Corporations

Campaign Helps Put Brakes On Offshore Tax Haven Crackdown

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The efforts of the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to reform "tax haven" countries such as Liechtenstein and the Cayman Islands are being countered in the U.S. by a lobbying campaign run by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity. Capitol Hill veteran Andrew Quinlan, who also works for the Swiss Investors Protection Association, heads the Center.

No
Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2001 & July 30, 2001
Topics: 
Corporations
Lobbying

PR Writer Decries Corporate Influence On Women's Museum

Submitted by Laura Miller on

NY-based, freelance PR Writer Debra Michals criticized her former client, the Women's Museum in Dallas, in the latest issue of Ms. magazine. In the article, "Did the Women's Museum Wimp Out?" Michals claims that corporate sponsorship and the conservative politics of Texas influenced the museum to not mention certain aspects of the feminist movement. According to PR Week, Michals criticized the museum for leaving out issues like abortion and bisexuality and for putting beauty pagents in a positive light. Michals had written for the museum's inaugural exhibit.

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Main Source: 
PR Week, July 30, 2001
Topics: 
Corporations
Women

Cooptation or Cooperation? Chemical Industry Helps Fund National Research on Chemicals

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The American Chemistry Council, the trade association of the chemical industry, has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences "to improve testing chemicals for potential human developmental and reproductive effects," according to a July 26 NIEHS press release.

No
Main Source: 
Our Stolen Future, July 27, 2001
Topics: 
Corporations
Environment
Science

Hatchet Politics

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The Boise Cascade Corp. is targeting the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the environmental group that has gotten major companies to stop buying wood from the remaining old-growth forests. Boise Cascade is working with two industry-supported front groups, the Frontiers of Freedom Institute and the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, trying to get the IRS to cancel RAN's tax-exempt status and to pressure its funders to cut off the group's money.

No
Main Source: 
Star-Telegram, July 26, 2001
Topics: 
Activism
Corporations
Environment

Sunday Political Shows Ignore Corporate Power

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The Sunday morning political talk shows shut out issues related to corporate power. That is the primary conclusion of a new report issued by Essential Information, a Ralph Nader founded organization based in Washington, DC. A quantitative analysis of transcripts broadcast over a period of eighteen months from four talk shows -- The McLaughlin Group, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week -- found that topics related to corporate power -- such as the environment, corporate welfare, and free trade -- make up less than 4% of the shows' discussion topics.

No
Main Source: 
Corporate Crime Reporter, July 23, 2001
Topics: 
Corporations
Media
Politics

Body Shop Picks Ruder Finn For PR

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The Body Shop has picked Ruder Finn to promote the company's U.S. store expansion. RF will handle several events and local PR campaigns aimed at increasing awareness and attracting traffic to Body Shop's new locations. In contrast with the Body Shop's animal and environment friendly image, Ruder Finn owns the almost legendary E. Bruce Harrison Company. Harrison is ironically considered "the founder of green PR" because of his work for the pesticide industry in the 1960s when he helped lead the attack on author Rachel Carson and her environmental classic, Silent Spring. E.

No
Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, July 19, 2001
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Public Relations

Business Pushes For Increased Power Production

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The San Francisco Chronicles reports, "Big oil and energy firms are contributing heavily to political parties and pouring millions into expensive ads to boost their interests, hoping to swing support behind President Bush's embattled energy plan, a new study shows." The paper cites a study released by the Washington-based watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics, which shows how business and industry are bankrolling large ad campaigns to influence the political process.

No
Main Source: 
San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 2001
Topics: 
Corporations
Lobbying

"Hey Jack, Clean Up The Hudson" Says O'Dwyer's Editor

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Kevin McCauley, editor for PR trade publication O'Dwyer's PR, calls on General Electric CEO Jack Welch to dredge up the company's PCBs in the Hudson River. Welch has adamantly opposed GE cleaning up the Hudson and denied a relationship between exposure to PCBs and cancer. The company has had success in creating opposition to dredging by bankrolling PR and ad campaigns. However, McCauley says, GE could get a big image boost "if Welch switched course and said: 'GE wants to be the country's No. 1 environmental citizen. We will dredge the Hudson River.'"

No
Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR, July 18, 2001
Topics: 
Corporations
Environment

Propaganda: Industry Spoof of Lorax

Submitted by Laura Miller on

An timber-industry sponsored children's book has been modeled on Dr. Seuss's "Lorax." The book, titled "Truax," by Terri Birkett was funded by the Hardwood Forest Foundation and the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association. Four hundred thousand copies of "Truax " have been distributed to elementary schools nationwide.

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Main Source: 
http://www.forestcouncil.org/news/articles/truax1.htm
Topics: 
Corporations
Environment

Timber Industry's SFI Certification "Greenwashing"

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Pacific Lumber Co. announced it had been blessed by the American Forest & Paper Assn's "Sustainable Forestry Initiative" (SFI). Conservationists questioned Pacific Lumber's claims of sustainability, saying it reveals SFI to be little more than greenwashing. "To call Pacific Lumber's ongoing liquidation of ancient forests 'sustainable' exposes the self-serving nature of this program," commented Paul Mason of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC). The Sustainable Forestry Initiative is the timber industry's program for certifying sustainably managed forests.

No
Main Source: 
Press Release, July 10, 2001
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Public Relations

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