Marketing

TV "Expert" Doesn't Disclose His Fellow Travelers

Florida's Broward County paid a travel writer $10,000 to mention Fort Lauderdale, "during a summer media tour that took him to 16 news stations in 37 days," reports the Miami Herald. Joel Widzer "seemed to have little trouble finding stations willing to interview him and air the footage of Fort Lauderdale's coral reefs and spas that the public relations firm, Plus Media, provided producers. A follow-up report ...

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Chevron Taps "Human Energy"

While ExxonMobil and BP have "spent lavishly on image ads," Chevron's new "power of human energy" campaign is a particularly ambitious "bid to recast itself as an environmentally responsible corporate citizen." Advertising Age reports that its first ad, a 2 1/2 minute spot from the ad agenc

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A First for the FCC: Fining Fake News!

The VNR that cost Comcast $4,000The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced on September 21 that it was fining Comcast Corp. $4,000 for its cable channel CN8's broadcast of fake TV news, a video news release (VNR) without disclosure.

The Comcast fine is the first-ever sanction for airing a VNR, a sponsored PR video that mimics the structure and style of television news reports. The fine is a direct result of Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) investigations, and of a joint complaint filed with the FCC by CMD and Free Press.

The FCC's action against Comcast is precedent setting. It firmly rejects the public relations industry's argument that no disclosure is needed if television stations are not paid to air VNRs. Hopefully, the FCC will soon address the nearly 140 other undisclosed VNR broadcasts that were documented in CMD's two reports, "Fake TV News" and "Still Not the News."

New Firm Offers Elder Spin

A new public relations firm, After50 Marketing, was launched "with the expressed purpose of targeting baby boomers and senior consumers," writes PR Week. The firm will specialize in healthcare, adult living, legal and financial areas. By 2015, 45 percent of the U.S. population will be 50 or older, according to After50.

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The Formula for Deceiving Mothers Online

Peggy O'Mara, the editor of Mothering Magazine, reports that "in addition to the inaccurate information on breastfeeding" by the media, the "marketing practices of the formula companies continue to undermine breastfeeding." She notes the existence of several "stealth" websites "that appear to be grassroots advocacy sites, but are actually mouthpieces for the formula industry." One of the websites, MomsFeedingFreedom.com, is campaigning against proposed restrictions on the free bags of infant

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Ecomagine That: GE Campaign Not So Green

Two years into its "Ecomagination" environmental campaign, General Electric "continues to sell coal-fired steam turbines and is delving deeper into oil-and-gas production. Meanwhile, its finance unit seeks out coal-related investments including power plants. ... Yet these limitations haven't stopped GE from making a big marketing to-do of its commitment to the environment," notes Kathryn Kranhold.

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Fake Green Certification Backfires

Sustainable forest fibreThe Australian supermarket company Woolworths has withdrawn a range of tissue products after being outed by an anonymous blogger for using a "Sustainable Forest Fibre" logo on products sourced from a notorious Indonesian forestry company.

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