Corporations

"Republican lobbyists including Ed Gillespie, the party's former national chairman, and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, are seeking to raise money for a public relations-campaign of as much as $3 million" to support President Bush's immigration plan.

"When Sears Portrait Studios wanted to lure new mothers, it didn't just order more ads of smiling babies or mail out big coupons," writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Instead, the company hired the Vandiver Group "to create a word-of-mouth marketing campaign in mid-2003." First, Vandiver identified "influentials" - people others look to for information or advice - who are mothers, using phone surveys.

"The first salvo in a broader public-relations counterattack by beverage companies to help the industry reverse its tarnished image" is voluntary restrictions on drink sales in schools. The guidelines, which will be touted "in full-page ads in several national newspapers," suggest that new school contracts remove carbonated soft drinks from elementary schools and remove sugary drinks from middle schools during school hours. All beverages will continue to be sold in high schools.

Following the release of the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America's (PhRMA's) suggested drug advertising guidelines, Pfizer pledged not to "directly promote any new product" for six months and "to target only adult audiences" with Viagra TV ads.