衛生類B級：閱讀理解Characteristics

　　Publicity offers several benefits. There are not costs for message time or

　　space. An ad in prime-time television may cost $250，000 to $5000，000 or more per

　　minute， whereas a five-minute report on a network newscast would not cost

　　anything. However， there are costs for news releases， a publicity department，

　　and other items. As with advertising， publicity reaches a mass audience. Within

　　a short time， new products or company policies are widely known.

　　Credibility about messages is high， because they are reported in

　　independent media. A newspaper review of a movie has more believability than an

　　ad in the same paper， because the reader associates independence with

　　objectivity. Similarly， people are more likely to pay attention to news reports

　　than to ads. For example， Womens Wear Daily has both fashion reports and

　　advertisements. Readers spend time reading the stories， but they flip through

　　the ads. Furthermore， there may be 10 commercials during a half-hour television

　　program or hundreds of ads in a magazine. Feature stories are much fewer in

　　number and stand out clearly.

　　Publicity also has some significant limitations. A firm has little control

　　over messages， their timing， their placement， or their coverage by a given

　　medium. It may issue detailed news releases and find only portions cited by the

　　media， and media have the ability to be much more critical than a company would

　　like.

　　For example， in 1982， Procter & Gamble faced a substantial publicity

　　problem over the meaning of its 123-year-old company logo. A few ministers and

　　other private citizens believed resulted in the firm receiving 15，000 phone

　　calls about the rumor in June alone. To combat this negative publicity， the firm

　　issued news releases featuring prominent clergy that refuted the rumors，

　　threatened to sue those people spreading the stories， and had a spokesperson

　　appear on Good Morning America. The media cooperated with the company and the

　　false rumors were temporarily put to rest. However， in 1985， negative publicity

　　became so disruptive that Procter & Gamble decided to remove the logo from

　　its-products.

　　A firm may want publicity during certain periods， such as when a new

　　product is introduced or new store opened， but the media may not cover the

　　introduction or opening until after the time it would aid the firm. Similarly，

　　media determine the placement of a story; it may follow a report on crime or

　　sports. Finally， the media ascertain whether to cover a story at all and the

　　amount of coverage to be devoted to it. A company-sponsored fobs program might

　　go unreported or receive three-sentence coverage in a local newspaper.