PR Watch, Third Quarter 1996, Volume 3, No. 3

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

Three years ago the first issue of PR Watch issued this call: "Wanted: PR whistleblowers. . . . We accept unsolicited videotapes, memos, minutes of meetings, strategy plans, and other documents." In response we've received faxes, email, packages and phone calls.

"What can you tell me about Contributions Watch?" asked Washington Post reporter Ruth Marcus one recent Friday.

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

PR Watch has obtained documents detailing the secret relationship between Philip Morris, the tobacco-and-food conglomerate, and "Contributions Watch," a PR front group which poses as a "public interest" campaign reform organization. CW's hidden agenda is to dig up dirt at the state level for the corporate clients of its creator, a Washington, DC public relations firm called the State Affairs Company (SAC). SAC and CW work to attack the political enemies of their clients, and to smear the "hidden, undisclosed consumerist agendas" of real public interest groups like Consumers Union, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Ralph Nader's Public Interest Research Group, and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.

When PR Watch phoned CW Executive Director Warren Miller on September 26, he refused to take our call.

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

On September 19, 1996, the widow of the original Marlboro Man filed a lawsuit in Texas charging that her husband died from using the product that made him a household word.

David McLean was hired in the early 1960s to portray the "Marlboro Man" in television and print ads. He was obligated to smoke Marlboros as he posed for television and print ads, smoking up to five packs per take in order to get the right look.

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

Over the past half century the tobacco industry, led by Philip Morris, has used front groups like the Tobacco Industry Research Committee and the National Smokers Alliance (a SAC client) to protect its $100 billion a year in gross profits.

Philip Morris is currently a major force and financier behind "tort reform"--the big business campaign to radically reduce the damages that companies must pay for the deaths, pain and suffering caused by their products.

Tobacco, an addictive drug, kills millions world-wide every year.

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

Two founding partners in the State Affairs Company were involved previously with sleaze and coverup as aides to now-Senator Chuck Robb (D-VA).

David McCloud served as Robb's Chief of Staff during Robb's stint as Governor of Virginia, and went on to occupy the same post after Robb's election to the Senate.

Robert L.

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

State Affairs Company isn't the only powerful DC PR/lobby outfit behind the Contributions Watch deception. So is APCO & Associates, a part of the Grey Advertising empire. APCO specializes in setting up front groups and coalitions for the tobacco and insurance industries.

APCO's vice presidents, Neal Cohen and B. Jay Cooper, work with Contributions Watch on behalf of Philip Morris. Cohen and Cooper are the PR wizards behind the so-called "tort reform movement" and groups such as the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA).