Elegant Understatement: A New Paradigm for Public Relations Practice

Public Relations Quarterly, Winter 2006/2007 by Gibson, Dirk, Gonzales, Jerra Leigh

A negative reputation is not merely an organizational liability - it is a lengthy problem as well. Reputation rehabilitation is not a quick or short-term process. A recent study by Burson-Marsteller concluded that "It takes companies slightly more than three years to recover from a crisis that damages their reputation" (PRTactics, September 2006, 4).

The Elegant Understatement Paradigm

Elegance is a somewhat subjective term as it involves personal judgments about style preferences and individual perceptions which tend to vary tremendously from person to person. Despite this difficulty, it is possible to not only offer a reasonably satisfactory explanation of elegance, but to demonstrate how it appeals to the members of target publics. To accomplish these purposes three main topics will be examined; 1) Elegance, 2) Understatement, and 3) Benefits of elegant understatement.

Elegance

Elegance may be interpreted differently by diverse individuals and groups, but it typically involves a sense of style, respectability, and class. Attractiveness combined with dignity and high character might be another way to characterize elegance. There is nothing trashy, juvenile, sophomoric or immature about elegance.

According to The New American Webster Dictionary, elegance is "Having or exhibiting good taste; luxurious" (1972, 154). Elegance, therefore, is not tasteless, ignorant, uncouth or substandard in any way, but rather superior, high quality and associated with sound character. It is protective of the rights, feelings, consciousness, reactions and perceptions of audience members.

Character is another important dimension of reputation. The Opinion Research Corporation observed, "In today's world of business risk - in which a company's standing and character are front and center paramount - a strong corporate reputation can be one of a company's premiere assets or conversely a liability and barrier to business success" (2004, 1).

Professionalism is another manifestation of elegance. The Public Relations Strategist recently advised practitioners that "Your professionalism should lead you to do your best for your business unit clients and the communications team even when circumstances aren't under your control. Communications is the art of the possible" (Signorovitch, 2006, 42).

Communication style, skill and substance are additional aspects of elegance. One specific dimension of communication elegance is the concept of "powerful" and "powerless" language. In addition to having the quality of eloquence, rhetoric must also achieve a predetermined effect, and that is more likely if communicators use effective language. Powerful language is generally more effective than less-powerful rhetorical alternatives according to William O'Barr and colleagues at Duke University.

This concept has been adapted for application to the practice of public relations. One study observed that "Bourdieu also enlightens the view of public relations as a discursive force producing symbolically powerful language. Given that practitioners have greater resources than other groups to participate in debates, their ability to generate misrecognition through these debates is correspondingly great" (Edwards, 2006, 230).