Corporate Social Responsibility

Melchett Seen As B-M Cash Cow: 'Show Us the Money'

Submitted by Laura Miller on

ePublicRelations president Ross Irvine offers his take on Lord Melchett joining Burson-Marsteller. Irvine writes: "Burson-Marsteller's London office has a new cash cow... Lord Melchett has joined B-M as a consultant in the company's corporate social responsibility unit. Here, he can be charged out a high rate, earn a good salary plus expenses, contribute significantly to the bottom line, satisfy WWP Group shareholders who own B-M, and offer little value to clients. ... The marriage of B-M and Lord Melchett raises some interesting questions and situations.

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Main Source: 
ePublicRelations.org
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

Leaked Memo Reveals B-M's Plans for Lord Melchett

Submitted by John Stauber on

The British press is lambasting and lampooning both the Burson-Marsteller PR firm and their latest PR hire, Lord Melchett. Here is a satirical 'memo' written as if it leaked from inside B-M: "Lord Melchett will be heading up our new 'corporate conscience' desk, which will work to uncover the hidden humanity inside organisations such as Monsanto... I can't help but think that if this initiative had been around back when Nikolae Ceausescu was our client, he might still be in a position to pay his invoice. ...

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Main Source: 
The Guardian
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

Eco Campaigners Go Corporate

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Burson-Marsteller's hiring of Lord Melchett, the former director of Greenpeace UK, prompted the Independent to examine the growing trend of British environmentalists "who have decided to work for the blue chip giants they once sought to humble ...

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Main Source: 
The Independent (England), January 14, 2002
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

B-M's Lord Melchett Booted Off Greenpeace Board

Submitted by John Stauber on

Burson-Marsteller's newest PR hire, Lord Peter Melchett, has been forced to resign from the board of Greenpeace International. Melchett blind-sided his fellow Greenpeace board members and eco-activists this week by taking a consulting job with one of the PR world's most notorious anti-environmental propaganda firms, Burson-Marsteller. Apparently Melchett has convinced himself that accepting a paying position with B-M will somehow help him change corporate behavior.

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Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

Did Burson-Marsteller Genetically Alter Lord Melchett?

Submitted by John Stauber on

Catherine Bennet examines a "deal with the devil," asking "Has Lord Peter Melchett been genetically modified? ... And what other explanation can there possibly be for the decision of Lord Melchett, quondam destroyer of GM crops, to join Burson-Marsteller...? Anyone who believes Lord Melchett's insistence that there is nothing contradictory about his appointment ...fails to appreciate Burson-Marsteller's fabulous coup in signing him up. ...

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Main Source: 
The Guardian
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

An Ex-Greenpeacer Examines the Melchett Affair

Submitted by John Stauber on

A longtime Greenpeace activist sent the following comments to PR Watch: "The Lord Melchetts of the activist (and now corporate) world are only one symptom of a broader contagion. Is there even a real environmental movement anymore? How accountable are NGOs to their own base? ... Look how little is being accomplished in addressing Global Warming in the U.S. at a time when it's obviously a national security issue and a global security issue. I think this is in part because the environmental groups don't believe in mass movement building like they used to.

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Main Source: 
Email Sent to PR Watch
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

Greenpeace's Melchett Now with Burson-Marsteller

Submitted by John Stauber on

The Guardian Unlimited reports that "Lord Melchett, the former head of Greenpeace UK ... (has) taken a job at a PR company which has represented Monsanto and the European biotech industry. ...(T)he former Labour minister and farmer, who is on the board of Greenpeace International, is to become a consultant for Burson-Marsteller....

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Main Source: 
Guardian Unlimited and Greenpeace UK memo
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

The UN's Rio+10 Summit: Banking on Feelgood PR

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

In October 2001, captains of industry from around the world marked the tenth anniversay of the United Nation's environmental summit in Rio de Janiero by gathered in Paris for a major strategy meeting, hosted by Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD).

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Main Source: 
Corporate Europe Observer, December 2001
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment

My Seven Years as a Corporate Token

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

University of California professor Ernest Partridge, who served until recently on the "public advisory panel" of the American Chemistry Council (formerly the Chemical Manufacturers Association), has written a memoir of his experiences. The public advisory panel, which brought together distinguished academics to advise the industry on safety and environmental issues, was part of the chemical industry's "Responsible Care" program, which was established to allay public concerns in the wake of the chemical plant disaster at Bhopal, India.

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Main Source: 
http://www.igc.org/gadfly/liberal/token.htm
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Public Relations

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