Corporations

Sustainable Development: Rest In Peace!

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Sustainable Development is dead. Its demise came, ironically, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development," CorpWatch's Kenny Bruno writes in his report from the UN meeting in Johannesburg. "It's not that the phrase wasn't invoked. It was, ad nauseum. But it was hardly discussed. Instead, sustainable development was deemed to be whatever compromise governments happen to reach on trade, subsidies, investment and aid, and whatever projects corporations see fit to finance. 'Sustainable Development' is now officially meaningless."

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Main Source: 
CorpWatch.org, September 4, 2002
Topics: 
Corporations
Environment
Politics

Strange Bedfellows at UN World Summit

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Our latest issue of PR Watch exposed the gap between words and deeds at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Amid lofty-sounding proclamations, the Bush administration and business lobbyists are blocking measurable standards and accountability, while pausing for periodic photo opportunities with the same environmental, labor and human rights groups that they are working to neutralize.

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Main Source: 
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6283
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility

And The Winner Is ...

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Coinciding with the World Summit on Sustainable Development taking place in Johannesburg, the Green Oscars announced this year's winners. In the category of Best Green Actor for achievement in Corporate Greenwash, the award goes to BP, for their Beyond Petroleum rebranding campaign, and their "Oil is old news" ad.

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Main Source: 
EarthSummit.biz
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment

"It Was The Best of Times ... Oh No It Wasn't"

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"'If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where all these profits came from, and why all these acquisitions went sour, what our net income is, and why WorldCom stock prices are in the toilet, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me. . ." So begins the opening paragraph of the winning submission in the "Best Fictional Earnings Release Contest," sponsored by Gregory FCA, an investor and public relations firm, based in Ardmore, PA.

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Main Source: 
Gregory FCA Press Release, August 20, 2002
Topics: 
Corporations
Ethics

The Rah-Rah Boys

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Dot-com CEOs, day traders and other leading icons of the roaring 1990s are passing from the scene along with the economic bubble that created them, but Baffler editor Tom Frank notes that "one group remains untouched: the public intellectuals of the bull market. The writers of Dow-worshipping books and commentators who handed down daring pronunciamentos from the silicon heights are still cruising from one posh gig to the next.

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Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2002
Topics: 
Pundits
Third Party Technique
Corporations
Ethics
Think Tanks

You Bought, They Sold

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

During the roaring 90s, big media missed the big story about corporate America's excesses. "Reporters spent a lot of time covering PR news releases instead of looking behind the curtain," says investigative journalist Lowell Bergman. But corporate CEOs themselves seem to have had a pretty good idea what was lurking there.

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Main Source: 
http://www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&doc_id=209015
Topics: 
Corporations
Ethics

CEOs in Times of Crisis

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

WorldCom may be a bad example of how to run a company, but it's doing a good job of reputation management, according to Idil Cakim of the Burson-Marsteller PR firm. "WorldCom is a good example of how crisis could be managed, or at least the public could be answered, via the Internet," Cakim said, praising the web site which WorldCom has created to share information with the public about its bankruptcy.

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Main Source: 
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=724572
Topics: 
Crisis Management
Corporations
Ethics

Choice Words from Microsoft

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The Initiative for Software Choice appears to be a front group for Microsoft, which is lobbying to stop governments from using open-source software. The governments of Peru and Canada are considering going to open source, which is cheaper (often free) and usually more secure and bug-free than proprietary software like Windows.

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Main Source: 
CNET News.com, August 13, 2002
Topics: 
Front Groups
Corporations

Shredded Ideals at Business Ethics

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

In the wake of recent corporate scandals, Business Ethics magazine, which promotes the movement for corporate social responsibility, is facing up to some unpleasant realities. "It appears that much of the corporate social responsibility movement has dealt in peripheral matters, in language, in mechanical social screens.

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Main Source: 
Washington Post, August 12, 2002
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility

'Mendacity' 'Obfuscation' 'Spin' Not Good For Corporate Ethics PR Work

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Public relations firms giving advice on corporate ethics? That sounds like a plot line straight out of a movie by Woody Allen," Jeff Barge, president of Lucky Star Public Relations, wrote in a July 30 Wall St. Journal letter-to-the-editor. Quoting Barges remarks, Paul Holmes, editor of the Holmes Reports, reflects on PR's role in ethical corporate policy making.

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Main Source: 
The Holmes Report, August 12, 2002
Topics: 
Corporations
Ethics
Public Relations

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