"You've heard a lot of Halliburton [3] lately. Criticism is okay. We can take it." Thus opens a new television ad, part of the oil and gas services company's first public PR campaign. With the slogan "Proud To Serve Our Troops [4]," Halliburton hopes to overcome negative "war profiteer" charges stemming from reports of kickbacks, overcharging for gas and food in Iraq, and no-bid government contracts. "Halliburton gets beaten up every day by people who don't have the facts," said company spokesperson Wendy Hall. The PR campaign seems to echo talking points in a leaked 2003 company memo [5], in which CEO David Lesar asked employees to write letters stressing that "Halliburton makes our troops more comfortable in a difficult environment."