friend when a company practice CSR to e.g. improve community work. 

A great example of a situation when NGO becomes a threat is for instance a movie called Supersize Me which has raised a social issue of McDonald’s corporation causing health problems and obesity amongst population and kids. McDonald’s has become a target for several NGOs. It can be argued that the PR/ media communication person did not handle well the threats that were about to face McDonald’s after revealing this film. One can ask why that was. Was she maybe not heard from people above or was she simply too ignorant and did not consider the film to be a potential threat to McDonald’s reputation. 

NGO has various goals and functions. It is not only about corporate attack. NGO can deliver a service e.g. RNIB (a charity supporting blind and partially sighted people) or it can campaign for a change such as Greenpeace. It can also advocate or give voice to children or animals that could not be heard otherwise. 

NGO is seeing outside the sphere of influence, hence organisations and corporate PR is seen in the centre and sphere of influence. We need to ask a question, why so often there is a silence between activists and PR. Activists ignore PR and PR industry ignores practices of activists. This could be the result of PR being small and new body of knowledge hence some organisations are unorganised and unprofessional (so called cottage industry). It is necessary to create public debates to make corporate bodies to change e.g. laws hence, NGOs have very important role in order to keep a balance in the fierce corporate world.