PR agencies: Babiš’s campaign violated all ethical principles of communication
Update: 30.01.2023 13:52
Issued by: 30.01.2023, 13:52
Prague – The presidential campaign of the unsuccessful candidate and chairman of the ANO movement, Andrej Babiš, violated all ethical principles of communication. In a press release sent to ČTK, the Association of Public Relations (APRA) stated this today. She points in particular to the billboard campaign, which, according to her, violated several ethical rules at the same time, abused, for example, the motif of fear or consciously spread alarmist messages. “After the election race, APRA officially joins the professional organizations that have already come out critical of the campaign during the last election,” the association said. Already before the second round of elections, the Art Directors Club Czech Republic (ADC) drew attention to the unethical association of advertising professionals, and expelled Marko Prchal, who works for Babiš, from its ranks.
Babiš advanced to the second round of the presidential election together with former high representative of the Czech army and NATO Petr Pavlo. Last weekend, the Czechs elected Petr Pavel as the successor of the current head of state Miloš Zeman, she received over 58 percent of the vote.
Shortly after the first round of elections, the head of the ANO movement had posters posted with the text “I will not drag the Czechia into war. I am a diplomat. Not a soldier. President Babiš.” The posters faced criticism. Jana Černochová (ODS) urged him not to use words about soldiers in his election campaign. The soldiers are not bloodthirsty warmongers, but professionals, she said. Critics also accused Babiš of scaring voters. Babiš admitted that the text was not successful and promised to change it. Then new posters appeared on the billboards with the inscription “The general does not believe in peace.” with the postscript “Vote peace. Vote Babiš”.
Communications professionals are required by APRA to respect the truth, act honestly and act transparently, both to and in relation to the public. “Professional ethics forbid participation in creating and knowingly spreading alarmist or false news, in the abuse of fear motives in communication and in other misleading and unfair practices that we could observe within the campaign of candidate Babiš,” the association said. Accordingly, it points to a clear failure of the team, which names Andrej Babiš as professional president.
“The fish always stinks from the head, that’s why the one who is recommended for unethical campaign management is its sponsor – i.e. the presidential candidate and his home political movement ANO,” said APRA chairman Patrik Schober. He added, however, that the hired communication experts from the candidate’s closest team deliberately failed. “It was they who should have alerted the client to the barriers of ethical communication and proposed a solution that would not contradict good manners, professional principles or international standards. Otherwise, they should not have participated in the unethical implementation of the campaign. Unfortunately, it did not happen,” he stated.
APRA currently brings together 19 Czech and foreign PR agencies operating on the Czech market. The association was established as a professional association whose primary mission is to present the field of PR to the professional and client public or to cultivate the activities of agencies in a comprehensive manner.