International Communication Certificate
I’ve always been interested in working in an industry that was international and multicultural in nature. Once I discovered my love for the tourism sector, I wanted to be able to prove that I can market to audiences in other countries. This certificate showcases my international communications classes, in particular International Public Relations and International & Cross-Cultural Advertising, that prepared me for working with international or multicultural audiences.
Introduction to Public Relations
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As an overview of the whole field, this introduction class teaches prospective public relations majors about the history of the field and famous past campaigns, PRSA (and PRSSA), and potential jobs that PR professionals could have. While this course did not delve too deeply into the greater strategies and tactics of public relations, it served as a foundation for the rest of my major classes to build on.
International Public Relations
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Over the course of this certificate, I learned the importance of not accidentally letting yourself subscribe to an ethnocentric point of view. This class took that principle and expanded it to the public relations field. This course examined regions of the world and some basic, but not technically universal, cultural differences that define them against American culture. With a particular focus on Hofstede's cultural dimensions, I learned how to critically analyze a culture to see what values and messaging that they would respond well to. In particular, I valued learning what I can do to make a campaign more successful internationally.
Principles of Advertising
The introductory advertising class, this course covers the history of the field, basic principles of design and the impact advertising has on everyday life. With a focus on integrated communications (public relations and marketing), this course taught me all the basics of paid media. Like many other communications courses, Principles of Advertising talked about media ethics. Asking questions about how advertising influences people, and whether that's inherently positive, negative or neutral is one of the many digital media ethics questions I find fascinating.
International & Cross-Cultural Advertising
In contrast to International Public Relations, this course focused more on the multicultural nature of the United States and subfields within those minority cultures. This included thinking about Hispanic/Latino, African American and Asian American audiences, as well as women and LGTBQ+ consumers. I learned how to consider details like contracting work to a local agency, symbolism and translation for my future campaigns. For my final group project, I examined a feminist advertising campaign in the United States and compared it to a similar campaign based in Brazil.
Ethics & Professional Responsibility in PR
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Ethics is one of PR's hottest topics. With multiple scandals every news cycle, it's difficult for public relations practitioners to prove that that they're one of the ethical ones. This course raised some of those touchy real-life scenarios and asked us what we would do in that situation. This case study approach really helped contextualize gray areas that exist in communications, and provides colorful examples of PR ethics gone wrong. I found this class to be extremely valuable on a personal level, especially when it came to exploring my own values.
All in all, this certificate program taught me values and other insights that I need to apply when working in international communications. The most crucial takeaway I received was the understanding of how important interacting with other cultures respectfully is for business. These studies of international integrated communications truly prepared me for working with multicultural or international audiences. The emphasis on globalization in terms of what it means for the media industry enhanced my understanding of what communicating via a campaign looks like across cultures and in different countries.