Spin Hunters

Russia - a country impressive not only with its ample territory, but also with the ample number of associations which ring a bell in everyone’s mind. For some, it is just the land of pure vodka, cheap Kalashnikov and the bad guys from the famous James Bond movies. For others, it is a symbol of spoiled political regimes and unforgivably rich oligarchs. But for a little part of us, it is the country of something which the Marketing industry simply calls today “Black Public Relations”. This practice is totally illegal and does not follow any professional standard, it is acknowledged as one of the main communication policies in many in-house departments from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Even representatives of the biggest corporations in the oil business, frankly confess that they’re not afraid of buying editors and reporters, using “death agents” or spreading rumors and false information about their rivals. They also believe that this is the easiest and most effective way to get into the news agenda and reject every single attempt of international PR companies to impose their own frameworks and value systems. Perhaps, the silent war between the West and The East, between Capitalism and the little child of Communism were more than a competition of weapons and better ideology, it was all about the development of techniques for mass information and persuasion. So while we spend time here, talking about the meaning of Blogging and Social Networks, the other part of the globe seems very different- and it’s dressed in black!

For those who are not aware of the term ”BPR”, here is a little explanation. In simple words, instead of concentrating your efforts on the maintenance and creation of a positive reputation/ image to your clients, you are trying to discredit and destroy someone elses ( usually its/their rivals). The roots of BPR could be found in recent Soviet history, when the used methods of propaganda were one of the few strongest pillars, upholding the old regime. The famous “агитации и пропагандьi” department at that time was responsible for the state management of human emotions and minds. People were expected to act, think and behave in a similar way; they needed to believe that beyond the iron curtain everything falls into viciousness, corruption and depravity. It was a hard task, but the Soviet leaders had successfully proved that it was the most effective and logical way of having control over the whole population, especially when you’re trying to unify more than a 150 million.

Although, the persistent efforts of today have put an end to these old habits, Black PR is far from dying, it is forcing its way to really high communication levels. The well-known manipulation techniques give up their places to much more complicated communication strategies and resources, which the common ethic would consider forbidden. In the past, the spreading of false information was easy to be checked and recognized , nowadays the line between fact and fiction is becoming more and more unclear and easier to be crossed. The Russian experts do not just have the power to conceal the truth, but to create their own, using every kind of means to achieve their goals. While ordinary corporate PR is trying to do this through coordinating its approaches with the progress of the New media and fashion technologies, those in Moscow rely on the development of industries such as industrial espionage, IT security and social engineering.

In the past few years, the new PR generation has desperately tried to impose different patterns of professional behavior. They’re aiming to adapt the Russian reality into western ethical practices and adopt already existing approaches for dealing with the audience. Terms like internal communications, public affairs, investor relations and crisis management are quite new to the community and clearing their path as normal professional standards. As for the realization of this movement, it is still too early to be discussed, especially in a country where the government can’t stop using the mass media as its own instrument and refusing to tolerate different points of view.