Characteristics of Publicity
Publicity offers several benefits. There are not costs for message time or space. An ad in prime-time television may cost $250,000 to $5000,000 or more per minute, whereas a five-minute report on a network newscast would not cost anything. However, there are costs for news releases, a publicity department, and other items. As with advertising, publicity reaches a mass audience. Within a short time, new products or company policies are widely known.
Publicity also has some significant limitations. A firm has little control over messages, their timing, their placement, or their coverage by a given medium. It may issue detailed news releases and find only portions cited by the media, and media have the ability to be much more critical than a company would like.
A firm may want publicity during certain periods, such as when a new product is introduced or new store opened, but the media may not cover the introduction or opening until after the time it would aid the firm. Similarly, media determine the placement of a story; it may follow a report on crime or sports. Finally, the media ascertain whether to cover a story at all and the amount of coverage to be devoted to it. A company-sponsored fobs program might go unreported or receive three-sentence coverage in a local newspaper.
1. The author mentions all of the following advantages of publicity except
B) Having attentiveness.
D) Having high profitability.
A) in a newspaper than in a womens daily.
C) In an independent newspaper than in a dependent newspaper.
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
B) A firm can neither control nor time publicity accurately.
D) In most cases a firm can control and time publicity accurately.
A) the power of publicity.
C) the terrible effect of rumors.
5. The passage implies that
B) the report of a crime may not be true.
D) publicity is not always necessary.