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Special interest groups labor continually to help individuals or societies transcend poverty, obtain basic education, escape disease or slavery, or simply survive. Such activism, as opposed to confrontational activism that is most emphasized in the public relations literature, stems from theoretically defined prosocial motives – organizational behaviors intended to improve the welfare of others. Interest groups operating in the prosocial realm often employ public relations strategies to achieve their goals (Bourland-Davis et al., 2010; Smith and Ferguson, 2010).
However, despite this considerable altruistic interest group activity, the public relations body of knowledge does not adequately describe or examine their communication efforts and outcomes (Edwards, 2011; Heath and Waymer, 2009). As a result, neither these entities nor public relations practitioners who guide their communication efforts have sufficient theories or guideposts to fully understand the processes and implications of prosocial public relations.
This study explores the strategy and messaging that an organization will use in non-confrontational public relations by building up internal resources, reaching out to target publics, and making connections to the cause to gain visibility and support for prosocial public relations efforts that are positive and helpful. A single case study explores the public relations and communication engagement tactics of a non-profit organization (NGO). Observations from the case study begin to establish some of the public relations methods of how a successful prosocial NGO can successfully engage its publics through activism and negotiation.
Literature review
Activism and prosocial public relations
Activism certainly is not a new idea. It has been a tool of leverage used by groups throughout history to promote democracy, oppose racism, challenge dictatorships, end slavery, protect the rights of workers, and champion many other civil rights and political issues. While activism has played a vital role in shaping modern-day history, scholarship has tended to focus more on the political bi-product of activism, such as powerful political figures, governments, and military actions (Martin, 2007). Kim and Sriramesh (2009) defined activism along these more or less political lines as:
The coordinated effort of a group that organizes voluntarily in an effort to solve problems that threaten the common interest of members of the group. In the process of problem solving, core members of the group attract other social constituents or publics, create and...