Today, July 16th is the first ever world’s Public Relations (PR) day, a day set aside to celebrate PR Practitioners all over the world. 

The day coincides with the birthday of Ivy Lee who was born in 1877 and is said to be the father of modern day Public Relations. 

PR practitioners have hitherto lamented they don't get the respect and appreciation that they deserve as advertisers. 

According to practitioners, the general public does not have a comprehensive understanding of their significance in the day to the day life of every individual.

Practitioners further pointed that although PR is widely accepted, it is not understood because of minimum coherence of its scope of functions. 

Analyst have said that all of these result to the little or no appreciation of PR in comparison with advertising. 

Commenting on the issue, the CEO of Black House Media BHM Ayeni Adekunle, mentioned that the world is doing itself a disservice due to the level of regard it has for the profession.

Ayeni however noted that things are about to change with the newly established PR day to be celebrated annually.

According to him: "PR is more than a terribly misunderstood, poorly appreciated, and thus poorly remunerated practice.

“We believe businesses, countries, and people do, not just practitioners, but themselves a huge disservice, if they continue to fail to see PR for what it is and should be: a strategic aspect of business and governance, invaluable in building relationships, preventing crises, achieving business objectives; pushing national interest, and preventing the kind of confusion that could ruin a company or lead nations to war," he said.