Course: Introduction to Public Relations

Course Code: DHR 1223 / DIB 1223 / DPR 1153

Lecturer: Miss Nita Yusnee Mohamad Idris

DIPLOMA IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (DHRM)

DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS (DIB)
DIPLOMA IN MASS COMMUNICATION (DMC)
ASSIGNMENT 1

TITLE: CONCEPT AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Assignment Objectives:
(1) To enable students to practice effective critical thinking and writing skills.
(2) To enable students to apply the theory aspects of the topics learned.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. This is an individual-based assignment.
2. Read the questions carefully to understand the concept and application.
3. You may use the sources from the Internet, journals, books, etc. to elaborate your answers.

Part 1: Nike, Inc.

Nike, Inc. is an American multinational corporation involved in the design, development,
manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of apparel, footwear, accessories,
equipment, and services. Nike also markets products under Nike Pro, Nike+, Nike Golf, Nike
Blazers, Air Jordan, Air Max and others as well as subsidiaries including Jordan, Hurley Int.
and Converse. Despite its growing success, Nike has been inundated with criticism involving
unethical treatment of employees, child labor, sweatshop, environmental issues, social
injustice, etc. This has affected Nike’s reputation that result on the low trust and confidence
from its stakeholders worldwide. Nike has worked hard to remain as the prominent global
company and tries to handle and manage all the issues to gain the trust from its stakeholders.

Questions:
(1) Discuss, with facts and justifications, the ethical issues faced by Nike as follows:
1) Sweatshop
2) Unethical treatment of employees
3) Child labor

(2) Describe the future challenges that Nike may encounter in its marketing,
operation/production, branding, etc. and how the company responds to these challenges.

(3) Despite the negative views, discuss the company’s involvement in the Corporate Social
Responsibility (if any). Provide examples to support your points.

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Course: Introduction to Public Relations
Course Code: DHR 1223 / DIB 1223 / DPR 1153
Lecturer: Miss Nita Yusnee Mohamad Idris

(4) As the Public Relations Manager, propose to the top management on how Nike could
effectively utilize social media to create positive publicity and building sustainable
competitive advantage.

(5) Discuss how Nike’s top management could apply effective public relations strategies to
deal with the current and future challenges as well as to lead the company towards
sustainable competitive advantage.

Part 2: The Body Shop

A company which truly honours the actions and principles of corporate social responsibility is
The Body Shop. Anita Roddick, Human Rights Activists,ss Founder of The Body Shop,
opened her first store in March, 1976 in Brighton, on the south coast of England. The
company produces beautifying products through natural ingredients which they seek out
globally, they do it not for fashion purposes but because they really want to enhance natural
beauty and express unique personalities. The company became a public company in 1985,
which followed its creation of an environmental projects department with its first major
window campaign being “Save the Whale” with Greenpeace in 1986. The Body Shop
Foundation was established in 1990 with three main focuses: Animal protection, Human rights
and Environmental protection which strive to protect animals, the planet and its people. The
Body Shop is very passionate on animal protection and believes that cosmetic testing should
not be tested on animals. As a result, Loral, the parent company has founded research and
development of EpiSkin, a synthetically grown human skin which would be used for testing of
cosmetics throughout all shops. The company is continuously seeking to reduce its impact on
the environment, especially being a global business. The Body Shop amongst many other
globally operating firms impose ethics of its business environment within the business and
throughout existing local environs. Globalization in this sense allows local communities to be
benefited from employment opportunities, enhancement of communities - allows local
suppliers to feel worthy when producing raw materials through the suppliers code of conduct
which they would have to comply to.

Questions:
(1) The Body Shop involved in its major window campaign “Save the Whale” with
Greenpeace in 1986. Describe this campaign and the main objectives of carrying out this
campaign.

(2) Globalization allows local communities to benefit from employment opportunities,

enhancement of communities. Explain how local communities can benefit from
employment opportunities provided by The Body Shop.

(3) Companies who indulge in corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviours do so on its
own free will – it is not a law that organizations’ need to follow. Explain this statement
from your point of views.

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Course: Introduction to Public Relations
Course Code: DHR 1223 / DIB 1223 / DPR 1153
Lecturer: Miss Nita Yusnee Mohamad Idris

Part 3: Uniqlo
Founded in 1963, Uniqlo is one of the well-known Fast Retailing Group of Japanese company.
Uniqlo provides consumers with the most suitable clothing for consumers around the world
with uniform prices and uniform services. With the advent of the new media era, Uniqlo's
brand communication concept has also undergone a profound transformation. Beginning in
July 2017, Uniqlo launched a whole-product recycling campaign with the theme of "one piece
of clothing delivering thousands of loves" in national stores, and appealed to caring people to
recycle unused clothes and donate clothes to stores. In August, Uniqlo teamed up with the
China Soong Ching Ling Foundation to travel to Ningxia to hand over the recycled love
clothes to the local children and their families. While passing on love, they will feel the
warmth from all over the society and help them grow healthily and confidently. Through the
love recycling activities, it is possible to pass the love and help consumers establish a green
lifestyle, so as to play the value of the clothing. Uniqlo's public relations activities stay in
promoting their social responsibility and product quality.

Questions:
(1) Discuss the effect(s) after Uniqlo has launched its whole-product recycling campaign
“One piece of clothing delivering thousands of loves.”

(2) Recommend how Uniqlo can further effectively uses its public relations to provide more
attention and create more awareness to its stakeholders.

(3) Suggest ONE (1) type of social media platform that can further create more attention to
the public. Elaborate your answer with suitable examples.

4. The report will be marked based on the following criteria:

(1) The points are logically ordered, supporting details specific to questions (20 Marks)
(2) The justifications are consistent and aligned with the elaborations (20 Marks)
(3) All relevant aspects and analysis were discussed comprehensively (20 Marks)
(4) Information is presented in effective order, good structure of paragraphs (5 Marks)
(5) The report is cited and appear with correct formatting (5 Marks)
[TOTAL: 70 MARKS]

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
(1) Assignment Format (Report / Proposal)
Font Type Times New Roman
Font Size Size 12
Spacing 1.5 Lines
Paragraphing Alignment Justified
The report must contain page numbers
Provide with the Table of Content for easy reference
The report must provide with REFERENCES
The report must provide with DECLARATION/CERTIFICATION
Use the latest cover page
Page 3 of 4
Course: Introduction to Public Relations
Course Code: DHR 1223 / DIB 1223 / DPR 1153
Lecturer: Miss Nita Yusnee Mohamad Idris

(2) Assignment Submission

The assignment given is due on the assigned date. The ASSIGNMENT 1 MUST BE
SUBMITTED BY 25 MAY 2022, WEDNESDAY BY OR BEFORE 6:00 PM. The
assignment must be submitted through LMS turnitin.

(3) Plagiarism
Students MUST provide a source of references to ensure that plagiarism is avoided. Penalty
will be given if the student fails to provide the source of references and if the report contains
more than the plagiarized contents, the report might be subject to being rejected and given 0.
The assignment will be evaluated using Turnitin checking to ensure the percentage of
plagiarism is kept minimum.

(4) Rubric Grading Criteria

The assignment is based on the Rubric grading criteria to ensure effective and
professionalism in marking and overall assessment

Criteria Grading
 Not properly organized and arranged; not properly in order.
 Most ideas were not well-developed; some main points lack details; the
contents were not properly presented. 0 – 30 Marks
 Not properly arranged in terms of sentence structure; fails to follow all the
requirements with improper alignment; not clear and unprofessional (Poor)
 No references at all to support the report
 The task organized but needs some improvements and amendments.
 Some ideas need to be detailed out; good presentation of contents
 Meets the format requirements with good style and structure arrangement; 40 – 49 Marks
some parts need to amend (paragraphing, sentence, organizing, etc.);
(Average)
some points are clear by may lack variation.
 Needs to add some more references to support
 Good organization and nicely arranged according to sequence.
 The content is clearly stated to relate with the criteria in the assignment
brief; showing good arrangements of details. 50 – 59 Marks
 Structure is arranged accordingly; points are clear but may be with few
(Good)
errors; format requirements are in good order.
 Good task with good references.
 Well-organized and readable includes all the requirements needed; clearly
points out the related topics.
 The content meets all the assignment criteria; good findings with details; 60 - 70 Marks
the overall contents are well-presented.
(Excellent)
 Outstanding style with good order; meets all format requirements with
attention to detail; neat and professional look.
 The reported provided with reliable sources of references.

END OF PAGE

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