Public Relations

The Battle for Hearts and Minds

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The United States is engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity and presidential speeches designed to rally support for the war, which has begun to slip internationally. Even in Britain, America's most reliable ally, support for war has fallen from around three-quarters to two-thirds. And in the Muslim world, observes the Economist, "The burden of proof has shifted: America is being asked to prove it is not waging war against Islam."

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Main Source: 
The Economist (London), November 9, 2001
Topics: 
International
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Warning: Industry PR Smears Good Science As "Junk Science"

Submitted by John Stauber on

Public health scientists Samet and Burke issue a strong warning in the current American Journal of Public Health about "the tobacco industry's attempt to discredit the scientific evidence on passive smoking, particularly the industry's use of the label 'junk science.' ... Unfortunately, 'junk science' has now become an ingrained pejorative. The public health community will need to be watchful in other arenas where the "junk science" gambit will be used. ... Trust Us We're Experts offer(s) a popular and cautionary account.... The lessons learned from this episode ...

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Main Source: 
American Journal of Public Health
Topics: 
Health
Public Relations
Science

Dirty Tricks for the Pharmaceutical Industry in Australia

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

An Australian public relations company working for the pharmaceutical industry has been accused of running a secretive dirty tricks campaign to discredit an industry critic. Sydney-based Susan Andrews Communications Group, which helped promote arthritis pill Celebrex for Pfizer and Pharmacia, was named in last week's Medical Observer magazine as the source of leaked documents attempting to smear former Government drug adviser Professor David Henry.

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Main Source: 
Financial Review (Australia), November 7, 2001
Topics: 
Ethics
Health
Public Relations

US PR War, Snagged in Mixed Messages, Readies Celebrity Ads

Submitted by John Stauber on

The Bush administration is launching a major PR offensive this week to sell its Afghanistan bombing campaign to Muslims, and top US PR coordinator Charlotte Beers is working on a TV and advertising campaign to be aired abroad that "could feature American celebrities." However, the US is already tripping over mixed messages, preparing the citizenry at home for a long bloody conflict, while Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld assures foreign leaders and media that the war "might be over in a matter of months," just what they want to hear.

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Main Source: 
New York Times
Topics: 
Advertising
Public Relations
War / Peace

Media Coverage and Old Growth Forests

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Environmental activists are stereotyped sometimes as head-in-the-sand hippies, but the protesters who are blockading logging in Western Australia are "some of the most organised and tactically smart activists around," according to Aizura Hankin, who profiles Louise Morris, a self-described "media liaison (media slut), police/industry liaison, and lock-on wench" for the anti-logging campaign.

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Main Source: 
The Paper (Australia), November 2, 2001
Topics: 
Activism
Environment
Public Relations

The Battle for the Disenfranchised Majority

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the United States finds itself embroiled in two different battles," writes Princeton University history professor Nicholas Guyatt. "The first, waged on the plains and in the mountains of Afghanistan, pits the world's richest nation (and most powerful military) against one of the world's poorest. It's not hard to predict that the United States will probably win this war, although its task in finding a legitimate replacement for the Taliban may be much harder.The second battle, however, is of an altogether different order of magnitude.

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Main Source: 
Moscow Times, October 26, 2001
Topics: 
Public Relations
U.S. Government
War / Peace

Ad War for the Air War

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The State Department is talking to the Advertising Council about crafting a "public diplomacy" campaign to help "sell America" to Muslims upset about the war in Afghanistan. "Overseeing those talks is Charlotte Beers, the new Undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and former advertising executive at J. Walter Thompson who started in the industry marketing Uncle Ben's Rice," reports the Sydney Morning Herald. But Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, suspects that Americanism may be harder to sell than white rice.

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Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, October 25, 2001
Topics: 
International
Public Relations

War Needs Good Public Relations

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"We needed a firm that could provide strategic counsel immediately," says Lt. Col. Kenneth McClellan, explaining the Pentagon's decision to hire the Rendon Group as its PR firm during the bombing of Afghanistan. Norman Solomon reviews the firm's background and clients, including the trade agencies of Bulgaria, Russia and Uzbekistan, the Monsanto Chemical Company, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the CIA and the Iraqi National Congress.

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Main Source: 
FAIR, October 25, 2001
Topics: 
Public Relations
War / Peace

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

Hard Times for High-Tech PR

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"Public relations companies wrote all those news releases that helped inflate the Internet bubble, so perhaps it's only fitting that they feel the effects of its collapse," observes CNET News.com. PR firms like Edelman are laying off staff and closing offices as money dries up from collapsing dot.coms.

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Main Source: 
CNET News.com, October 22, 2001
Topics: 
Internet
Public Relations

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