ARTICLE REVIEW

ORGANIZATION: AIR ASIA

Definitions of Public Relations

Public Relations is the organization’s effort to build and manage long-term relationships

with its strategic publics and minimize conflicts with them. (J.Grunig, 1992). A lot of early

demand for public relations was to tell the organization’s side of the story to influence

public opinion. Sometimes, it can be more to publicity in order to influence different

groups of people. Nowadays, many believe public relations is mostly persuasive

publicity, and several organizations emphasis this aspect of public relations.

According to the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM), the professional

public relations body that was set up in Malaysia in1962 based its definition on that of

the former definition by the British public relations body. In another word, Public

Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain

mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. From the perspective of

The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) , determine public relations

definition as the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their

consequences, counseling organization leaders, and implementing planned programs of

action which serve both the organization’s and the public interest.
 Public Relations Practicing in Air Asia’s Article

Sunday, 10 October 2010.

From the article, we can see that various types of Public Relations were applied by Air

Asia in developing their corporate image. The following elaborations describe a public

relations tactics and strategies which had been applied by Air Asia in order to strengthen

its functions and roles as an organization.

Marketing Communication

With the rapid growth in communication technologies, development of infrastructure,

easier access to international markets, and a more consumer-oriented society, public

relations has become more involved in marketing efforts. There is greater emphasis on

promotions and efforts to remain distinctive among competitors.

From the article we can see that the concept of the article is not what we called ‘in

details write up things’. It’s more to advertisement which combining the values of

advertising and marketing. Despite of advertising their roles in society, Air Asia also

introducing a spokesperson as a representative of their airline which is Mr Fahmi, a

Malaysian MotoGP and now has become a world stage rider. Indirectly, through the

article, will benefit both, Air Asia and Mr Fahmi in term of image branding.

Besides, if you noticed, Air Asia through this article also used new media technologies in

order to market themselves among the society and gaining follower among the public.

Example; there’s a link for cyber user to join them in the world wide net which is

facebook.com/AirAsia and twitter/AirAsia.

Propaganda

Propaganda is the means of gaining support for an opinion, creed, or belief, according to

Jefkins (1988, p.7). Propaganda in public relations perspective is more concerned with

being factual and unbiased. It can be used to keep an organization in power instead of

aiming at getting its services understood and used properly.

Speaking of propaganda, through the article, we can see several tagline was used in

promoting Air Asia as an airline for all. For example, at the bottom left of the article,

there’s a gold color logo which is stated ‘World Airline Awards 2010’ and ‘World’s

Best Low-Cost Airline 2009 & 2010’. Indirectly, these will show to the society and their

main competitor that Air Asia is one of the best airline in the world.