Will Marketers Say: Save the Planet, Buy Less Stuff?
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The ultimate selling proposition might just be saving the planet," said International Advertising Association (IAA) executive director Michael Lee.
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Corporations
A Veneer of Health
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
The Burson-Marsteller PR firm did pro bono communications and media relations support for America's Health Care at Risk: Finding a Cure, which is billed as "a bi-partisan conference bringing together major stakeholders in the health care debate for a high-level dialogue aimed at generating real and lasting solutions." While organizers of the conference were thrilled to have the free help, they may have been wise to check on B-M's health credentials.
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Rick Berman Gets Fat off the Obesity Industry
Submitted by John Stauber on
Kevin Anderson, blog editor for the UK Guardian, was bemused by an advertisement posted in the Washington DC subway. "This ad of a man's beer belly stuffed with bills railing away against trial lawyers probably makes little sense to the average American. ... Figuring out who is behind ads like this is even more interesting. The ad highlights an innocuous sounding website www.ConsumerFreedom.com (because who would be against consumer freedom?). What is this group?
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PR Driving "Carbon Neutral" Greenwashing
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) is alarmed about the extent of corporate greenwashing. The authority's chief executive, Frank Goodman, explained, "You are not allowed to say your product is good for the environment unless you can prove this.
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Auto Association "Empowers" Consumers
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade association of car and light truck manufacturers, has launched "EcoDriving," "a national campaign intended to empower consumers on an individual basis to reduce fuel use and CO2 emissions." The campaign will utilize social networking, events, and media outreach to "offers manufacturers an opportunity to show consumers they are part of the solution." Colorado Gov.
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Absolving Your Sins and CYA: Corporations Embrace Voluntary Codes of Conduct
"We do not want children to smoke," British American Tobacco (BAT) declares on its website. But the company that describes itself as the "world's most international tobacco group" routinely violates its own voluntary international marketing and advertising standards, according to a July 1, 2008 BBC-TV This World investigation.
Sorry, Whistleblowers, You're on Your Own
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The U.S. Labor Department has only "ruled in favor of [corporate] whistleblowers 17 times out of 1,273 complaints filed since 2002," and has dismissed 841 cases. Many of the dismissals were based "on the technicality that workers at corporate subsidiaries aren't covered" by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
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They Don't Need No Sponsored Health Education
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Corporate-funded "educational" materials about healthy eating distributed to British schools have been criticized by Britain's Food Standards Agency, the Department of Health and dieticians' groups. "It's bad nutritional advice, which could give children wrong ideas about food at a very impressionable time," said Richard Watts of the Children's Food Campaign. The campaign is "assembling a dossier" on such materials, to prod the government to act.
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Chevron Plays the Victim
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The second-largest U.S. oil company sees itself as a victim, and it's going on a PR offensive to explain why.
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Polishing Demand for the iPhone
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
There were long lines of people in Poland to buy the new iPhone 3G, just like in the U.S. But in Poland, those lined up were paid actors. The Polish subsidiary of the French firm France Telecom (Orange) admitted that they had staged the popular demand for the new device. "It was a marketing stunt," said Wojciech Jabczynski, the spokesperson for the French company.
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