According to a survey of 252 U.S. chief marketing officers, nearly one in five "say their organizations have bought advertising in return for a news story." The survey was conducted on behalf of the public relations firm Manning, Selvage & Lee (MSL) and the trade publication PR Week (which doesn't appear to have reported on the results). "The survey also found that 10 percent of senior marketers said their organizations have had an implicit / non-verbal agreement with a reporter or editor that anticipated favorable coverage of their company or products in exchange for advertising," states an MSL press release. MSL's Mark Hass called the widespread use of pay for play "troubling," as "without full disclosure and transparency, media lose credibility and their value as an unbiased source of information." More than half of survey respondents also disagreed with the statement that marketers are "following ethical guidelines in new media more than they did a year ago."

Reviewing the continued campaign by climate change skeptics, David McKnight, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales (Australia), notes that there several reasons why companies such as Exxon have had some success playing the global warming denial card. "First, the implications of the science are frightening. Shifting to renewable energy will be costly and disruptive. Second, doubt is an easy product to sell. Climate denial tells us what we all secretly want to hear. Third, science is portrayed as political orthodoxy rather than objective knowledge, a curiously postmodern argument," he writes. While the tobacco industry is often referred to as the template for the fossil fuel industry's campaign, McKnight argues that there is an important distinction. "There are no 'smoke-free areas' on the planet. Climate denial may turn out to be the world's most deadly PR campaign," he concludes.

Internal documents from the global drug company Eli Lilly reveal that it trained its sales force to avoid discussing the diabetes risk from Zyprexa, a drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. After research revealed that some patients gained weight and had high blood sugar levels that presented an increased risk of diabetes, an internal company sales document stated that "we believe it is essential to weaken this link to neutralize the diabetes/hyperglycemia issue. ... Neutralizing any concern from our customers will be essential to the future growth of Zyprexa in the marketplace," reports Bloomberg. The document came to light during court proceedings in Alaska. In 2002, the drug's sales force was advised, "We will NOT proactively address the diabetes concern. ... The competition wins if we are distracted into talking about diabetes."