With increasing criticism that "bottled water has misleading labels and is of inferior quality to municipal water systems," and the governments of San Francisco and Salt Lake City prohibiting city agencies from buying bottled water, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the American Beverage Association (ABA) have ramped up their PR. The two industry groups "have been working together on heavy media outreach, blog monitoring, SMTs" -- satellite media tours, sponsored canned TV interviews -- "and TV, newspaper, and radio interviews," reports PR Week. IBWA president Joe Doss said that "an integral part of the communications effort was the monitoring of blogs and comments from other groups." IBWA "is also reaching out to all mayors and state government-related groups 'that might be interested in this issue,'" added Doss. ABA's "government affairs team is also doing a lot of one-on-one meetings with government officials." Corporate Accountability International, an advocacy group with a "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, said it's trying to raise awareness of "the importance of our public water systems."

On August 6, "when opening statements are set to begin in the trial over Starbucks' anti-union operation, in some ways corporate social responsibility itself will be on trial," writes Daniel Gross. The case, before the National Labor Relations Board in New York, deals with a number of union busting activities by Starbucks, such as the firing of three baristas who were organizing a union, including Gross himself. "Why are workers organizing at this darling of the corporate media?" he asks. "Starbucks workers struggle to make ends meet with a poverty wage of around $7 or $8 per hour. ... The total number of full-time hourly café employees at Starbucks is zero. ... The company boasts about its health care plan but its own data reveal that it insures a lower percentage of employees than Wal-Mart." Gross concludes, "Activists can and do make use of CSR [corporate social responsibility] by pointing out the hypocrisy behind the big brands. But that's about all CSR is good for."

Karen HughesIn an interview with PR Week, U.S. public diplomacy czar Karen Hughes explains how she began issuing talking points to State Department employees overseas: "I thought, 'What if I were the ambassador somewhere in the world? What's the big story driving news...?' The week I started [as Undersecretary of State], in August 2005, it was Israel's withdrawal from [the Gaza Strip]. I realized that if I were an ambassador, I wouldn't know what to say about that. I spent a day trying to figure out what I should say ... [and] wrote it up and sent it around the world. I was stunned by the reaction. We had probably 20 to 25 e-mails and phone calls saying, 'Can I have more of these?'" Hughes also encouraged PR professionals to support her office: "We've consulted broadly with the private sector. We had the summit with the PR Coalition. I personally have met with a number of public relations executives. We also received permission from a firm, Praxis Media, to use a PR planning tool in our new strategic communications plan."

"The increasing number of attacks by lobby groups on the US cosmetics and personal care industry means that it is time to fight back," according to CosmeticsDesign.com. The main industry group, the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA), will "use the internet ... as a tool to spread information that is based upon 'reliable scientific research.'" CTFA's planned PR offensive was reported on last year by the Center for Media and Democracy's Diane Farsetta. The article detailed a focus group conducted by Luntz Research, which asked participants how they would research cosmetics safety and who they would trust, and had them fill out worksheets "describing a website with information on cosmetics ingredients, to be launched in 2007." CTFA's John Bailey told CosmeticsDesign.com that the environmental and public health groups that have raised concerns about cosmetics "do a grave disservice to consumers by using inflammatory and alarmist rhetoric to create scientifically unsubstantiated health scares."

Saab Australia advertisementThe New South Wales Greens have complained to the Australian corporate regulator that Saab's "Grrrrrreen" advertising campaign makes deceptive claims and is greenwashing. The "Grrrrrreen" ad states that "every Saab is green." Another ad for one car model, which runs on a part ethanol mix, proclaims it is "fueled by nature: enjoy more power with a cleaner conscience." Green member of parliament Lee Rhiannon argues that according to Australian government data, Saab cars have relatively poor environmental performance. Saab's best performing car was ranked 33rd.