From Corporate Activism to “Dark PR:” Corporate Discourses and Their Influence on Public Opinion in the Digital Society

Abstract

From Corporate Activism to “Dark PR:” Corporate Discourses and Their In-fluence on Public Opinion in the Digital Society Traditionally the best-practice corporate communications strategy has been for companies to remain neutral with respect to social and political issues. Milton Friedman’s well-known 1970 article, A Friedman doctrine:The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits, famously prescribed that businesses should refrain from promoting social causes, and even condemns the practice writing: “The use of the cloak of social responsibility, and the nonsense spoken in its name by influential and prestigious businessmen, does clearly harm the foundations of a free society”