the hopwood PR blog

By Maya Mistry

For five days in November, I was conducting some market research at the BBC Good Food Show. A colleague examining my work slightly touched a nerve by saying: “PR’s just a pretty girl with a clipboard really isn’t it?’

Although slightly insulted and feeling my qualifications were being under minded, it made me wonder how true this comment was. Are good looks really important for effective PR? Do employees look for attractive staff to reflect the image of the company?

A great smile and an Armani suit could be your initial pull towards a potential client, but there is a lot more skill and tactic involved to achieve seduction, persuasion and constructive relationships.

We are all aware of how good looks are important in terms of an up to date and well designed website, an eye catching flyer or brochure and even an attractive stand at an exhibition. But how important are the looks of the people behind that stand or handing out the brochure?

Daniel Hamermesh author of the study Changing Looks and Changing “Discrimination”: The Beauty of Economist, found studies suggesting companies that hire good looking people tend to turn a higher profit.

Also, according to Gordon Patzer, author of ‘LOOKS: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined’, good looking people are more inspirational. He said: “People are more willing to do things when asked by someone of high physical attractiveness, than someone of low physical attractiveness.”

I don’t assume that society has become so shallow that they would only listen to people who are attractive, but there is a slight truth about these findings.

Many Americans believe that President Barrack Obama’s good looks had an impact on his success. Recently a news reporter asked Obama whether he was too good-looking to relate to working class people. She stated how some think that Obama looks like a male cover model from the magazine “GQ”.

He responded by saying that he only has four pairs of shoes and all his suits look the same. He went on to talk about his past work as a community officer, and talked of the tough up bringing he had as a child. It seems that the reporter had dismissed the presidents past but this proves that looks can sometimes overrule words of communication.

These seems to be a subtle relationship between good looks and PR; whether it be a good looking VK Alco-pop girl or the president of the United States. But what is not recognised by eye, is the charisma, charm, humour and persuasive tone that come with great public relations and lobbying.