
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 4, 1994                   TAG: 9402040104
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ISSUE OF CREDIBILITY TO BE TARGET OF STUDY

Successful public relations practitioners tell all the facts, neither withholding nor spinning out the story, according to Ray Gaulke, chief operating officer of the Public Relations Society of America in New York.

The objective, he said, is not to change a story, but to tell it so listeners can understand and make their own decisions.

"Telling your story in a credible manner is very important," said Gaulke, who was in Roanoke on Thursday to speak to the society's Blue Ridge chapter.

The public decides who has credibility, who's telling the truth, Gaulke said.

Every company can have problems, he noted, citing the string of claims by people who allegedly found syringes in bottles of Pepsi Cola. Pepsi got out of that problem because it had credibility with the public, Gaulke said.

The issue of credibility is so important, he said, that the Public Relations Society of America proposes to study credibility in light of specific issues such as health care.

Advertising focuses on product, he said, but public relations builds the image of a company or brand. An example, he said, is Body Shop, a cosmetics retailer that grew entirely by reputation, not by advertising.

Consumers are very suspicious of advertising, he said, and they want to know about the company standing behind the products.

There is more change in the consumer value system today than in all the years since World War II, he said. Instead of seeing the physician as a god, for instance, people demand to share in decisions that affect their health. Consumers, he said, ask themselves what they believe.

by CNB