The Power of Toxic Energy
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Mark Fiore's satirical take on Chevron in Ecuador
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Public Relations
Cheeky Monkeys Urge Responsible PR
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Being socially and environmentally responsible should be an issue for leading PR companies," said Greenpeace activist Mariana Paoli. The group's new report, "Burning up Borneo," links deforestation and loss of orangutan habitat in Indonesia with Unilever suppliers producing palm oil for Dove brand soap.
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Painting Bottled Water Green
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Suppose, for example, that you own a company that sells bottled water," which is "shipped, in its little plastic bottles, ten thousand miles from the bottling plant to the consumer," writes Steve Burns. "Could you possibly 'brand' such a product as eco-friendly?" If the company is FIJI Water, you'll try.
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Extinguishing Media Coverage of Olympic Torch Protests
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Pro-Tibet groups plan protests when the Olympic Torch procession gets to Canberra, the Australian capital, but the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) has taken pre-emptive steps to minimize unfavourable media coverage.
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Businesses Lobby During "Earth Month" to Protect Plastic Bags
Submitted by Anne Landman on
The Progressive Bag Alliance, the American Chemistry Council and Wal-Mart Stores were among the parties who successfully lobbied Democratic Pennsylvan
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Auto Racing for Clean Air?
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Swiss auto racer Simona De Silvestro isn't only "the second woman in the 34-year history of the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda to win a race with her victory in the Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach." Believe it or not, there's another sponsor involved -- the U.S.
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This Earth Day, Let's Scrape off the Greenwash
Today marks the 38th annual celebration of Earth Day, and once again the event comes with its fair share of PR hype and misleading marketing campaigns. In the spirit of dedicating ourselves to genuine concern for the planet, today is therefore a good time to look carefully at corporate environmental claims, some of which consist more of empty rhetoric than real substance. Companies like Wal-Mart are announcing environmental initiatives. General Electric has its "Ecomagnation" advertising campaign. In Singapore, a shopping center is advertising that customers can "shop to save planet earth" -- and if they buy enough, they might win a new car! The ritual of green hypocrisy frequently requires that companies and politicians redefine environmental progress in increasingly creative ways. Last week, for example, George W. Bush announced a plan to address the problem of global warming by "halting the growth" of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2025. Beyond the fact that this target date is 17 years in the future, what really means is that during those 17 years not only will greenhouse gas emissions continue, the amount of those emissions will continue to grow. As columnist Gail Collins observed in the New York Times, this would be akin to having an overweight person announce a plan to achieve "an 18 percent reduction in the rate at which he was gaining weight, to be reached within the next decade."
Audit Reveals the PR Machine Behind Canadian Global Warming Skeptics
Submitted by Bob Burton on
An audit review (pdf) of over $507,000 (Canadian) contributed to two University of Calgary "research accounts" has revealed that C$123,427 was routed to Friends of Science (FoS) -- a group lobbying the Canadian government against taking action on global warming.
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A Defense of Even Faker News
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Reed Pence of MediaTracks Communications wants his fellow public relations professionals to know there's nothing wrong with "guaranteed placement" -- paying to have radio or television stations air fake news. "Many PR pros face the challenge of acquiring coverage for a product that isn't newsworthy," he writes in a letter to PR Week. "Some believe that [guaranteed placement] is just advertising," but it's not, he claims.
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PR Week letters, April 14, 2008
Is Earth Day the New Christmas?
Submitted by Anne Landman on
GreenwashBack in 1970, Earth Day started out as a "green" event that encouraged people to decrease their consumption, but as more companies jump on the greenwashing bandwagon, Ear
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