Corporate Campaigns

Pinkwashing: Can Shopping Cure Breast Cancer?

by Anne Landman — June 11, 2008 - 3:50pm
  • 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.

    Product Placement in the City

    by Anne Landman — June 4, 2008 - 2:34pm

    If producers anticipated that the new movie "Sex and the City" might be a marketing bonanza, it did not disappoint. Vanity Fair magazine sent two reporters to view the movie and count the number of promotional products that appeared on-screen, including any blatantly-mentioned brand names.

    Main Source: 
    Vanity Fair, May 30, 2008

    Corporate-Sponsored "Slacktivism": Bigger and More Dangerous than the Urban Dictionary Realizes

    by Anne Landman — June 2, 2008 - 2:10pm
  • Topics: Corporate Campaigns, Cause-Related Marketing, Front Groups, Corporations, Education, Environment, Ethics, Health, Propaganda, Public Relations, Women

    • Recently while browsing the Web I came across UrbanDictionary.com, which is sort of a wiki of contemporary slang. I found some of the newer words listed there amusing, like "hobosexual" (the opposite of metrosexual; someone who cares little about their looks), "consumerican," ("a particularly American brand of consumerism"), and "wikidemia" ("an academic work passed off as scholarly yet researched entirely on Wikipedia").

    Citing Menthol Exemption, Black Group Pulls Support for FDA Tobacco Bill

    by Anne Landman — May 30, 2008 - 4:25pm

    The National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN) has withdrawn its support for a bill allowing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, May 30, 2008

    Conservative Bloggers Link Rachael Ray Ad to Terror Symbolism

    by Anne Landman — May 30, 2008 - 12:48pm

    Dunkin' Donuts pulled an online ad for frozen lattes featuring domestic maven Rachael Ray after receiving complaints from right-wing bloggers, including conservative FOX News commentator

    Main Source: 
    Advertising Age, May 28, 2008

    Healthcare Privacy Laws Quietly Assist Fundraising

    by Anne Landman — May 27, 2008 - 3:12pm

    When a patient checks into a hospital or goes to see a doctor, they are typically handed a booklet called "Notice of Privacy Practices" and are asked to sign a document acknowledging that they received the information. Patients assume that these "privacy practices" are in place to protect their personal information and that doctors and hospitals will keep their information in strictest confidence.

    Main Source: 
    San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2008

    The New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies

    by John Stauber — May 7, 2008 - 2:46pm

    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
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