Public relations in developing countries

Public relations in developing countries

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the world was less clearly divided into the first world (North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australasia), the second world (communist states including the Soviet Union, China and North Korea) and the third world (underdeveloped or developing countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Indian subcontinent).

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 came the collapse of the Berlin wall, partitioning East and West Germany, the end of Soviet hegemony in the Balkans and the resultant war, and the Soviet Union’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan. There have been many other effects throughout the world based on these after-effects. In Russia, sources of media have increased considerably since the policies of ‘perestroika’ and ‘glasnost’, first developed by President Gorbachev, brought down the Soviet Union and its communist ideology. Nevertheless, PR professionals in Western companies like Coca-Cola spend much of their time communicating with intrusive bureaucratic governments and their employees rather than journalists and consumers.

In China, too, the number of advertising agencies has drastically increased from virtual non-existence in the early 1980s to many tens of

thousands by the mid-1990s. Media structures within countries are affected by the nature of the political system. The independent mass media flourishes under democratic systems but has tended to stagnate and die under communist or theocratic rule. Mass media systems are subject to the nature and structure of regulation, based as they are on political objectives. There are differing degrees of restrictions on media and paid advertising in different countries. The nature of what the press is allowed to report is also subject to national cultures (and authoritarian regimes!).

A good example of the difficulties of adapting PR techniques to different

cultures is probably best exemplified in China. Networking in America, whilst often derided by those most adept at it, is nevertheless a relatively open process. In China, the equivalent, Guanxi, is very different. Whereas networking in the US tends to be public, in China it is more private and secretive. Discussions will take place in closed environments rather than in open ones. Whilst a Chinese person may claim that they have Guanxi (namely, good interpersonal contacts), it is not usually possible to verify this except through trial and error. Whilst US PR mainly uses mass media, Guanxi, by definition, operates as an interpersonal medium. Finally, whilst Guanxi operates through the development of friendly relationships and ties (perhaps what we might call cronyism in the UK), in the US, negotiations are usually more principle-centred. So, we can see a very different culture in operation. Clearly, this style of communication can drastically affect how PR techniques are conducted. Organizing an event would require a very different process in Shanghai as compared to New York or London.

Western companies developing sponsorship programmes in China have tended to target sport, music and arts events because of huge growth in these sectors. Music, particularly, allows young Chinese people freedom to express themselves and so is often linked with fashion, products and lifestyle marketing approaches.

There are three ways of looking at public relations media in developing

Countries. First, there is the dearth of Western-style mass media; secondly, there are the limitations of the existing mass media; and thirdly,

there are the problems, special needs and special techniques of communicating with illiterate people and those, often remotely located, of different ethnic groups, languages, dialects, religions and lifestyles. These

are problems that confront the PRO working in a developing country, or

the PRO of an organization that exports to, or operates in, these countries.

Nevertheless, PR professionals do operate in these countries and lifestyles are changing as fast as these countries’ economies can develop.

Dearth of Western-style mass media

The number and circulation of newspapers, the number of television sets and computers, and number of Internet-connected computers, the number and kind of television viewers, the nature of mobile telephony, and the number of radios and listeners will depend on the following factors:

1. The degree of literacy. This depends on the primary education system on the one hand and adult literacy education on the other.

2. The sophistication of the economy. This will influence the size of the

market, the justification for advertising and the ability for media to be commercially viable. There are several ways of looking at this. A country may depend on a particular crop or mineral, e.g. sugar, cocoa, copper or rubber. If there is a slump in the world market for that product, the country’s economy will suffer. A net exporter may become a net importer so that restrictions will be placed on imports. In some countries, a large number of people may be outside the cash economy (e.g. China) because they are subsistence workers who sell little or no surplus produce.

3. The popularity of television. Community viewing in developing countries has popularized television, but programmes are often shown in the evening, and since it is usually not the custom for women to go out at night, audiences are limited to men. Young people are also likely to be excluded. In the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan of the late 1990s/early 2000s, cinemas were closed down and music was banned.

4. The quality of broadcast material. Programme material is usually of poor quality. Videotape is expensive, studios have limited options.