Corporate Advocacy: Rhetoric in the Information Age

Internal and external advocacy is a complex communication process, with many interwoven purposes, methods, and expected (or unexpected) outcomes. Judith Hoover and her contributors show what the advocacy processes are, using a fascinating set of case histories, and then analyze and evaluate them by means of rhetorical, cultural, critical, and argumentation theories. In doing so they blend organizational communication and classical rhetorical theory, and thus extend the concept of corporate advocacy into new areas of study. An important resource for teachers and students of communication theory and practice, and an unusual insight for corporate communication specialists.

In fourteen case studies analyzed through three significant communication theory perspectives, Hoover and her contributors examine the concept of advocacy by looking at corporate rhetoric, corporate cultures, and the hidden sources of power inherent in both. We listen to the messages of corporate spokespersons such as Lee Iacocca. We observe the internal cultures of business and industry. We investigate the meanings of such terms as Wall Street and consumerism. We broaden our view to include not only union advocacy, but also the role of language in the organizational distribution of power. By synthesizing these cases through yet a fourth perspective, the book not only extends the concept to recognize internal advocacy processes but also reveals the complexity of advocacy strategies that must be designed to accomplish multiple purposes and that must respond to multilayered and interconnected contexts.