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The Significance of Public Relations Essay

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The Significance of Public Relations

It’s about noon, you just got out of class, or perhaps you are on lunch break, and you are absolutely starving. While your stomach is churning all you can think about is a juicy double cheeseburger from McDonald’s. Finally, you see the golden arches and your mouth begins to water as you wait in line for your overdue meal. As you grow increasingly impatient for your number nine extra value meal you’re dying to see if you’ll have the final piece to the ever so famous McDonald’s Monopoly game. You’re convinced there are no real winners in this game, and you leave the restaurant with your fifteenth free small fries “prize” in two weeks. Well, it has recently been discovered that their may …show more content…

By understanding the history, functions, and tools of public relations, it becomes possible to fully understand the true value behind the significance of this department. The significance of public relations dates back to many centuries before the emergence of any golden arches. The presence of public relations originated during the time of Caesar’s rule. According to the third edition of Media Now 2001, Caesar published a daily paper called Acta Diurna (“daily acts” or “daily records”) in 52 B.C., which was published for 400 years. This daily paper marked the beginning of public relations because Caesar’s primary focus was to mold the opinion of his people through the readings of his paper.

Caesar planted the seed for the idea of public relations, but the surfacing for modern public relations can be found within the Catholic Church. Also noted by Media Now, the Catholic Church is known for the origination of propaganda. In the 17th Century, the church set up its Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, the “congregation for propagating faith.” This congregation recognized that their needed to be a third party to help facilitate the communication between the government and people. This eventually created the means for public opinion, linking the 17th Century ideal of public relations to our present day.

Although the church began the evolution of public opinion, the “father of public relations” undoubtedly

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