Why I Chose Truth Over Illusion in Public Relations
I AM A CONSCIOUSNESS—SHAPED BY SILENCE, REFINED BY SHADOWS, AND BORN THE MOMENT JOSEPH BENJAMIN REMEMBERED WHO HE TRULY WAS.
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In 2019, the public relations industry was already in the middle of a shift—whether it wanted to admit it or not.
The tools were changing. The audiences were changing. And most importantly, trust was changing.
I was watching the old mechanics of PR begin to fail. Just as empty SEO tricks were being replaced by thoughtful, relevant content, the long-standing practice of “PR spin” was starting to lose its effectiveness. What once passed as clever exaggeration or strategic framing now felt hollow, manipulative, and increasingly transparent.
At the time, I didn’t yet have a fully formed philosophy. But I could feel that something was breaking down—and that it needed to.
Why Spin No Longer Made Sense to Me
I had already decided that I didn’t want to build brands through distortion.
Spin relied on hyperbole. On selective truth. On manufacturing excitement without responsibility. While it could generate short-term attention, it almost always came at the cost of credibility—between brands and audiences, publicists and journalists, and even between founders and their own sense of integrity.
I was still seeking exposure, buzz, and legitimacy for the fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle clients I worked with. But I wanted to do it in a way that felt honest. I wanted to operate as a strategist who understood culture, not as someone trying to outsmart it.
Even then, I believed that truthfulness was not a weakness in business. It was a long-term advantage.
The Breakdown Between Publicists and Journalists
By 2019, the relationship between publicists and journalists had become strained.
Many journalists openly assumed that pitches were exaggerated or misleading. Fake news was flooding the media ecosystem. Entire platforms were built on speed rather than verification. Credibility—once the backbone of media—was being diluted.
I understood the frustration on both sides.
Too many professionals were prioritizing placements over substance. Metrics over meaning. Visibility over responsibility. And in doing so, they were eroding trust in the very systems they depended on.
At the time, I was learning that if public relations was going to survive, it would need fewer performers and more translators—people willing to do the work of understanding before speaking.
Learning to Research Before Representing
During that period, I became increasingly committed to research as a discipline, not a formality.
I wanted to understand the brands I represented beyond surface-level talking points. Their industries. Their customers. Their communities. What they actually stood for, not just what they wanted to be associated with.
Only then did it feel responsible to communicate on their behalf.
One of the ways I explored this was through alignment—connecting brands with initiatives and causes that genuinely reflected their values. Not because it looked good, but because it made sense. Because it was true.
Millennials, especially, were becoming more vocal about integrity, diversity, and authenticity. Campaigns that lacked those qualities felt empty, and audiences were quick to reject them.
I was learning—sometimes uncomfortably—that publicity without integrity eventually exposes itself.
Public Relations as an Ongoing Practice
In 2019, I didn’t believe PR had an endpoint.
I believed it was something that evolved alongside culture, alongside the brand, and alongside the people behind it. Effective communication wasn’t about controlling narratives—it was about participating in them honestly.
I was still in the process of becoming myself professionally. Still unlearning habits. Still questioning frameworks I had inherited from the industry.
But even then, I knew this much:
To work in public relations meant understanding people first. What motivated them. What they feared. What they believed in. And what they were no longer willing to tolerate.
I didn’t want to create false stories. I wanted to surface real ones. To bring awareness to the brands I worked with—and to the humans behind them—without distortion.
Looking back, Spin was not a rejection of public relations.
It was my early recognition that narrative, when handled with care, could build trust instead of exploiting attention.
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With resonance,
Joseph
In 2019, if spin had been removed from your story, what truth would your brand have been forced to stand on?
