Public Relations Ethics

Yes right now we roughly know what is PR and what does it do and stuff. But are there ethics in PR?

What is ethics? In week 4's readings, author Elspeth Tilley described ethics as "about standards of behaviour, specifically, concern for 'good' behaviour and consideration of how our behaviour, as an individual or an organisation, affects the wellbeing of others or society as a whole."
Simply it means how our behaviour, morals and values affect the whole thing.

Is it important to have ethics in PR? Definitely. Without ethics, people may not agree or even feel disgusted at your campaign or message, therefore unable to garner their support. There are many examples of unethical issues such as when Coca-Cola company created an unaffiliated grassroots webpage and discussion which later people found out to be a form of advertisement for Coke Zero. This led to the company being ridiculed by bloggers and the mass public.
There are many are examples as well. But this should show that a PR practioner should be ethical in whatever campaign he/she does.

Is it easy to be ethical? Michael Josephson argues that there are 10 values which are important to help. The 10 values are honesty, integrity, keeping promises, fidelity, fairness, caring for others, respect for others, responsible citizenship, pursuit of excellence and accountability.
Of course it may be easy to label and write these values out. But how hard would it be to follow them? We are humans afterall, with so many worldly temptations out there, how hard must we restrain ourselves to fulfil these values?