Is public relations a Tragedy of the Commons (TOTC) for the public sphere?The need of an ecology of content

Abstract

This article argues that sustainability also appeals to the creation of PR content when organizations compete for attention. It starts with the idea that attention is a valuable resource in society and organizations compete for attention, increasing the quantity of content and messages and releasing them through multiple media channels. Content inflation, hyperbole, and exaggeration are the norm since competition is strong to attract attention. And, since attention is limited, this almost unlimited amount of content detracts society’s attention from more relevant collective and social problems. This article describes how contemporary public relations, especially after the implosion of social media, contributes to the Tragedy of the Commons (TOTC), providing relevant data about the impact of corporate content on journalism and social media. This article, appealing to the concept of sustainability and philosopher Byung Chul-Han’s ideas of the hypertrophy of storytelling, concludes that an ecology of PR would solve the problem and represent an inexpensive method of CSR for corporations, and that this “reduction of noise” would make the public sphere more viable.