Professional athlete Jim Keady became an activist against sweatshop conditions in Nike's overseas factories while studying theology at St. John's University and coaching for the school's soccer program. His athletic and academic career slammed to a halt, he says, when St. John's negotiated a multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal with Nike that would have required him to become "a billboard for a company that was reaping profits on the backs of the poor. ... As a coach, I would've had to wear the equipment

A documentary film by INFACT, the Boston-based corporate watchdog, charges Philip Morris with orchestrating a global lobbying campaign to curb any effort by the World Health Organization to restrict the marketing of cigarettes. The film, titled "Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction," says that Philip Morris, which uses Burson-Marsteller for PR, is spending millions in the U.S. for a "feel good" corporate image campaign the same time that it continues to drive up tobacco sales and tobacco deaths throughout the world.

"Showing all the signs of a thriving grass-roots movement, a host of new health-care groups are drawing attention to the perils of a contagious, sometimes lethal virus called hepatitis C," writes Robert O'Harrow. "But contrary to appearances, these coalitions are not spontaneous gatherings of concerned citizens. They are instead a key part of a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign funded by Schering-Plough Corp. to sell the primary therapy for hepatitis C, Rebetron, which costs $18,000 a year." Several members of the Hepatitis C Coalition are on the payroll of the Shandwick PR firm.