Advocating for reconciliation: Public relations, activism, advocacy and dialogue

Abstract

Traditionally, the public relations (PR) literature on activism tended to focus on organisational perspectives and organisational responses to activist group pressure. More recent studies looked also at PR practitioners as activists within their organisations or at their role in the service of activist groups. Ihlen and Verhoeven (2009) admitted that they ‘would like to see studies of this practice [activist PR] also become a “natural” part of public relations’ (p. 334). This article responds to them by researching the complex and diverse practice of activist PR. Using narrative inquiry to study a professional case, it demonstrates how, even when performed by the same practitioner, advocacy, persuasive strategy and facilitation of genuine dialogues may be used at the same time and ethically to achieve organisational goals and to seek social change. Through a case study, it foregrounds specific features of activist practice, practitioners’ motivation and their willingness to pay high costs for promoting a social cause. Although based on a PR activist experience in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the article suggests that the conclusions would be relevant to activist PR in many parts of the world.