Op-Ed

Op-Ed

Herman Cain's New Internet Campaign Ad Promotes Smoking

by Anne Landman — October 26, 2011 - 11:34am
  • Topics: Election 2012, Politics, Tobacco

    • Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's new internet ad features a tight head shot of his campaign's "chief of staff," Mark Block, telling viewers how great Cain will be for the country and how much confidence he has in Cain. In the ad, Block looks directly at the camera, says, "We've run a campaign like nobody's ever seen." Then, at the 40-second mark in the 56-second political spot, Block unexplicably takes a long, prominent drag from a lit cigarette and then exhales, blowing the smoke directly at the viewer. The ad highlights Cain's connections to the tobacco industry, and Block's position in the campaign belies Cain's connections to David Koch. Until earlier this year, Block was the long-time leader of the Wisconsin arm of the David Koch-funded astroturf group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), following a scandal that barred him from electoral politics for a time. A number of Cain's other aides have also worked for AFP, and Cain's old work and email addresses used to be with the Koch group. But what's the cigarette connection?

    Op-Ed

    Don't Buy Insurers' Junk -- Or Let Them Keep Selling It

    by Wendell Potter — October 24, 2011 - 2:24pm
  • Topics: Corporations, Ethics, Health

    • Members of Congress and the Obama administration have assured us that on January 1, 2014, junk health insurance plans -- which offer only the illusion of adequate coverage to the millions of Americans enrolled in them -- will become a thing of the past.

    Among those who clearly don't believe those plans are headed for extinction are the insurance companies that market these highly profitable plans, and the employers that buy them -- primarily restaurant chains and retailers with high employee turnover.

    If I were President Obama, I would send one of my aides to the Chicago suburbs later this week to see first-hand just how determined these companies are to continue selling these plans -- which are euphemistically called "mini-med" and "limited-benefit policies" -- long past 2014.

    Op-Ed

    "Horror Hotel": The New Frontier of Junk Food Marketing to Kids

    by Anne Landman — October 23, 2011 - 9:48pm
  • Topics: Corporate Campaigns, Children, Marketing

    • Today's teenagers are probably the most savvy generation yet when it comes to filtering out advertising, but that is no worry for junk food and drink companies who steadily deploy stealthier and more sophisticated interactive promotions that specifically target teens and exploit their emotional and developmental vulnerabilities. The newest generation of internet-based junk food promotions uses cutting edge marketing techniques with names like "augmented reality," "virtual environments" and "neuromarketing" -- the use of scientifically-devised digital marketing techniques that trigger teens' subconscious emotional arousal.

    Op-Ed

    BP's Gulf of Mexico PR, One Year Later

    by Anne Landman — October 17, 2011 - 7:49pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

    • Finger-pointing over the Deepwater Horizon disaster resumed recently after the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Coast Guard issued a joint report (pdf) which concluded all three corporate participants in the calamity -- BP, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton -- were at fault. The report concluded all three companies violated federal laws and safety regulations by "failing to take necessary precautions to keep the Macondo well under control at all times." The report also found all three companies were "jointly and severally liable for the failure to comply with all applicable regulations." That means all three companies are mutually responsible for the accident, and each can be held singly responsible for the entire debacle. The report parsed blame among the companies for sloppy materials and workmanship, inadequate training, failure to properly assess risk and conduct proper testing, failure to abide by stop-work work policies after multiple anomalies were discovered, and so on.

    Op-Ed

    Gaming American Democracy: A Perfect Storm in Which Republicans Disenfranchise Voters While Giving Corporations Unchecked Powers

    by PRW Staff — October 17, 2011 - 6:06am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Democracy, Lobbying

    • by John Dean

    The Center for Media and Democracy is re-posting this article from John Dean at Justia's Verdict website as part of our efforts to expose the American Legislative Exchange Council. The original can be found here.

    Op-Ed

    ALEC Politicians Spin Special "Interest" Bill to Protect Corporate Wrongdoers as "Job Creation"

    by Lisa Graves — October 13, 2011 - 10:13am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Tort Reform, Corporations, Economy, Pharmaceuticals, Propaganda

    • For years, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has been itching to protect big corporations from high interest rates charged in cases where corporations have killed or injured Americans. Now, Wisconsin politicians serving on key ALEC task forces are pushing a bill embracing this idea as part of ALEC alumnus Scott Walker's latest effort to force the ALEC agenda into law based on claims that doing so will help "job creators."

    Op-Ed

    ALEC and Coca-Cola: A "Classic" Collaboration

    by Rebekah Wilce — October 12, 2011 - 9:51pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Politics

    • What is Coca-Cola doing behind closed doors with Koch Industries and other multinational corporations in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)? Coca-Cola Refreshments' Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Gene Rackley, represents Coke on ALEC's "Private Enterprise" Board, along with Koch Industries' Michael Morgan.

    Coke and ALEC have a lot in common. Both love free trade and have been big boosters of free trade agreements, such as the Korea, Panama and Columbia agreements facing votes this week in Congress. Both are dubious about recycling, especially taxes applied to industry to pay for mandatory recycling. But in one area, ALEC policy benefits Coke and other sweet drink makers directly.

    Op-Ed

    Chicago to Wall Street: Pay US Back!

    by Mary Bottari — October 12, 2011 - 7:40am
  • Topics: Activism, BanksterUSA, Corporations, Democracy, Economy

    • While the Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping the country and peaceful arrests are mounting, Chicagoans took to the streets this week to hold the big banks accountable for crashing the economy and to demand city, state and federal policies that work for working families.

    For many, the goal was stopping the foreclosure mill and telling the big banks it was time to Pay US Back! for the $4.7 trillion bailout. For others, the demands focused on the fallout from the financial crisis including contentious contract negotiations with the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel.

    For most, the range of issues were inextricably linked.

    Op-Ed

    "Occupy Wall Street" Should Protest Wall Street Takeover of Health Care

    by Wendell Potter — October 11, 2011 - 12:16pm
  • Topics: Activism, Corporations, Economy, Health

    • The lobbyists for U.S. health insurers surely have to be feeling a little uneasy knowing that thousands of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who have been marching and protesting in Washington as well as New York and other cities might target them in the days ahead. After all, the headquarters of the insurers' biggest lobbying and PR group, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), at 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., is just blocks away from Freedom Plaza, where the demonstrators have set up camp -- and problems with health insurers appear to be near the top of the list of protesters' concerns.

    Op-Ed

    The Battle Between O'Dwyer and PRSA

    by Anne Landman — October 10, 2011 - 6:32pm
  • Topics: Corporations, Ethics, Public Relations

    • The Public Relations Society of America, the trade group for the American public relations industry, and Jack O'Dwyer, who has specialized in reporting on the PR industry for over 40 years, are at war, and the battle is getting heated -- and harmful for PRSA.

    Why should people care about this obscure fight? Because the conflict is a microcosm of the battle against the unethical and harmful PR trends that are hurting this country.

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