Activism and the Limits of Symmetry: The Public Relations Battle Between Colorado GASP and Philip Morris

Digital Social Advocacy in the Justice for Trayvon Campaign

“…For example, Murphy and Dee (1996) found in their study of Greenpeace and DuPont that neither side accepted a compromise position, so Murphy and Dee concluded that the policy impasse between the two would continue. Stokes and Rubin (2010) argued that some activist groups seek to remain outside of the zone of compromise. In their study of the public relations battle between the Colorado state chapter of Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution and tobacco company Phillip Morris, Stokes and Rubin outlined the rhetorical strategies that GASP used to defeat the Phillip Morris strategy of accommodation between smokers and nonsmokers in public spaces (see also Stokes, 2013).…”

“We Really Have to Hit Them Where It Hurts”: Analyzing Activists’ Corporate Campaigns

“…In some circumstances, targets are arguably better served to meet with groups that have a genuine interest in posing solutions that generate feasible and sustainable organizational and societal change. Although activists can refuse to compromise on their issues or objectives (Stokes & Rubin, 2010), these groups should be prepared to offer practical solutions to the corporations.…”

Raining on SeaWorld’s Parade: PETA’s Direct Action and Public Interest Communication

“…Briefly reviewing how activism is typically studied in public relations emphasizes the value of adding the PIC lens. Due to the continuing reliance on excellence theory and other functionalist approaches (Grunig & Grunig, 1992), some public relations scholarship still views activists as antagonistic groups corporations need to manage through public relations techniques (Benecke & Oksiutycz, 2015;Smith & Ferguson, 2010;Stokes & Rubin, 2010). Traditional activism scholarship argues that opposing parties in a conflict begin by trying to find common ground; but, once one party does not reciprocate, media advocacy may begin, providing the pivot to PIC (Fessmann, 2017;Hon, 2017).…”

“…Traditional activism scholarship argues that opposing parties in a conflict begin by trying to find common ground; but, once one party does not reciprocate, media advocacy may begin, providing the pivot to PIC (Fessmann, 2017;Hon, 2017). As Stokes and Rubin (2010) point out, this pivot away from accommodation becomes necessary because corporations and public interest communicators often have conflicting goals, meaning that "the compromise metaphor implicit in the two-way symmetrical model is not always accurate in describing the relationships between corporations and activists" (p. 42). To better account for such intractable scenarios, sometimes activism is studied from issues management perspectives that seek to understand how organizations and activists alike nurture their positions on issues, or contested matters, through the issuemanagement lifecycle to a favorable outcome (Heath & Waymer, 2009;Smith & Ferguson, 2010).…”