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Human rights and labor activists protested outside the Washington DC offices of Public Strategies, Inc., claiming that the public relations firm helps the Bridgestone / Firestone Tire Company "deflect attention away from the company's long history of exploiting workers and the environment on its rubber plantation in Liberia." The protest comes shortly after the publication of a report from a Liberian-based organization that alleges that Firestone works with "former President [Charles] Taylor's Anti-Terrorist Unit and other militia forces ... to curb illicit tapping. Some members of this group are allegedly harassing and torturing community members in the name of curbing illicit tapping" of rubber trees. The report also faults Firestone for paying low wages and placing unreasonable quotas on its Liberian workers, among other problems. The head of the Firestone Agricultural Workers' Union of Liberia said there are "ongoing union-management contract negotiations" to address "issues relating to work quota, and also issues relating to occupational health and safety, issues relating to education as well as issues relating to salaries and wages."

As CMD recently reported, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, have instituted a voluntary, and therefore unenforceable, code to guide drug makers' relationships with doctors. Now, thanks to pressure from Congress, most notably by Senator Charles Grassley, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) needs to respond to concerns about the influence drug company money has on the association and its members. "In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association's $62.5 million in financing." There are serious questions about the association's leadership as well. "One of the doctors named by Mr. Grassley is the association’s president-elect, Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg of Stanford, whose $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern." The New York Times analyzed Minnesota data from last year on drug company funding of doctors, finding that "on average, psychiatrists who received at least $5,000 from makers of newer-generation antipsychotic drugs appear to have written three times as many prescriptions to children for the drugs as psychiatrists who received less money or none."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Merck's human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil for the U.S. market in June 2006. As CMD previously reported at length, Merck launched an aggressive PR and advertising campaign to support Gardasil, even before the FDA approval, aware that GlaxoSmithKline had a competing vaccine in the wings. But GSK's Cervarix vaccine has hit snags in the U.S. In December, GSK was told that the FDA would not approve the application without further information. While recent guesses put a Cervarix entry into the U.S. market in 2009, The Financial Times is now reporting that "GSK said it had decided to await completion of a pivotal clinical trial to be filed with the US regulator during the first half of next year." This will push FDA approval well into 2010. Cervarix has been approved for sale in 67 countries and the BBC recently reported that the U.K. has chosen Cervarix over Gardasil for its HPV vaccination program.

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at the nuclear industry's largesse, Merck's marketing and cigarettes for kids. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," how is secondhand smoke like an uncurbed dog? The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

The American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) has published an updated analysis of H.R. 1108, the massive bill currently under consideration by Congress that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. AAPHP concludes, "This bill is a scam. It gives the image, but not the substance of effective federal regulation of the tobacco industry. If passed in anything close to its current form ... it will assure continuing high levels of cigarette-related illness and death for years to come. The principle benefactor will be the Altria/Philip Morris Company (PM). This bill will assure their continuing dominance of the domestic cigarette market and continuing high levels of sales and profits." The bill would make it illegal to add fruit and spice flavors to cigarettes, but specifically exempts menthol, a flavoring used disproportionately by African-Americans, who also suffer higher rates of tobacco-related illness. AAPHP denounced the menthol exemption in the bill as "institutional racism." However, a coalition of health groups, including the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, reiterated their support for the current bill.

A BBC investigation has found British American Tobacco (BAT) violating its own voluntary international marketing standards in Nigeria, Malawi and Mauritius, using tactics that appeal to youth and circumvent advertising restrictions. BAT promotes and sells single cigarettes in these countries, a marketing strategy that appeals to youth, who often can't afford to buy an entire pack. BAT also sponsored musical events that had no formal age checks at the door. Celebrities at these events wore clothing bearing cigarette brand logos. In Mauritius, where cigarette advertising was banned in 1999, BAT paid to paint retail stores the same color as their leading brand, Matinee. In Malawi and Nigeria, posters were seen depicting single cigarettes and pricing cigarettes individually. BBC observed children as young as eleven buying single cigarettes. BAT's website says the company's voluntary marketing standards "embody ... our commitment to marketing appropriately and only to adult smokers." They promise their tobacco advertising will not "be aimed at, or particularly appeal to youth," will "not feature a celebrity," and that the company will engage in "no event sponsorship unless the participants and audience are adults." Previously-secret tobacco industry documents show that BAT adopted voluntary marketing standards as a way to "demonstrate responsibility" while staving off stricter government regulation of their products.

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at the type of attacks Barack Obama can expect, PR firms' involvement in the crisis in Zimbabwe, and cross marketing of bottled water and video games. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we look at the client list of global marketing giant Young and Rubicam. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

To promote its bottled water for children, Nestle has "signed on as a strategic partner" for the launch of "Active Life: Outdoor Challenge," a Namco video game for the Nintendo Wii that will be released in September. Nestle's "Aquapod" water comes in a rocket-shaped bottle, and is marketed to "families with kids aged 6 to 11." The increased scrutiny of the link between soft drinks and childhood obesity led to the creation of bottled water for kids. But, after spending "billions to get children to crave their sugary-sweet, colorful drinks," the beverage industry must now figure out "how do we get kids to prefer water," as Nestle Waters' director of youth marketing pointed out. The "Active Life" game may help insulate both "the video-game and beverage industries from criticism that they contribute to childhood obesity," notes Advertising Age. The Nestle / Namco deal includes one million bottles of Aquapod with branded packaging promoting "Active Life," and coupons for Aquapod water in the video game box. However, there won't be ads inserted into the game itself.

Product placement examplesThe U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "is expected to open a formal proceeding about new rules requiring more disclosure of product placement." The "in-show advertising" practice is popular with marketers trying to "reach consumers who skip commercials." Product placement spending "increased 33.7% to $2.90 billion in 2007 from a year earlier," with "The Biggest Loser," "American Idol" and "The Apprentice" having the most product placements on network television. To improve disclosure, the FCC will consider requiring "notices similar to what political candidates must say before or after campaign ads." The agency will also "examine whether embedded advertisements violate FCC rules on children's programming, which require a few-second break in between the show and an ad. Commissioners will look at whether new product-placement rules need to be extended to cover cable programmers, which are currently exempt." Five years ago, Commercial Alert urged the FCC to require that product placements be "identified when they occur," instead of at the end of a show. The FCC didn't include that proposal in its new rule-making proceeding.

The Corn Refiners Association launched an 18-month, $20 to $30 million public relations and advertising campaign "to convince consumers that HFCS [high-fructose corn syrup] isn't the evil it has been made out to be." The industry group is running ads in major newspapers -- under the banner "time for a little food for thought" -- that say HFCS has the "same natural sweeteners as table sugar and honey." The campaign, which was created by the Omnicom Group firm DDB, also includes television and online ads and "phone and in-person conversations with influential mommy bloggers." The Corn Refiners Association "has been trying to counter the bad publicity around HFCS since 2004," but concluded it "could no longer afford to rely on simple grass-roots marketing tactics such as talking with nutritionists and doctors." Major food and beverage producers, such as Kraft, are now promoting products as HFCS-free. The American Medical Association recently concluded that HFCS "doesn't appear to contribute more to obesity than other caloric sweeteners," but called for "further independent research."