It’s fun to scoff (Scouting for spin doctors: Now you can even get a badge in PR is how it’s subbed in the Telegraph print edition).
Those hoping to earn the new public relations badge, which will be available for explorer scouts aged 14 to 18, must give a talk to another organisation about scouting and secure media coverage for a scouting event.
Quite sensible and reasonably challenging. School leavers arrive at university with no prior knowledge of public relations, which sometimes leads to disappointment with the course. I look forward to welcoming some scouts with some ready-made items for their portfolios and a desire to learn more about public relations.
I was no scout (I viewed the uniforms as too militaristic), but as a teenager I was interviewed on local television talking about my time working with special needs children through Community Service Volunteers. Can I have my badge back please?
PR Studies 
Hi Richard,
I wonder what current PR practitioners should have to do to get themselves a badge in PR?
Perhaps ‘pitching’ a tent would be one of them? (please excuse the terrible pun…)
How to create smoke without fire?
Welcome, Ben. I’ve added Pudding Relations to my blogroll.
This is certainly an interesting development by the Scouts Association and an innovative way of dispelling its old-fashioned stereotype. I personally think that the Scouts need to move with times, whilst being respectful to their heritage and this is a wise move.
I will pose a question; What would impress a future employer more? Evidence of generating media coverage and managing an event or the ability to tie a knot?
Given that this badge has actually been around since 1997, the real question is whether we have seen anyone choosing a career so far on the basis of their introduction to the “art” through scouting.
I doubt it – but also I don’t get the sense that the PR industry has recognised the potential here. Maybe though the CIPR or University PR degree courses, we should reach out to help scouts achieve the badge, and learn more about the possibility of PR as a career path.