Towards an Ethical PR? An Exploration into Student’s Ethical Perceptions towards the Sainsbury’s WWI Campaign

Sainsbury’s 2014 Christmas campaign ‘Christmas is for Sharing’ initiated criticism due to its creative interpretation of the 1914 World War One (WWI). The campaign was a celebration of a 20-year corporate partnership between Sainsbury’s and The Royal British Legion, as well as a tribute to the centennial anniversary of the start of WWI. This paper examined the future state of ethics in the PR industry, by exploring PR and marketing student’s perceptions of the Sainsbury’s Christmas campaign. The research methodology included a questionnaire aimed at students to gather statistical data, as well as a discourse analysis of the open-ended questionnaire responses to analyse ascribed meanings. The results have shown that majority of students held that the industry would become somewhat more ethical, with responses citing increased industry professionalism and the advance of ethics being included in the PR curriculum.

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