International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has challenged the public relations and communications industry to put ethics at the heart of everything it does as it begins the #POWERofETHICS campaign.

To mark the start of ethics month, and further promote #POWERofETHICS, ICCO members will be contributing content including blog posts and highlighting how PR and communications organisations can best apply ethical principles and codes of conduct, how they can live by them, and how they can embed them into agency culture.

Speaking on the campaign launch, Francis Ingham MPRCA, Director General, PRCA, and Chief Executive, ICCO, said:
“The importance of high ethical standards within the PR industry cannot be emphasised enough. Having recently stood with our global sister organisations to defend the free press, and having supported the Global Alliance’s Global Principles of Ethical Practice in PR and Communication in their work to complement the ground-breaking ICCO Helsinki Principles, there has never been a better time to launch the #POWERofETHICS campaign.

“With that in mind, we challenge all PR organisations and practitioners to champion the #POWERofETHICS this September, urging both themselves and their fellow PR professionals to walk the talk when it comes to ethics in PR.”

#POWERofETHICS activities:

• @PRTalkUK twitter discussion on the power of ethics in PR tonight (3^rd September) at 20:30. Francis Ingham MPRCA, Chief Executive, ICCO and Director General, PRCA, will be taking part. Just use the hashtag #prtalk to join in
• PROCOM: Internal communications: tools for the employee experience, 4^th September, Helsinki
• Holmes Report: Ethics Roundtable with H+K Strategies on 12^th September, Singapore
• PRCA Events
• Responsible Influencer Marketing, 12^th September, London
• PRCA National Conference on 21^st September, London entitled ‘Embracing Change’ tackling ethical issues that the communications world is dealing with, reconsidering the social value of PR
• Ethics in Communications Webinars, Online: 15% off all upcoming ‘Ethics in PR and Communications’ courses this month. To receive the discount, email training@prca.org.uk or training@icco.com
• How are your ethics? 2^nd October, Birmingham
• ICCO Global Summit 4-5 October, Dublin. The Summit will include sessions on Combating Mistrust, Regional Ethical Challenges, Advocacy, and Responsible Data Science amongst many other topics
• Helsinki Declaration Advocates, we’re encouraging PR pros to revisit the ten principles and raise standards collectively by advocating them to colleagues and stakeholders
• Follow Ethics Blogs being added throughout September
• Join the conversation on Twitter using @iccopr #POWERofETHICS