Bob Burton's News Articles

Something Fishy

by Bob Burton — October 2, 2007 - 7:44am
  • Topics: Activism, Cause-Related Marketing, Issue Management, Corporations, Environment, International, Public Relations

    • An abridged extract from Bob Burton's Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly of the PR Industry.

    A hallmark tactic of activist campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s was the use of consumer boycotts to punish recalcitrant companies. By the 1990s, however, the trend was more towards developing standards and accrediting retail products that passed muster. The theory was that an accredited product would be rewarded by consumers while the laggards would be under financial pressure to lift their game. One of the pioneering projects during the 1990s was the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which was established by a broad coalition of non-profit groups. Its aim was to shift timber production to sources designated as more sustainable and reduce the market share for forest products derived from the destruction of the world's great forests. Despite numerous problems, the FSC label had some impact, especially in Europe.

    Follow the Money, Eh? Canadian Reporters' Glowing Failure

    by Bob Burton — September 26, 2007 - 1:35am
  • Topics: Journalism, Issue Management, Nuclear Power, Third Party Technique, Environment, Ethics, International, Media, Public Relations

    • "Much of the environmental movement, including Greenpeace, has lost its way when it comes to nuclear power, caught up in politically correct ideology and stooping to sensationalism to garner support," declared a recent media alert announcing the visit of one-time Greenpeace activist Patrick Moore to Toronto. The alert continued, "In Ontario, CANDU nuclear energy is the greatest single contributor to carbon reduction relative to all other energy producing technologies."

    Did Marlboro Man Edit Wikipedia?

    by Bob Burton — September 5, 2007 - 2:23pm
  • Topics: Citizen Journalism, Internet, Corporate Social Responsibility, Issue Management, Health, Public Relations, Tobacco

    • Philip Morris (PM) has long been a past master at funding front groups and organizing scientists to deny the obvious. Now it is apparent that someone at PM tried puffing the entry in Wikipedia on the Marlboro cigarette.

    Hill & Knowlton's 50 Year Fudge

    by Bob Burton — August 20, 2007 - 10:25pm
  • Topics: Corporations, Health, Labor, Public Relations, Tobacco

    • Some PR executives take citizens for complete idiots.

    Almost three weeks ago a local branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) called on the University of California to dump the giant PR firm Hill & Knowlton (H&K). In a letter to the university, AFSCME and other groups pointed to H&K's work for the tobacco industry, its attack on research pointing to the impact of exposure to lead on children, and its work for "some of the worst human rights abusing states in the world." In a statement emailed to the trade publication PR Week, H&K's Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Thorne claimed that the union's criticism "is directed to work done more than 50 years ago. While we disagree that H&K ever was engaged in any improper conduct, our current firm policy is that we will not provide services in any way related to tobacco, anywhere in the world."

    Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton and Big Tobacco

    by Bob Burton — July 3, 2007 - 1:05am
  • Topics: Labor, Lobbying, Politics, Public Relations, Tobacco

    • Mark Penn, CEO of the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller (B-M) and president of the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates (PSB), feels misunderstood.

    Penn was recently in the news when several union officials expressed concern that Democratic Presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton had hired him as a "key strategic adviser," even though B-M has a specialist unit that advises clients on defeating union campaigns. Not surprisingly, Clinton's campaign shrugged off the criticism, insisting that he is a "vital member of our team." In an email to Atlantic Online, Penn wrote that that he had "never personally done such [anti-labor] work" and insisted that he has "strong personal sympathies with the labor movement." (Why someone who proclaims their pro-labor sympathies would even head up a PR firm that runs an anti-labor unit went unexplained.) Even if one accepts Penn's explanation at face value, it left me wondering who he had worked for.

    A little digging reveals that, for well over two decades, both Penn and his opinion polling company have advised the tobacco industry on how to counter the campaigns of the tobacco control movement. Based on internal tobacco industry documents, it is clear that Penn and his colleagues have little personal sympathy for those promoting policies that put public health ahead of the interests of the tobacco industry.

    The Corporate Art of Creating a Crisis

    by Bob Burton — March 20, 2007 - 6:37pm
  • Topics: Activism, Crisis Management, Issue Management, Children, Corporations, Democracy, Think Tanks

    • By all indications, Mark McInnes is a smart cookie.

    U.S. Fake News Sales Slide

    by Bob Burton — November 21, 2006 - 9:33pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Video News Releases, International, Marketing, Propaganda, Public Relations, U.S. Government

    • One indication that the controversy over the unattributed use of video news releases (VNRs) is beginning to bite is buried in the latest quarterly financial report of Medialink Worldwide, the $30 million a year behemoth of the fake news industry.

    The Video News Release Industry's Next Statement to the FCC

    by Bob Burton — October 24, 2006 - 4:03pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Journalism, Video News Releases, Ethics, Media, Public Relations, U.S. Government

    • Recently a new lobby group, the National Association of Broadcast Communicators (NABC), was launched to try to convince federal regulators, media policy wonks and the general public that they shouldn't worry about television stations airing undisclosed video news releases (VNRs).

    A Fortunate Matter

    by Bob Burton — August 29, 2006 - 4:07pm
  • Topics: Activism, Crisis Management, Obesity, Issue Management, Children, International

    • Drug Company's Hearing Too Sensitive For Criticism

    by Bob Burton — August 17, 2006 - 6:36pm
  • Topics: Activism, Democracy, Health, International, Marketing, Pharmaceuticals, Science

    • One of the marketing success stories in the world of herbal pills is the hype and advertising that has made Tebonin one of the big-time sellers. If you believe the ads, popping a Tebonin pill a day will relieve tinnitus (the ringing sound some people have in their ears), dizziness and even improve mental alertness. The promoters claim the drug, which is based on a patented extract from the ginkgo biloba tree, improves "impaired micro-circulation," reduces "free radicals" and "promotes optimum cell function."

    According to the German manufacturer, Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co KG, eight million pills are consumed every day. Schwabe, like so many companies in the herbal supplements sector, trades on its feel-good image. "From Nature, For Health," its website claims. That's the story the company wants you to hear. However, when a small group of Australian doctors and pharmacists, AusPharm Consumer Health Watch, drafted a report raising doubts about the benefits of Tebonin, they discovered a company that was not so warm and fuzzy. Soon after sending a copy of their draft report to the company, they were hit with a writ seeking an injunction that may bury their critical assessment forever.

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