Press release: A tool for public relations

Press releases are amongst the most popular form of communication utilised by corporate institutions such as banking establishments as a tool for the maintenance of sound public relations. The current study compared press releases from two different levels of organisations; local and international in the attempt to decipher patterns in the use of proper nouns and pronouns. The method used was both qualitative and quantitative. The results revealed that there are social meanings implied in press releases with the proper noun choices made. International banks repeatedly use them to (re)introduce, and promote, themselves to the world market with the use of full forms singly, or accompanied by abbreviated forms. The local banks have the inclination to downplay their introductory, and promotional, function by using abbreviated forms of their proper nouns. In terms of proper nouns, there was an extension of the advertising device function proposed by Fairclough (1989), whereby they are also found to be used as a marker for collectivistic society (Hofstede, 2001). It is apparent from the study that careful consideration has to be taken in order to reap the best of the communication tool to maintain sound public relations in such corporations.