Submitted by Bob Burton on
The chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Pearson Sunderland III, has pleaded guilty to accepting approximately $300,000 in undisclosed fees and expenses from Pfizer between 1997 and 2004. The NIMH is a part of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health (NIH), which conducts and funds medical research projects.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Margot Mackay, a former PR consultant to the gambling company Aristocrat, has pleaded guilty to three charges of insider trading. Mackay, who headed her own company Margot McKay and Associates, used family members to buy almost $150,000 in shares ahead of announcements to the stock exchange that she wrote herself.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Walmart used to annoy me with its horrible labor practices, draconian rules, and blatant manipulation of the media, but now it's gone past annoyance to bafflement," writes marketing consultant K.D. Paine. "The latest was the firing of their VP of Marketing because she allegedly went for rides in an Aston Martin and accepted dinners from Agencies pitching their business. ... Their message is: we're all about ethics.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Blog placement" has become a growing trend in marketing, with elite bloggers receiving gifts like show tickets, laptop computers, trips to Paris and bottles of champagne. A surprising number of bloggers seem unaware of ethics codes that exist to guide relations with advertisers, says Jaap Favier, research director at a technology research company. "The lines are blurring," he said. "Who can we trust? I think we're going to go through a couple of years where it's going to get more confusing. What is true and what is fake?"
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Federal Communication Commissioners (FCC) Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have promised an investigation into each of the 46 television stations revealed by the Center for Media and Democracy's report, Still Not the News to have used undisclose
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA), a U.K.-based trade association, is lobbying against a European Union proposal to require companies to manufacture cigarettes that reduce the chances of causing a fire if not being smoked.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Corporate sponsorship is all the rage, even with the New South Wales Police. In 2002 a mother of three, Diane Brimble, died on board the P&O cruise ship Pacific Sky from a combination of alcohol and the drug gamma hydroxybutyrate. Her death was investigated by officers from the NSW Water Police. Eighteen months later, P & O was one of five sponsors of the opening of a new headquarters for the water police.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Adriane Fugh-Berman, an Associate Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, recounts her experience of speaking at a recent medical conference in New Mexico on the topic of drug industry influence in medical education. "Immediately after my talk, one pharmaceutical company representative announced to a conference organiser that her company would no longer support the annual conference. Another packed up his exhibit and walked out," she writes in the British Medical Journal.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The PR firm Lee Andrews Group has agreed to pay the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) $1 million over six years to resolve issues raise in an audit of its work.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The U.K. drug industry's self regulatory body, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), has censured Janssen-Cilag after an employee from its PR firm, Burson-Marsteller (B-M), offered journalists cash if they attended a hearing of the government drug regulator.
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