Public Relations

Turf Changes Favor Corporate "Grassroots" Lobbyists

"When Congress reeled in traditional lobbyists in January, it gave a boost to lobby firms and trade associations that specialize in swaying lawmakers by stirring public sentiment in their districts," writes Jessica Holzer. House and Senate bills "ban gifts and trips from lobbyists," but "lobbyists escaped having to disclose their grassroots activities when the Senate ...

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Guerrilla Marketing Gone Bad in Boston

Turner Broadcasting apologized "for a marketing campaign that sparked Boston's biggest security scare since the September 11, 2001, attacks -- closing bridges, shutting major roads and putting hundreds of police on alert." The "outdoor marketing campaign" promoting an Adult Swim cartoon "had been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia." Boston police feared that the magnetic lightboards of cartoon characters might be bombs.

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An Army of Thousands More: How PR Firms and Major Media Help Military Recruiters

Army recruiting poster

Increasing "the ranks of our military" is "one of the first steps we can take together" to "position America to meet every challenge that confronts us," said President Bush in last week's State of the Union address. "Tonight I ask the Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years."

The 92,000 figure was put forward by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 12 that more troops are needed to boost "combat capability" and "strengthen our military for the long war against terrorism." The Pentagon plans to meet that goal by reenlisting former Marines and increasing the Army's recruitment and retention rates.

Under the plan, the Army would only "slightly increase its recruitment goals -- by 2,000 to 3,000" a year, according to UPI. But in 2005, "the Army failed to meet its annual recruiting goal by the widest margin in two decades," reported the New York Times. To meet its 2006 goal, the Army hired more recruiters, raised the maximum allowable age for recruits, doubled the percentage of recruits who scored low on aptitude tests, issued waivers for some recruits' prior convictions, and significantly increased cash bonuses.

If it was that difficult for the Army to meet past recruiting goals, how will it meet future, larger ones? Some clues are offered in the Army's self-nomination for a prestigious public relations award.

PR Execs Sentenced in Los Angeles Fraud

The case of PR firm Fleishman-Hillard overcharging the city of Los Angeles for consulting services continues. Two former executives at the firm's Los Angeles office, Douglas Dowie and John Stodder, were sentenced to 42 months and 15 months in federal prison, respectively.

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UK Gov't Seeks to ID Flack for IDs

The British government is looking to recruit a senior PR professional to help sell the controversial UK National Identity Cards Scheme. The yet-to-be appointed Director of Marketing and Communications will will help oversee the roll-out of the ID cards, which are scheduled to be introduced in 2009.

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U.S. PR Firms Help Thailand's Deposed Prime Minister

The public relations company Edelman has confirmed that its Washington and Hong Kong offices are handling media relations for the deposed Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. A September 2006 military coup saw Thaksin, a controversial media mogul and politician, toppled from power while he was in New York.

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Dezenhall Tells Publishers: Openness is Censorship

"A group of big scientific publishers has hired" aggressive public relations executive Eric Dezenhall "to take on the free-information movement," reports Jim Giles. "Some traditional journals, which depend on subscription charges, say that open-access journals and public databases ...

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