A Tale of Power, Passion and Persuasion: Bloggers, Public Relations and Ethics

Abstract

Within public relations the questions of ethical theory and practice have been given new momentum with the rise of influencers in social media, such as bloggers, and the related phenomenon of stealth marketing. This paper explores the views of a specific community of these new influencers – so-called mum bloggers – following the call for more research in this area and with the theory of dialogic public relations as a start point. Taken from an online survey of Australian mum bloggers, the paper analyses the qualitative responses of 238 bloggers. Almost 70 per cent of respondents believe there are no ethical issues in blogging. Of those respondents who believe there are issues see that ‘sponsored posts’ – written commentary on blogs that is paid for by brands – are a major ethical issue.