Collapsing and Integrating Concepts of "Public" and "Image" into a New Theory.

Abstract According to traditional public relations inquiry, public and corporate image are relatively separate theoretical constructs, although the relationship between them is evident. In the model proposed in this article—the receiver/image public model—because both constructs can be seen as determined through the same organizational, social, and personal factors and through the same receiver-oriented process, notions of public and image collapse into the same model of image/public. This model is suggested as an additional model for theorizing the process of how audience members take on membership in publics and receive images of corporations. The figure of multiple images and publics within the receiver is best understood through the cultural studies articulation model of meaning. This new figure of privileging the receiver as well as the organization has radical implications for the theory and the practice of public relations. In this new model, the organization is obligated to target its message to individuals, as well as to audiences or publics.