A recent news brief noting the anniversary of Daniel Boorstin's death got me to thinking about The Image, the only one of his more than 20 books that was devoted to public relations. If you haven't read it yet, you probably should. It was a landmark book when it came out in the early 1960s, and it still is today.
Boorstin was an historian and observer of modern society, a prolific author, and Librarian of Congress for four terms under four different Presidents during the 1970s and `80s.
You probably won't like reading The Image, if you're a public relations person. It's quite critical of our profession and the impacts it has on society, but it was carefully and thoughtfully written. And, whether you agree or disagree with Boorstin, it's important to take his views into account and think about them. At the very least, doing so may prepare you to better respond to other critics you may encounter while working in public relations.
Whether you're a long-time practitioner or a student just starting to study public relations, you undoubtedly know something about special events and how effective they can be in promoting your client's interests. Creating and promoting a special event means you don't have to wait for happenstance to give you a reason to publicly "congratulate" or celebrate your client; you simply create one.
You can, for instance, randomly schedule an "open house," recognize an anniversary, host a "Thank God it's Friday (or any other day of the week) party," launch a "new product," host a guest speaker or a concert for the public, or one limited to just your employees and/or customers, sponsor a charitable fund-raiser or celebrity "meet and greet," or dozens of other activities that will almost certainly draw and excite a crowd.
And, since you create and control such events, you can orchestrate every element to ensure they occur when, where, and how you want to best serve your organization.
What's not to like about that? -- For Daniel Boorstin, it was their artificiality; they were created by intentional human intervention and weren't real or natural occurrences. In his eyes, they weren't special, and he refused to call them "special events." Instead, he coined the term "pseudo-events," with "pseudo" meaning "false or sham" to clearly show his disdain and disapproval of them.
Read more about Daniel Boorstin's view of pseudo-events.