Detroit TV stations are refusing to broadcast the Detroit Project's TV ads linking terrorism to gas-guzzing SUVs, and industry-funded think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute have jumped in to attack the ads.

"A leading television producer and two major advertisers
have joined forces to present a live variety show with no
commercial interruptions. Instead, the advertising messages
will be incorporated into the show. The advertisers, which so far include Pepsi and Nokia
phones, are buying six hours of air time to create what the
program's producer, Michael Davies, called 'a contemporary,
hip Ed Sullivan show' for the youth-oriented WB Network,
part of AOL Time Warner. ... Although the network

PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton participated in December in the World Information Conference in Amsterdam, which explored both positive and negative aspects of new information technologies. An interviewer captured his thoughts on some things that grassroots movements can learn from the PR industry: "There is an interesting seepage that's always going on as they try to control the thinking of others but they are forced to adopt a lot of the language and the symbolism of the people they are opposing. That has always been a very interesting aspect of PR.