"Activists are using the internet to fight large companies over ethical issues. Yet many major brand-owners lack a clear counter-strategy," warns this industry trade publication.

Greenbrier high school senior, Mike Cameron was suspended from school for wearing a Pepsi shirt at a Coke Day rally at his school. The Coke Day rally, dreamed up by the school's student government, was part of a marketing contest that offered $10,000 to the high school that does the best job of distributing Coca-Cola coupons. At Greenbrier, students were encouraged to dress in Coke's red and white and lined up to spell out the word "COKE" while more than a dozen of the company's executives looked on.

Fewer than half of adult Americans believe the media offers fair, balanced coverage of the news, according to a 1997 survey performed by the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The survey sought to compare attitudes among different ethnic groups but found that all ethnic groups are dissatisfied with the quality of current journalism. Overall, only 47.3 percent of Americans feel that newspapers are fair.