"A variety of programmes designed to promote or protect a company's image and its individual products in the eyes of the public". This tool of promotion mix is:

Option 1 -> Sales promotion involves short-term incentives like discounts, coupons, and contests to stimulate immediate purchase, not focused on image building.

Option 2 -> Personal selling is face-to-face interaction between salespeople and customers to make sales, not primarily about managing public image.

Option 3 -> Advertising is paid, non-personal mass communication to promote products, focused more on creating awareness and persuasion than protecting corporate image.

Option 4 -> Public relations encompasses programs like press releases, events, crisis management, and community relations specifically designed to build and protect company reputation and public image.

Hence, 4. Public relations -> Public relations is specifically defined as the promotional tool that uses various programmes and activities to promote or protect a company's image and its products in the eyes of the public, making it the perfect match for the given definition -> correct