[This second update update includes two new novels on PR from 1948 and 1958 referred to in Marvin N Olasky's Corporate Public Relations (1987, LEA) and a new paper on the history of film representations of PR from Australian academic Jane Johnston which was presented at the First International History of Public Relations Conference last year.]
In 2007, I asked PR educator colleagues in the UK for help in developing a list of films, television and radio programmes/series and books that either featured public relations as a core issue or referred to it in a passing way. They responded enthusiastically with suggestions that went back into the 1950s and forward to the present including films on current release and a soap opera set in a real PR consultancy in Manchester, UK. It was added to in 2008 with other references. Here’s the list we came up with – Can you add to it so that we have a world-wide resource on the visual and fictional presentation of PR?
FILMS:
Wag the Dog
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wag_the_Dog
Thank You for Smoking
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_for_Smoking
America’s Sweethearts
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265029/
The Sweet Smell of Success
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Smell_of_Success
The Devil wears Prada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_(film)
The Control Room
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Room_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391024/
Hancock (Alcoholic superhero cuckolds his PR man)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_(film)
The China Syndrome
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078966/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Syndrome
Sliding Doors – key character works in PR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_Doors
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/
Bridget Jones’s Diary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones’s_Diary
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155/
Days of Wine and Roses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Wine_and_Roses_(1962_film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055895/
Four’s a Crowd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four%27s_a_Crowd
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030151/
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049474/
Phone Booth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_Booth_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/
Primary Colors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_Colors_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119942/
Sex and the City (movie)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/
Waikiki Wedding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikiki_Wedding
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029742/
Jersey Girl
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300051/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Girl_(2004_film)
The Island
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)
In the Loop
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Loop_(film)
DOCUMENTARIES AND POLEMICS:
Roger and Me
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098213/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_&_Me
Century of the Self
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self
The War Room
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/
The Corporation
http://www.thecorporation.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation
The War You Don’t See (John Pilger)
http://www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see-trailer
Steel City
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/stories/s200734.htm
TELEVISION:
Absolutely Fabulous
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutely_Fabulous
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/abfab/
Absolute Power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Power_(comedy)
The Thick of It
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thick_of_It
Some Mothers do Have’Em
Party Animals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/partyanimals/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Animals_(TV_series)
The West Wing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200276/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing
Spitting Image
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086807/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_Image
Spinning Jenny – A new twist to PR film / TV with an interactive internet-based soap opera set in Manchester’s Brazen PR and made by online entertainment service Manchester-live.tv
http://www.manchester-live.tv/spinningjenny.html
http://www.youtube.com/spinningjennytv
PoweR Girls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PoweR_Girls
http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/power_girls/series.jhtml
Sex and the City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159206/
Spin City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_City
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115369/
The Spin Crowd
http://uk.eonline.com/on/shows/spin_crowd/index.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684855/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spin_Crowd
PR (CBC, Canada)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244356/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.R._(TV_series)
Kell on Earth – Kelle Cutrone’s series about her fashion PR agency, people’s republic
http://www.bravotv.com/kell-on-earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kell_on_Earth
BOOKS:
Christoper Buckley (1994) Thank you for Smoking. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0679431748;
Paper back Random House ISBN 0812976525
Alistair Campbell (2007) The Blair Years. Random House. Paperback August 2008, ISBN 0099514753
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Alastair_Campbell_diaries/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Years
Eric Dezenhall (2004) Jackie Disaster: A Mystery. St Martin’s Press. ISBN 0312307713
Anonymous [Joe Klein] (1996) Primary Colors. Grand Central Publishing, ISBN 0446604275
Graham Lancaster (1997) Grave Song. Coronet. Paperback ISBN: 0340667117.
David Michie – Conflict of Interest, Pure Deception, Expiry Date
http://www.davidmichie.com/index.php
http://www.twbooks.co.uk/authors/davidmichie.html
Daniel Price (2004) Slick. Villard. ISBN 1400062349
J.B. Priestley. (1996 reprint). The Image Men. Mandarin ISBN 0749322969
Mimi Thebo (2002) The saint who loved me. Allison & Busby. ISBN: 0749005041
Sloan Wilson (1955; 2002 reprint) The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Four Walls Eight Windows/ Capo Publishing. ISBN 1568582463
Charles Harrison (1948) Nobody’s Fool. Henry Holt. ASIN: B000I1UAO
Robert van Riper, (1958) A Really Sincere Guy. David McKay ASIN: B0007E5TB4
RADIO:
Absolute Power
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/absolute.shtml
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386149/
ARTICLES:
Johnston, J. (2010) A history of Public Relations on screen: Cinema and television depictions since the 1930s. Proceedings of the First International History of Public Relations Conference, Bournemouth University, July 8-9, 2010. pp. 188-209. Available at: http://media.bournemouth.ac.uk/downloads/IHPRC-2010-Proceedings.pdf
Miller, K. (1999) Public Relations in Film and Fiction. Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol 11, No.1, pp. 3 – 28