What can we, as communicators, take away from the recent debate around the FNB ad which is said to have taken an anti-ANC government position?
In a free-market economy operating in a democracy, companies are regarded as corporate citizens. That means, like all citizens, they have rights, freedoms, responsibilities and obligations to their stakeholders and their country. In order to function well, grow, develop and contribute positively to society, organisations therefore need to communicate on many levels in the public sphere: economic, social, environmental and political. Ideologically, these spheres are not neutral, instead they are fraught with conflict at times and hence there needs to be constant and consistent communication between them.
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