Pat Thomas writes that the breast cancer drug Herceptin "prolongs a few lives for an average of four months at a cost of £400,000 per life extended, and for the majority of women for whom it does not work there is an increased risk of severe heart damage and the spread of their cancer to the central nervous system." Yet, the British press has declared it a "miracle cure," thanks to savvy PR. On behalf of drugmaker Roche, a Ketchum employee called reporter and cancer patient Lisa Jardine, offering her "the chance to ... do paid talks at Roche seminars and ... help find[ing] funding for her own use of Herceptin. ... 'She said she would make it worth my while,'" Jardine said. An employee at another of Roche's PR firms, Porter Novelli, volunteered her services to the group Women Fighting for Herceptin. The group successfully promoted many "unhappy women who couldn't get their hands on the drug, [who were] willing to tell their stories to TV, radio and the newspapers."

Andrew Young, the former civil rights leader turned chair of the front group Working Families for Wal-Mart, resigned from the pro-Wal-Mart group, after making remarks he now calls "demagogic" and "racist shorthand." During an interview with the Los Angeles Sentinel, Young said Wal-Mart should cause small local stores to go out of business, because "those are the people who have been overcharging us. ... First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs." Wal-Mart PR head Mona Williams said the retail giant was "appalled" by Young's remarks. A Financial Times overview of Wal-Mart's response to its increasing inclusion in political debates reveals that, on August 15, the company "sent 18,000 'voter education' letters to its employees in Iowa, pointing out what it said were factual errors made by politicians who had attacked the company. The group is to dispatch similar letters to its staff in other states."