“PR is an art to convince others of something, which you don’t believe yourself.”
Abba Eban
A few people had heard the word PR about 10 years ago. The meaning of the word could figure out only a few dozens of people. Today they use the word PR very often regardless of its relevance. Indeed a lot has been changed within 10 years but one thing still remains. At present just like 10 years ago only few people understand the actual meaning of the word PR. However this is only the subjective part of the issue. But the PA also has an objective part. And regardless of how many people understand the meaning of PR it has penetrated into our life very fast just like the words, cellular phone, SMS, Internet globalization informative society, digital TV. This phenomenon was activated when all the strata of our society, businessmen, showmen, etc have started to do PR. It’s another issue how our society accepts their PR actions (PR stands for Public Relations, aimed at gaining popularity among many people in a good meaning). For example what happened in 32 Atam Club was a classical PR example. The “beating”, which happened there lately. Almost all the TV companies were speaking about the incident mentioning 32 Atam Club. And this incident has become even more popular than Ter-Petrosyan’s nomination topic. People were speaking about that when drinking coffee, at work, etc. Of course many others have considered this a very negative step. Perhaps the reason is the traditional society. Here I totally agree with Armen Ashotyan’s opinion that RPA is the most competitive party in Armenia. All we have left to do is find out how many of the 130000 members of the RPA know that their party is a conservative party. We will still come back to the PR of politicians. As of the Armenian show business PR it’s worth mentioning that it remains on the same low level as the show business itself. The show business stars suffice only by appearing on the covers of “elite” magazines and thanking their “moms and dads” during the evening shows. Of course there are also exceptions, such as Andre’s participation in the Euro Vision (where Andre’s producer didn’t have anything to do), Silva Hakobyan’s and Arame’s swift career rise (here we can mention that talent still does matter in show business), Khoren Levonyan’s emergence as an actor (here his grandpa’s name and Alexan Harutyunyan’s PR skills have been matched), Lusine Tovmasyan’s phenomenon (here matched Lusine’s beauty and again Alexan Harutyunyan’s PR skills). As of the “Black PR” it works in show business as well (even in the Armenian conservative show business). Here the main principle is “any mentioning besides the death is good”. As of the political PR then today two main political figures are doing that – Serzh Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan. All the others are just lingering. Of course in this regard it is much harder for Ter-Petrosyan. The latter has no access to any electronic media means he succeeds in becoming a newsmaker by taking extraordinary steps (agree that his meetings with the Dashnaks and Vazgen Manukyan conduce to that) every week. In my opinion Serzh Sargsyan’s PR is built on the principle “I am not Robert Kocharyan”. Unlike the incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan meets not only the journalists of his favorite three channels but also gives interviews to the print media. Sargsyan makes the oligarchs understand that besides the paradise there is also hell, he doesn’t go to the university and say that reading books is a bad thing but calls advanced students to his office and ensures them that they are the future of Armenia not the “bodyguards”. Of course in the political field there is also one more person, who successfully does political PR. That is Marxist Davit Hakobyan. But as I already mentioned we are a conservative nation and playing a “Zhirinovski” will not bring any “political points” here. Let’s say a few words about business PR, which is the youngest one here. The Armenian businessmen remember about the PR only when they appear in a hard situation after the publications of the local and international media. These publications raise a great wave of discontent in the society. Because unlike the show business here the “Black PR” may originate quite negative consequences. Most of our businessmen do not quite well understand the meaning of the Black PR (just like the meaning of the PR in general). In fact if the published information is reality then it’s not “Black PR” but a fact. In this regard I cannot help mentioning Khachatur Sukiasyan’s name, who has been paying great attention both on his own PR and his business for over 10 years. Thus he can explain to others the results and consequences of the PR.