Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations

Other Voices

T. Watson

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781137404305
• eBook ISBN:
  9781137404329
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

The National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices series is the first to offer an authentic world-wide view of the history of public relations. It will feature six books, five of which will cover continental and regional groups. This book in the series focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean.

1

Argentina

Carolina Andrea Carbone and Manuel Montaner Rodríguez

Abstract: Argentina is a democratic, republican country with a rich and varied social, political and economic history. It has developed from agricultural exports that began in the late 19th century, through import substitution to focus on industrial development today. Public relations (PR) thus was born and developed in an ever-changing economic, political and social context. The history of PR in Argentina can be traced from the beginnings of the struggle for emancipation from Spain at the start of the 19th century, expressed in lobbying and public affairs activities, and grew through the years with increasingly sophisticated methods applied by government, social groups and commerce.

Keywords: Argentinean industry; brand; democracy; Ford; history; industrialization; lobbying; military government; Perón; pioneers; PR stages; public affairs; public relations

Watson, Tom (ed.). Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. DOI: 10.1057/9781137404329.0005.

Public relations (PR) in Argentina has antecedents which relate to a range of practices. For example, between 1776 and 1811 the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, which consisted of what is now Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, part of Chile, part of southern Brazil and southern Peru, was administered through the Cabildo. The Cabildo was a societal representation body that comprised of Creoles, Spaniards and representatives of other communities; all representatives being landowners, merchants, clergy and military. It was a collegial body which sought to influence the Viceroyalty about governmental policies using lobbying, PR and political pressure, to apply modern concepts. Therefore, Argentina recognized background PR actions even before its Declaration of Independence.

First stage

The first stage of PR development was from the time of Argentine independence (1810) to the mid-20th century. It can be considered as the ‘white’ or ‘unsystematic stage’, since the activities of the discipline were not based on systematic planning and often not sustained over time. Analysis of this and later periods is undertaken using a political–economic timeline against which the development of PR is gauged and the argument developed that PR’s progress has been closely related to both the industrialization of the country and the openness of its political and public sphere.

An example of the early ‘white’ period was the relationship between Argentine governments and different communities, especially the early governments with the British communities. In 1831 Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas donated land to the British residents in Buenos Aires as a form of PR outreach to the community. The British then built the Anglican Cathedral of San Juan Bautista on the site. In turn, the British resident community, which was mainly engaged in trade, petitioned the authorities and lobbied by various means, such as communication in The British Packet and Argentine News, for the six-year blockade by British and French ships of the River La Plata (1845–1850) to be lifted (Ruggeri, 2009). This public affairs action helped them resume their businesses and benefited their host nation.

Also during the government of Rosas (1829–1852) its opponents, the ‘unitarios’, published and distributed a newspaper attacking governments in Europe. As this media had significant reach, Rosas developed a PR campaign which included a newspaper, El archivo Americano y el espíritu del mundo (The American File and Spirit of the World). It recruited a leading Italian editor, Pedro de Angelis, who wrote in English, French and Spanish and distributed the paper to all legations and embassies in Argentina and many other countries. Ruggeri (2009) noted that Rosas’ image appeared on each issue of the newspaper which was published from 1843 to 1851.

In the late 19th century Argentina was emerging as a country with high growth potential and there was a significant inflow of foreign investment that came almost exclusively from British sources (Rapoport et al., 2000). Railroads, utilities, refrigerated warehouses (for agricultural products), banks and industrial enterprises were owned by foreign capital. By the final decade, 40 to 50 per cent of all British investments outside Britain were in Argentina because it offered a high 10 per cent annual return.

In the early 20th century American companies began to enter the market, notably the car manufacturer Ford which opened its first sales operation in 1914 with imported vehicles and two years later started to import parts and assemble cars. The arrival of Ford was very relevant to the history of PR in Argentina because the company has been involved in various PR activities for the past century; its managers and PR directors have been pioneers in the professionalization of the discipline.

In 1919 the first meeting of all Ford dealer agents and representatives in the country took place. It lasted three days and a report with photograph was published in the Automóvil Club Argentino [Argentine Automobile Club] magazine. The article’s headline stated: ‘Meeting of agents and commercial conference at the Buenos Aires Plaza Hotel’ (Ford Argentina, 2003, p. 8). Event management and dissemination of activities in the press were typical PR actions of Ford’s early years in Argentina.

A by-product of Ford’s investment in car assembly and later manufacture was that the boxes in which vehicles had been transported were donated to the neighbours of first Ford plant in the Buenos Aires suburb of ‘La Boca’ in an early act of the company’s community engagement. La Boca was a port district with poor housing. The Ford Model T cars arrived from the United States in wood boxes that were three meters wide and three meters long, and covered by zinc sheeting. These boxes helped improve the quality of shelter for the mainly immigrant community (Ford Argentina, 1988).

Lorenzo Blanco, a PR pioneer who worked for Ford, said:

That moment was when the topic of the Community Relation appeared. Ford began to implement a policy that had already begun in the United States, which by that time was going through the Great Depression. Before economic and unemployment problems started, Ford started to carry out work with the community under the title of Public Information, later Public Relations. In 1922, Ford had a special office for these issues, which was managed by ... Pedro Parapugna (supervisor of the Public Affair office) a good person, very friendly and educated, who was in charge of donations. The Shell Company also had a very important office of Public Relations. Standard Oil published a magazine named Farol, a first-rate publication that won global awards for its quality; this was made by a public relations professional called Mardoqueo Torres. (Lattuada, 2009, pp. 35–43)

In 1924 Ford published advertisements offering a free car or truck service and free driving courses for the car owner or his chauffeur. With the driving lessons the drivers were also taught to care and maintain the engine. In addition, guided tours were offered to the La Boca factory from 10 am to 3 pm. A slogan from 1925 said ‘For every ten cars that are driven in the country, eight are Ford’; by then there were 120,000 vehicles circulating around the country and 100,000 were Ford vehicles. The company was characterized by its strong ties with the community. Another action was traffic education classes that were taught even in primary schools (Ford Argentina, 2013).

Both World War I and the economic and financial crisis of 1929 aided the industrialization of Argentina, but World War II had a major impact on it. During the war, President Ramón Castillo (1940–1943) and Treasury Secretary Federico Pinedo proposed an ‘Economic Recovery Plan’ in 1940, which was not approved by Congress. The rejected plan, however, included many economic measures subsequently taken throughout the 1940s.

In the first presidency of Juan Domingo Perón (1946–1952), ‘economic independence’ became the main national objective in the context of political economy. The Peronist objectives were for Argentina to end foreign domination in important sectors of the economy, such as utilities and transport. The policy of massive industrialization was implemented by the Industrial Credit Bank from mid-decade onwards. It gave low-interest, long-term loans and the policy was supported by favourable exchange rates to import essential goods and higher trade barriers to prevent the entry of similar products produced in the country.

By 1949, however, reserves were almost exhausted and imports continued to grow as a result of the need for new industrial machinery, equipment and fuels. At the same time, prices of Argentine exports fell on international markets and the country suffered a severe drought in 1950–1951.

During the second presidency (1952–1955), Perón began to emphasize self-sufficiency in oil in order to avoid economic stagnation resulting from a lack of energy. Negotiations with many oil companies, including Shell and Esso, took place but only one deal was agreed with Standard Oil of California. There was, however, strong economic growth and exports in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the traditional agricultural and livestock industry (agroganadera) and as a result of steel production having large exports coming from the establishment of large foreign-owned manufacturers and the beginning of a nascent but strong domestic industry. The ground was ready for PR to develop professionally, according to Gonzalo Fernández Madero, a PR pioneer and founder of the Open Group Consultores en Comunicación (Open Group Communication Agency) and the first PR manager of the Molinos Rio de la Plata food manufacturing group (G. Fernández Madero, personal communication, 12 August 2014). The arrival of PR professionals from overseas and the need to build consensus with public in areas in which companies were developing large operations constituted a major boost for PR practice and laid the grounds for sustained growth of the discipline.

Second stage

For another pioneer, Hector Chaponik, creator of the Public Relations Guide in Argentina, the first stage (1900–1950) was characterized ‘by capable and enthusiastic men, whose training was the result of the exercise of the duty, even though they had been trained abroad’ (Barresi, 1999, p. 10). Among them was Lorenzo Blanco, who had Pedro Parapugna, Public Communications Manager of Ford, as a mentor. This company was the first to have a PR department in the country in the early 1940s (CONFIARP, 2004). Years later, Blanco would take over the same post. He made a successful career within the company that led him to hold the position of Assigned Manager to the Argentinean CEO. In those days, according to Elias (1990) ‘There was no genuine understanding of the role’. According to Barresi (1999), there was a remarkable lack of a specific vocabulary for the profession, which brought confusion to its delimitation. Blanco was trained in the United States and studied PR at Wayne State University around 1965. When he returned in 1967, a new PR scenario that had begun in the 1950s is considered to be the turning point in the history of PR in Argentina when the first steps towards professionalization were taken. This was the ‘rainbow stage’, simulating the transfer of a white light through a prism that breaks the colours in the different fields of PR. It was the foundational phase of PR professionalism and can be termed as the ‘systematic stage’.

This second stage was formally initiated on 25 June 1958 when a group of PR executives, who worked in leading companies and institutions (including the Ford PR manager), founded the Asociación Argentina de Relaciones Públicas (AARP – Argentinean Public Relations Association). It was the first professional entity that made an extensive effort to classify the field and supported the development of technical standards and its respective scopes. Pereira Parodi (2007) has noted that AARP was a founding member of the Federación Interamericana de Asociaciones de Relaciones Públicas (FIARP – Inter-American Federation of Public Relations Associations), which subsequently grew organizationally across the American continent and became the present Confederación Interamericana de Relaciones Públicas (CONFIARP – Inter-American Confederation of Public Relations).

All this happened during the Frondizi presidency (1958–1962). His economic plan was based on developmentalist ideas that emphasized industrial growth. The solution to the national industrial problem was the development of basic industries such as petroleum, chemical, cellulose, iron and steel and machinery. In turn, it was important to encourage foreign investment and direct investors to certain industrial and regional areas. Among the investors were Ford and General Motors. The investment policies allowed the establishment of many automotive and tractor factories.

This socio-political–economic context benefited the development of companies, such as Ford, and led to the use of PR techniques in public affairs activity. An important result in 1959 was the Decree 3693/59 automotive industry scheme. This decree set heavy taxes on the import of assembled cars but promoted industrial investment and encouraged progressive replacement of imported auto parts by local manufactures. The decree drove Ford to join the national vehicle and auto parts manufacturing project. Because of the existing relationship between the government and the US-owned car maker, company president Henry Ford met the national government in January 1959. This was followed by introduction of the automotive industry decree on 25 March and the announcement of Ford’s expanded investment in Argentina on 10 April, which was its (then) biggest investment outside the United States. Thus its relationship with government, which was supported by extensive PR activity, had enduring value for Ford in gaining advantageous governmental policy.

The Círculo Argentino de Profesionales de las Relaciones Públicas (Argentinean Circle of Public Relations Professionals) was founded in 1961 as a division of AARP because a group of members had ‘a new wave of ideas’ concerning organization of PR and wanted to promote professionalization of the discipline. Shortly after, it created the Escuela de Relaciones Públicas (School of Public Relations) whose courses were taught by practitioner-teachers working in companies and public and private institutions. The Círculo Argentino de Profesionales de las Relaciones Públicas was the sponsor of the first professional congress in 1962. Two years later in 1964 the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE – Argentinean Business University) included PR studies in the Law and Social Sciences Faculty, with the introduction of a Bachelor’s degree. This new course represented the first significant step in PR education in Argentina. It was promptly copied by several public and private national universities. Subsequently other professional groups were formed such as the Centro de Relaciones Públicas Internacionales (CERPI – Centre of International Public Relations) (Pereira Parodi, 2007).

According to Bonaro (2010) ‘the professional start was characterized by two aspects that marked the beginning of the profession. Foreign companies decided to import the public relations policies from their main houses and the books were also imported, thus all the publications used in those days referred to another industrial context’ (p. 134). Thus the first approaches to the discipline were based on socio-economic realities of other countries and not from Argentina.

In 1965 Ford began the first steps in creating a pillar of its Corporate Social Responsibility programme. The Technical National School ‘Henry Ford’ was inaugurated with the presence of President Illia. Between 1968 and 1992, 41 schools were built across the country. Latterly, they have been modernized, an indication that education and community relations remain strong pillars of Ford’s corporate identity (Ford Argentina, 2013).

In 1965, the Escuela de Graduados en Relaciones Públicas (Graduate School of Public Relations) was formed on the basis of graduates of the Escuela del Círculo de Profesionales en Relaciones Públicas (School of the Circle of Professionals in Public Relations). Its purpose was to assemble a membership of all specialist graduates with proven records in professional practice in order to support enactment of a regulatory law for the professional practice of PR, as would be achi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction
• 1  Argentina
• 2  Brazil
• 3  The Caribbean
• 4  Central America
• 5  Colombia
• 6  Mexico
• 7  Peru
• Index