Utilitarianism is defined as the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It treats society as a whole - like it would treat one person. It's main objective is the end result, and the means by which getting to that end result are deemed as ethical, usually, as long as the outcome is seen as ethical. Communitarianism is defined as the idea that what is good for the communities and society is good for corporations. It is more about focussing on individuals. The PRSA code of ethics has PR professionals agree to work for the public needs and interests. It seems the code is more about communitarianism rather than utilitarianism. The interests of the community public are at the heart of the PRSA code. The PR professional disseminates information to the public community through community outlets such as the media in the most fair and accurate way possible. The two-way symmetrical model allows for the PR professional to communicate and build relationships with their publics in the community as well. The PRSA condones communication between the organization and groups or individuals in the community. While utilitarianism is a component of the ethics style the PRSA is concerned with, their main style is communitarianism.

Test Review:

PR professionals serve as ethical advocates by using their positions to make sure that ethical standards are upheld by corporations. PR professionals should represent corporations honestly and openly while still balancing the sensitivity of subject material to the public. Standards of ethics a PR pro uses differ between cultures, but ultimately, a PR pro should not do anything on behalf of a corporation that he or she is ethically uncomfortable with.

Utilitarianism is the idea that the ethical choice is the one that does the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Communitarianism is the idea that whatever is good for a community is what is good for a corporation. Ethically, these styles of thinking are vague because the idea of what is "good" is not defined, but whatever is beneficial for the masses is understood to be ethically "good." These eithical concepts try to maintain a sense of "fairness" between large groups and /or communitites of people.

The two-way symmetrical model deals with communication between pr professionals and the community.

Corporate speech is the speech on behalf of a corporation that is political in nature. Commercial speech is intended for commerical purposes of advertising products. The first amendment does not dictate certain types of people that have speech protection - just important certain types of speech. Political speech is deemed as more important speech than advertising or commercial speech. Commerical speech is that speech which is unallowed if it is deceptive to a consumer.

FTC (federal trade commission), FDA (food and drug administration), and the SEC (securities and exchange commission)

IPR - Institute of Public Relations
integrity - competence - confidentiality - spreading awareness

IABC - International Association of Business Communicators
human rights - rule of law - sensitivity to cultural norms
communications - legal, ethical, good taste
sensitive, accurate, fair
honest, accurate, prompt, support free speech, law abiding, no gifts

PRSA - Public Relations Society of America
performance, professionalism, ethical conduct
enforcement eliminated


These codes of ethics seem to be somewhat similiar. They deal with the PR professional practicing ethical honesty, professionalism and fairness in good taste with society and cultural norms. The main difference is that the prsa does not have an actual enforcement policy which makes it hard to determine the line between what is ethical PR practices and what is not.