Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Last week's release of the much-anticipated new federal dietary guidelines," developed with assistance from the Porter Novelli firm, "is just the beginning of some major PR work from both the government and the food industry," reports PR Week.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Project Evergreen, a "trade association formed by pesticide makers, applicators, garden centers and mower manufacturers," will launch a "national public-relations campaign this spring touting the health and lifestyle benefits of thick, green lawns." The campaign is partly in response to pesticide restrictions passed by 70 cities and one province in Canada. One Project Evergreen ad reads, "Legislation and regulations have been throwing the green industry some rough punches. ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Revelations about U.S. government attempts to shape the news by paying pundits and producing video news releases have fueled a debate "about whether news reports and opinion pieces provided to media outlets" that "were developed and paid for by government agencies" should be disclosed as such, reports Newsday.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has admitted accepting £15,000 ($US28,000) from Heinz as part of a product placement deal in which he agreed to include an up-market version of baked beans on toast on the menu at his restaurant. "I should have been brighter," Oliver told The Independent. The success of Oliver’s television cooking program, The Naked Chef, has led to three books and a follow up television series.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"White House allies are launching a market-research project to figure out how to sell" privatizing Social Security, while "Republican marketing and public-relations gurus are building teams of consultants," reports the Washington Post.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The United Nations is looking for a well-connected Washington figure to head its information office," reports the Financial Times, "as part of a wide-ranging image makeover to improve relations with Congress." The "makeover" began earlier this month, when Kofi Annan named Mark Malloch Brown, former PR consultant to Corazon Aquino and the
Conservative pundit Armstrong Williams has been under fire recently following revelations that he was paid $240,000 to promote the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" law. However, it isn't the first time that his media interests have been used as a mouthpiece for hidden interests.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"For the first time in its 43 years, a Wal-Mart CEO is publicly responding to detractors." The giant retailer launched a national PR blitz, including interviews with its CEO, an open-letter ad in more than 100 newspapers, and a new website, walmartfacts.com, that promises the "unfiltered truth." CEO Lee Scott said that criticisms o
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Despite the bankrupty of his company, former Enron CEO Ken Lay apparently still has some money to spend on spin. "The former chairman's computer-literate litigation team is making use of 'sponsored links,' which appear prominently in searches for a word or name in an Internet search engine," reports Mary Flood.
John Rendon is CEO of the Rendon Group, a secretive public relations firm that often provides behind-the-scenes advice to the U.S. military. Over the years, we've received dozens of phone calls from journalists who have sought interviews with Rendon about his work on behalf of the Iraqi National Congress, but no one has been able to get him to say more than "no comment."
We were a little surprised, therefore, when a telephone message was left for Rendon in our office by someone identifying himself as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. A transcript of that message is as follows:
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