Message architects turn PR proxies

Leading comms professionals have been debating the evolving role of corporate PR after a series of high-profile cases in which organisations have called upon the consultants that craft their messages to act as company spokesmen in front of the media.

The most recent and obvious example has been Toyota, which drafted in its UK comms chief Scott Brownlee to represent the company in TV and radio interviews to handle the storm surrounding its faulty accelerator pedal.

Communications Director at travel operator Thomson Christian Cull, who often speaks on the company's behalf in BBC Watchdog interrogations, is another illustration of a recent trend, which many commentators believe started with Alastair Campbell's role under the Tony Blair administration.

However, PR practitioners are currently speculating as to whether this is a good thing for the profession.

Some believe that the trend highlights the increasing importance to companies of professionally executed crisis management and point to the adaptability of PR consultants in the way they handle the intense media pressure.

But others question the motives of CEOs, who could either lack the appropriate skills to deal with situations or are looking for someone else to take centre stage and divert attention away from themselves.

And this could be potentially damaging to the image of the profession, whereby the public face of PR is only ever seen in a crisis.