Activism

Making Green off of Green While Dividing Greens

by Diane Farsetta — June 17, 2008 - 11:47am

As the Center for Media and Democracy reported previously, the Sierra Club / Clorox deal -- where Clorox uses the Big Green environmental group's name and logo to sell its "

Main Source: 
Advertising Age, June 16, 2008

Pinkwashing: Can Shopping Cure Breast Cancer?

by Anne Landman — June 11, 2008 - 4:50pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Activism, Cause-Related Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Health, Women

    • You've heard the term "greenwashing." It refers to corporations that try to appear "green" without reducing their negative impact on the environment.

    Since 2002, the group Breast Cancer Action has promoted its "Think Before You Pink" campaign. It's fighting "pinkwashing," which is when corporations try to boost sales by associating their products with the fight against breast cancer. Pinkwashing is a form of slacktivism -- a campaign that makes people feel like they're helping solve a problem, while they're actually doing more to boost corporate profits. Pinkwashing has been around for a while, but is now reaching almost unbelievable levels.

    Pentagon Pundits, Media Reform and Talking Back to Bill O'Reilly

    by Diane Farsetta — June 10, 2008 - 1:21pm
  • Topics: Activism, Pundits, Video News Releases, Democracy, Ethics, Media, Propaganda, U.S. Government

    • As Paul Schmelzer wrote on the Minnesota Independent website, "There were two National Conferences on Media Reform in Minneapolis over the weekend: the one I attended and the one Bill O'Reilly, Juan Williams and Fox News talking head Mary Catherine Ham didn't."

    O'Reilly's show tried to manufacture controversy about the conference, which I and others from the Center for Media and Democracy attended. But before addressing that, how about some real news on a genuinely controversial issue?

    During Sunday's closing plenary, FCC Commissioner and fake news foe Jonathan Adelstein pledged to push for multiple thorough investigations of the Pentagon military analyst program. So far, the Pentagon's Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, have launched inquiries into the Defense Department's secret cultivation of military pundits. But those investigations aren't enough.

    Two Unions Are Finding Deals at Wal-Mart

    by Sheldon Rampton — June 5, 2008 - 12:19pm

    "After waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company’s full-time, union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are putting down their cudgels," writes Michael Barbaro.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, June 5, 2008

    The New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies

    by John Stauber — May 7, 2008 - 3:46pm

    Author Eric Schlosser editorializes about "the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying," citing Burger King Corporation's spying on the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers through Cara Schaffer and her private security firm,

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, May 5, 2007

    Cheeky Monkeys Urge Responsible PR

    by Diane Farsetta — April 28, 2008 - 3:44pm

    "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.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week (UK), April 24, 2008

    Daughter Busts Dad: Burger King VP Caught Running Dirty Tricks Campaign

    by John Stauber — April 28, 2008 - 9:00am

    Amy Bennett Williams, following up on her previous article reports, "As the Coalition of Immokalee Workers prepares to deliver more than 60,000 petitions to Burger King headquarters in Miami today, the daughter of Burger King's vice-president Stephen Grover confirmed her father is responsible for online posting

    Main Source: 
    News Press, April 28, 2008

    A Not-So-Candid CAMERA

    by Diane Farsetta — April 23, 2008 - 12:39pm

    CAMERA, a lobby group that campaigns against criticism of the Israeli government in U.S. media, had a campaign to impact Wikipedia's coverage of Israel and Palestine issues.

    Main Source: 
    Electronic Intifada, April 21, 2008

    This Earth Day, Let's Scrape off the Greenwash

    by Sheldon Rampton — April 22, 2008 - 2:18am
  • Topics: Activism, Front Groups, Global Warming, Corporations, Environment, Health, Public Relations, Science

    • The Rainforest Action Network takes on greenwashing by BP

    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."

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