"Blog placement" has become a growing trend in marketing, with elite bloggers receiving gifts like show tickets, laptop computers, trips to Paris and bottles of champagne. A surprising number of bloggers seem unaware of ethics codes that exist to guide relations with advertisers, says Jaap Favier, research director at a technology research company. "The lines are blurring," he said. "Who can we trust? I think we're going to go through a couple of years where it's going to get more confusing. What is true and what is fake?"

"When the word 'Israel' is said outside its borders, we want it to invoke not fighting or soldiers, but a place that is desirable to visit and invest in, a place that preserves democratic ideals while struggling to exist," said Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, during a September meeting with "public relations executives, branding specialists and diplomats" in Tel Aviv. Livni "recently put the image initiative on the government's agenda and will soon develop a budget for the program," according to the Israeli Consulate in New York's media and public affairs consul. "A staffer with the London-based global ad firm Saatchi and Saatchi is already working with the Israelis free of charge on the re-branding effort." British researcher and branding expert Simon Anholt "said his surveys show that Israel's image abroad is so bad that any re-branding campaign would be 'pointless,'" unless Israel is "'prepared to change its behavior' in the areas of international peace and security." He added, "The most useful thing Israel can do ... is stop wasting taxpayer money in a re-branding campaign."

The Association of National Advertisers recently held its Multicultural Marketing Conference, "which drew more than 300 attendees from companies such as McDonald's Corp., Sprint, Home Depot and Lexus." Earvin "Magic" Johnson told the conference that early engagement of communities of color resulted in brand loyalty. If "somebody beat you in, we're going to stick with them," he said. The former basketball star "is himself a major multicultural marketer," notes Laurel Wentz, "with 103 Starbucks outlets, 32 Burger King restaurants, AMC movie theaters, 12 gyms and other holdings in what he describes as 'urban America.' His next venture, aimed at using his urban community for social networking, is the early 2007 launch of Magic New Media, including both wireless and the web." Last year, Johnson partnered with the Omnicom Group firm Zimmerman to launch ZMagic, which specializes in multicultural advertising.

The Los Angeles-based group Environment California says an industry-funded group is using "misleading research and tobacco industry-style lobbying to influence the debate on the effects of perchorate." Perchlorate is a rocket fuel ingredient and "a known thyroid inhibitor" often present in water supplies near military and manufacturing sites. The Perchlorate Study Group (PSG) "has lobbied for maximum contaminant levels of 200 parts per billion (ppb) in drinking water, much higher than the 24.5 ppb threshold favored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the 6 ppb limit being considered by the state of California," reports Fred Ortega. "More than half of all studies on the health effects of perchlorate published between 1995 and 2005 were funded by" PSG, which was founded by Lockheed Martin, Aerojet and Kerr McGee, "in response to efforts to regulate the potentially dangerous chemical." Environment California also notes that PSG retained the PR firm APCO Worldwide, which previously helped "Phillip Morris to fight anti-tobacco regulations," to "help undermine the case for thorough perchlorate cleanup."

Coke pulls in the rupees

"We learned from the previous round," said the vice-president of marketing for Coca-Cola India, explaining why the company has been more successful in countering pesticide contamination claims in 2006 than it had been previously. In 2003, an independent research lab reported that "tests it conducted found dangerously high levels of pesticide revenue in soft drinks being sold across India." Coke and Pepsi "denied the allegations" and Coke "merely 'hinted at the issue' in its advertising," in an attempt to marginalize the claims. Soft drink sales plunged. In August 2006, follow-up tests by the same lab also found pesticide residue, but "Coke opted for a more aggressive marketing response," including newspaper ads, "safety guaranteed" stickers, public tours of Coke plants, and "a television advertising campaign featuring testimonials by influential celebrities." In one ad, movie star Aamir Khan "looked studiously at a test tube held by a man in a white lab coat inside a Coke bottling plant," before drinking a Coke on camera. Coke recently reported "the first uptick in sales in the country in eight quarters."

"This was spin, and [the food industry] will have to get beyond that and make real changes or they'll get beat up again very soon." Perhaps a line from a nutritionist slamming the Better Business Bureaus' weak new voluntary restrictions on junk food marketing to kids? Instead, it's the president of MGP & Associates Public Relations, Mike Paul. Paul was castigating PR surrounding the "Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative" whose November 14, 2006 signers include McDonald's, Kraft, Pepsi and others. The companies will dedicate new advertising and PR to encourage "healthful lifestyles," among other things. Advertising Age's Stephanie Thompson and Ira Teinowitz point out that the companies already comply with most of the announced standards, which also include promoting products that meet government definitions of "healthy" and restrictions against product placements and licensing of cartoon characters. "Because the announcement was, by design, focused on delivering news of the creation of the initiative...no details were provided to frustrated journalists seeking examples of what real changes the new effort might create," they write. Harvard psychologist and author Susan Linn told the Washington Post "...[The companies'] marketing will be even more confusing for children because it will be linked to 'healthy lifestyle' messages."