Do the right thing because it is right

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic key to living your life with integrity.”

–W. Clement Stone

I’ve always loved this quote but I wish doing the right thing would be that easy. Obviously, people struggle to know what is right and acting upon what is right. This is where codes of ethics come in handy. We’ve been discussing the different codes of ethics and what topics they discuss. I thought I would share three codes that I found interesting to compare.

We will start with Honesty. I believe that everything revolves around this key factor. Without honesty to the client and the public, a PR practitioner is nothing. Some codes are blunt, like Arthur Page Society, and just tell you to tell the truth. Some of the others, like the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Global Alliance, tell you to “adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth.” Although these are basically telling the same thing, to be honest, I feel that the meaning of “highest standards” could be skewed to fit what people feel it should. The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) said something I really liked. Not only do they tell you to be honest with others, but that it is more important to be honest with yourself. This type of honesty should be encouraged because, if you can’t be honest with yourself, you won’t be honest with your publics. I read that the American Advertising Federation listed truth as their first code of ethics. I was glad to see that telling the truth is just as important to Advertising as it is to PR.

One code, which can interfere with honesty, is loyalty. According to PRSA, PR practitioners must be faithful to their clients but take care of the public interest as well. I personally believe that it is loyalty that will test how PR practitioners deal with honesty, especially if their client doesn’t want the truth out. I was a little shocked that some codes, didn’t have codes for loyalty. I’ve always assumed this was as important as honesty, but I guess some codes don’t feel that way. PRSA, Global Alliance and Arthur Page Society, all have codes for loyalty. Not to play favoritism, but I am happy that PRSA has ethical codes for all the big ethical issues. When it comes to Advertising codes, they don’t really hit the topic of loyalty but they do suggest that advertisers make a clear representation of their client.

The last code I found interesting was competition. I never knew there was a need for a competition code until I got into my class. Competition can be good if it’s done right but can be extremely harmful if it’s not. I really liked what the Council of PR firms code said about competition. It said, “handle relationships with business partners and vendors in a businesslike manner, and give credit for ideas and services provided by others.” I really liked that they encourage PR practitioners to give credit where credit is due. Advertisers are constantly having competition and so I wasn’t shocked when I found their code for it. Advertisers are not allowed to make wrong statements about a competitors products or services.

There are so many codes for PR and advertisers to follow. They are all state different ethical codes but they all say the same thing. It comes down to us, in every decision, to make the right choice. Again, I wish it were so easy.