Observing “Socio-Cultural Turn” in Public Relations through Campaigns: An Analysis on #KıyafetimeKarışma

“Socio-cultural turn” in public relations refers to a theoretical and methodological shift from the functional and managerial approaches to public relations. The perspective of socio-cultural turn puts forward that public relations is a societal practice and suggests public relations to be conceptualized as “a locus of transactions” in which meanings are produced. Based on this socio-cultural approach to public relations, the study aims to analyze the transformation that public relations has undergone through publics’ participation in public relations campaigns. In this context, #KıyafetimeKarışma campaign, which was conducted by We Will Stop Feminicide Platform with the participation of publics in 2017, is chosen as a case exemplifying the transformation of public relations and case study is used for the analysis. Linda Hon’s model titled “Model of Public Relations and Digital Social Advocacy” is utilized to analyze the case. The study puts forth that the concept of public in public relations literature has transformed and that publics can be described as “cocreators of meaning” produced in public relations campaigns. Besides, the study asserts that public relations campaigns conducted with publics’ participation has a potential of generating “locus of transactions” through which discourses on societal issues like male violence are produced, women’s solidarity is built, and sustainable platforms are founded.