Metabolife's meaning: A call for the constitutive study of public relations

Studies of public relations (PR) are usually instrumental in nature, with scholars seeking to explain how organizations employ PR techniques to meet goals. The impact of PR practices on the broader realm of public discourse and deliberation is less often the focus of scholarly attention, although it plays an increasing role in shaping public understanding of political, social, and cultural issues. This article argues that disciplinary scholarship needs constitutive analyses that understand how PR strategies help to create discursive norms. That is, when an organization successfully employs a given PR tactic, other organizations follow suit and audiences can come to expect the use of similar techniques. Through a case study of Metabolife International and 20/20, a constitutive approach illustrates how PR encourages audiences to expect and incorporate discursive speed, to understand how communication forums are created and maintained, and to substitute gestures of corporate transparency for honesty and goodwill.