ABSTRACT

A case study of the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA) campaign to craft a national vision for social health showed that the group used public relations-like strategies to, as one of their officials said, “crystallize public opinion” years before Edward Bernays wrote a book of the same title. Although these efforts might not have been labeled public relations at the time, this study introduces some precedents of contemporary public relations. In this study, social activism offered a more robust approach to addressing an issue than using media relations alone could do. ASHA members used communication strategies such as segmenting audiences, utilizing events to reach appropriate audiences, using visual media, and creating house organs to arouse public sentiment, influence attitudes, and promote desired behavior.

This case study expands public relations history theory by examining why ASHA members practiced public relations as they did. In this case, ASHA used persuasive communication to pierce the veil of silence around venereal disease to craft a national vision for social hygiene and legitimize the group as the major voice on this topic. Lessons from this case can illustrate how public relations can be conducted more effectively, especially in relation to social movements.

摘要

一项针对美国社会卫生协会（ASHA）建立全国社会卫生愿景的运动的案例研究表明，该组织使用类似于公共关系的策略，正如他们的一位官员所说，是在爱德华·伯奈斯（Edward Bernays）写信之前的几年，“使公众舆论具体化”。一本同名的书。尽管这些努力可能没有被标记为公共关系当时，这项研究介绍了当代公共关系的一些先例。在这项研究中，与仅使用媒体关系相比，社会行动主义提供了一种解决问题的更有力的方法。ASHA成员使用沟通策略，例如细分受众群体，利用事件来吸引合适的受众，使用视觉媒体以及创建家庭器官来唤起公众情绪，影响态度并促进期望的行为。

本案例研究通过检查ASHA成员为何像他们那样实践公共关系，扩展了公共关系历史理论。在这种情况下，ASHA使用说服性的沟通刺破了围绕性病的沉默面纱，以树立起全国性的社会卫生愿景，并使该组织合法化为该主题的主要代言人。这个案例的经验教训可以说明如何更有效地进行公共关系，特别是与社会运动有关的公共关系。