PR and telling the truth

PR people are paid to lie. Its their job.

Now for those of you who are reading this from anywhere else in the world, sorry. That statement applies only to India. Even there, that's not a generalisation - its just that many agencies in India expect their executives to lie if necessary to promote or save a client.

This is what happened to a young idealist friend of mine who went for an interview in Good relations. He is not sure if the Mr. Good was there in the interview board or not.

Anyway, the question from them to my pal was, "say you discover that your client has done something that is going to be a major problem, like an oil spill, or serious pollution, or environmental damage, or diseases... what would you do? Would you go to the police, or would you try to cover it up and save your client?

The answer was simple for my friend. He said, "Go to the police, of course!" Silence. The board and interviewee stared at each other incredulously, both wondering how the other's brain worked. Needless to say, after a few polite noises, the aspirant was ushered out.

So there.