Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"After waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company’s full-time, union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are putting down their cudgels," writes Michael Barbaro.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Author Eric Schlosser editorializes about "the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying," citing Burger King Corporation's spying on the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers through Cara Schaffer and her private security firm,
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Being socially and environmentally responsible should be an issue for leading PR companies," said Greenpeace activist Mariana Paoli. The group's new report, "Burning up Borneo," links deforestation and loss of orangutan habitat in Indonesia with Unilever suppliers producing palm oil for Dove brand soap.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Amy Bennett Williams, following up on her previous article reports, "As the Coalition of Immokalee Workers prepares to deliver more than 60,000 petitions to Burger King headquarters in Miami today, the daughter of Burger King's vice-president Stephen Grover confirmed her father is responsible for online po
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
In addition to helping research the "Pentagon's pundits" on SourceWatch -- those retired military officers who took part in the Pentagon program to promote Bush Administration talking points on the Iraq and Afghanistan war
Today marks the 38th annual celebration of Earth Day, and once again the event comes with its fair share of PR hype and misleading marketing campaigns. In the spirit of dedicating ourselves to genuine concern for the planet, today is therefore a good time to look carefully at corporate environmental claims, some of which consist more of empty rhetoric than real substance. Companies like Wal-Mart are announcing environmental initiatives. General Electric has its "Ecomagnation" advertising campaign. In Singapore, a shopping center is advertising that customers can "shop to save planet earth" -- and if they buy enough, they might win a new car! The ritual of green hypocrisy frequently requires that companies and politicians redefine environmental progress in increasingly creative ways. Last week, for example, George W. Bush announced a plan to address the problem of global warming by "halting the growth" of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2025. Beyond the fact that this target date is 17 years in the future, what really means is that during those 17 years not only will greenhouse gas emissions continue, the amount of those emissions will continue to grow. As columnist Gail Collins observed in the New York Times, this would be akin to having an overweight person announce a plan to achieve "an 18 percent reduction in the rate at which he was gaining weight, to be reached within the next decade."
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The Free Tibet Campaign in the UK has warned that "any PR agency that is trying to assist China in its twisted distortion of the truth would be potentially exposing itself to protests outside its offices." Despite this, PR Week reports that Ogilvy,
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
In an open letter to British public relations executive Lord Timothy Bell, two directors of the Belarus Free Theatre accuse Bell of "making money on somebody's misfortune." Bell traveled to Belarus in March and met with President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been called "Europe's last dictator." Bell told Reuters, "I have been asked to make a propo
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Why didn't the New York Times cover the "Winter Soldier" hearings organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), during which soldiers testified about their experiences in Iraq?
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