Big Dreams, Bitter Realities: Why Public Campaigns Fail in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper argues that public relations in the post-modern era needs to be examined with new critical lenses. As the technological tools of the practice become increasingly sophisticated and society far more complex and unpredictable, new methods of reality construction should emerge. The paper attempts to sketch the political, social and media landscape in Malaysia as a background to understanding why conventional methods of communication and public relations practice and research have become obsolete and irrelevant under present pressure-cooker circumstances and ideological clashes. In pointing out that the signs of the media generate reality and become reality as argued by Jean Baudrillard, the paper argues that public relations texts in Malaysia tend to reflect a lack of skill and sophistication and, therefore, fail to fully exploit the power of signs and symbols in constructing reality. Looking at Malaysian public service announcements as a case, it is contended that although these announcements in the form of public campaigns, attempt to represent ideology of the state, they fail most times, to do so effectively. It is argued that the new and changing climate of politics in the country appears a major contributory factor to the poor working of ideology in public campaigns.