In Praise of Authenticity

In a recent crusade, PR blogger John Wagner hammers away at authenticity as an essential ingredient in PR, branding and other attempts to manage the reputation of your organization. Here are four of his posts on the topic:

What Makes Communications Authentic? 

A PR Quote that Calls Out for Authenticity - Wal-Mart's New Health Plan 

And Speaking of Honesty, Did Burger King's Agency Pull a Fast One?

And "To Top it Off," Another Lame Quote that Just Looks SIlly

Thank you, John, for focusing on something other than transparency as a measure of an organization's communications. (God, I'm getting tired of the constant repetition of the "transparency" mantra.)

You can be transparent without being authentic.  Which would you choose?

Update: fixed broken links.

Comments

[John Wagner]

Eric:

Thanks for mentioning this ... I think we could probably post for years just on examples of bad corporatespeak alone. But it is an issue that I think PR professionals need to take heed of. We only make ourselves -- and our work -- look bad when we allow our clients to tapdance around reality.

P.S. I need a new photograph! In real life, I look more like Tom Cruise than an old bald guy. :)