The Iranian presidential campaign of Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, "a conservative former revolutionary guard air force commander whose candidacy has the blessing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei," is patterned after that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, reports the Guardian. "The Qalibaf campaign is deploying focus groups," using them to compile "a list of 10 key priorities, including unemployment, inflation, social security and quality of life issues." In the campaign office, "strategists and policy wonks confer daily on how to market Mr. Qalibaf ... to Iran's vast army of young voters as a vigorous moderniser." The campaign is playing down Mr. Qalibaf's "strong religious convictions," showing him "without a beard" and "moonlighting as a commercial pilot for a local airline." Some Iranian reformers are criticizing "Mr. Qalibaf's carefully honed image of studied reasonableness," pointing to his 1999 call to crack down on student demonstrators.

A new report from the Council on Foreign Relations suggests that better U.S. communications with Muslim countries require "listening more, a humbler tone, and focusing on bilateral aid and partnership, while tolerating disagreement on controversial policy issues." The report, which was based on focus groups held in Morocco, Egypt and Indonesia, says U.S. tsunami relief, the Iraqi election and new Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts provide "a window of opportunity to change Muslim attitudes." Specific recommendations include engaging "local and regional media via press releases, interviews, Op-Eds, press conferences, and site visits," and launching "an advertising campaign on U.S. aid and support for reform in local and regional media, and acknowledge the U.S. government as the source." Focus group members "do not take seriously U.S. government media, such as Radio Sawa, al-Hurra TV, and Hi magazine, as information sources."

Product placements on television shows are booming, with this year's market expected to total $4.2 billion. "Advertisers pay as much as $2 million an episode to get their products featured on NBC's 'The Apprentice,'" reports the Los Angeles Times. At the TV industry's annual sales drive, actor Amanda Bynes of WB's "What I Like About You" said of her show's characters, "This season we found out, like, they eat Pringles and use Herbal Essence shampoo. Next season, we hope to find out what cellphones they're using and what cars they drive." Other recent product placements include a couple on Fox's "The O.C." looking at AmericanAirlines.com, a character on ABC's "Desperate Housewives" working for Buick LaCrosse, and contestants on CBS' "Survivor:Palau" using Home Depot tools. The Federal Communications Commission's Jonathan Adelstein said the current standard of listing paid sponsorships in the show's closing credits is inadequate disclosure.

In a column for Digital Producer magazine, Steven Klapow recounts that a producer of video news releases for an oil company was under strict instructions to avoid including images, including on B-roll footage, that may not look good for the sponsoring company. "We have to avoid any shots that can be taken out of context," the producer said. The sort of shots that could cause problems, Klapow wrote, includes "steam emitting from a refinery could be perceived or described as smoke" and "any dirty areas in shots that are captured at filling stations." The producers of fake news are opposing the on-screen disclosure of the sponsors of corporate videos.