Public relations ethics: a simpler (but not simplistic) approach to the complexities

Abstract

Professional public relations bodies internationally have established ethics codes in an attempt to regulate members' ethical behaviour. This paper critiques the code-based framework on philosophical and practical grounds, suggesting that such frameworks are inadequate because they leave practitioners free to interpret these guides in ways that advance their own and their clients' interests. We argue that this latitude does not foster ethical behaviour. We then contrast rule-following, action-based ethics with agent-based ethics, conceived in Aristotelian terms, and suggest that the virtue ethics advanced by Aristotle and his interpreters represents a more challenging but more authentically ethical path for practitioners to consider.