Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
As the anti-fast food documentary "Super Size Me" hits theaters, McDonald's is fighting back. "We're responding aggressively because the film is a gross misrepresentation," said a company spokesperson. Helping defend McDonald's are "global nutritionist" Cathy Kapica and the corporate-funded American Council on Science and Health.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
California's secretary of state said "they broke the law," called their conduct "absolutely reprehensible," and banned their machines in four counties, but maybe the news isn't all bad for e-voting company Diebold Election Systems. "It could affect the stock for a week or two," said corporate branding executive Clayton Tolley, but "generally, it's a passing fad that will fade within six months." Diebold spokesperson Mike Jacobsen pointed out "we're a business-to-business firm...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
San Francisco Chronicle reporter David Lazarus is questioning whether Marc Bien, who he interviewed as telecommunications giant SBC's vice-president of corporate communications (as Bien's business cards indicate) broke ethical guidelines when he neglected to tell Lazarus that he's actually an employee of major PR firm Fleishman-Hillard.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
As a top engineering and construction contractor, the Bechtel Group has had a leading role in a number of controversial public works projects, including Boston's "Big Dig," the failed privatization of Bolivia's water system, and the rebuilding of Iraq. "The bad public relations from just one these projects could sink a lesser firm, but somehow the well-connected, privately held corporation always seems to emerge unscathed and ready to score more big-ticket public works jobs," A.C. Thompson writes.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"It's easy to complain about the press -- I've been doing it for a good part of my career," Vice President Dick Cheney told tens of thousands of Republican supporters in a conference call. "It's part of what goes with a free society. What I do is try to focus upon those elements of the press that I think do an effective job and try to be accurate in their portrayal of events.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Flanked by 'Survivor' champions Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca and two Washington Redskins cheerleaders, a leading D.C. environmentalist took time on Earth Day to thank Wichita-based Koch Industries," reports Alan Bjerga. Doug Siglin, head of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Anacostia River Initiative, praised Koch for helping pick trash out of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. But while Koch colleagues heaped praise on the company, critics wondered whether the event wasn't designed to clean up Koch's image as much as the river.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The British medical journal The Lancet published a review of "six published and six unpublished trials" studying antidepressant use by children that concluded that, in most cases, "the risks exceeded the benefits." More disturbingly, the review found evidence that pharmaceutical companies "had been aware of problems but did not reveal them." In a memo leaked last month from GlaxoSmithKline, the company w
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Through concerted marketing and public relations campaigns... 'greenwashers' attract eco-conscious consumers and push the notion that they don't need environmental regulations because they are already environmentally responsible.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Four years ago BP - the company formerly known as British Petroleum - launched a $200 million ad campaign to rebrand itself as "Beyond Petroleum" and to strut the company's avowed commitment to corporate social responsibility. At its April 16 annual general meeting in London, however, its real face was more visible.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"They did not go out looking for the publicity and did not ask for everything that happened to them," said a spokesperson for Alexander Strategy Group, defending their new client, Blackwater USA. Blackwater is the private military firm that's faced increasing scrutiny from members of congress, the media and the general public following the killing of four of its contractors in Fallujah, Iraq last month.
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