Creativity, deception and ethical malpractice: A critique of the Trumanisation of marketing public relations through guerrilla campaigns.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a contemporary development in public relations and marketing practice. This study provides a critical insight into the ethics of the innovative campaign techniques that are currently being deployed by practitioners to meet the challenges of today’s complex communications environment. The paper, in turn, also highlights some of the real and emerging tensions that are currently present at the interface between public relations and marketing. The specific area under investigation is the nature, growth and ethical implications of guerrilla marketing campaigns. The paper will seek to examine the environmental factors that are influencing the new creative marketing PR platforms; provide an explanation and definition of guerrilla campaigns in a UK and European context; provide two campaign case studies to illustrate the definition; and promote a discussion of the ethical issues generated by the practice of guerrilla campaigns.