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Influence tackles the highs and lows of the Public Relations firm Bell Pottinger. The documentary starts with the introduction of Lord Tim Bell and how his career started in advertising and communication. The story features many well-known political figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. Most of the documentary took place in England and South Africa and circled around the Bell Pottinger scandal in South Africa. The scandal was that Zuma and the Guptas paid the PR firm to stir up racial tension online, a smoking mirror, while they went about their business. After a series of emails emerged between the Guptas and Bell Pottinger, the business was caught in the biggest PR scandal in the history of the company. This also caused the company to close.
The main themes of the documentary are morality, power, and capitalism. The whole documentary circles around the point of money and those in power and how far those in power will go to stay there. In Public Relations, your morality and integrity are quite important as you are responsible for the reputation of your clients. It goes without saying that you should make ethical decisions regarding the future of a company. The documentary also dives into capitalism where a big PR company like Bell Pottinger would take advantage of the racial sensitivity in South Africa and exploiting it for capital. Bell Pottinger impacted Public Relations negatively as it was a respective firm that made these unethical decisions and jeopardized many PR firms’ credibility in their profession. The aspect of power comes in where multi-million-dollar companies like Bell Pottinger stay in power by neglecting their moral values and professionalism for capital. The more money they make, the more power they have.
Overall, the entire documentary was well scripted, with sharp imagery and professional filming that captured your attention. The interviews were all professional and very informative. I would recommend watching.
Picture: https://pinterest.com (finglobal.com)
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