Corporations

The Art of the Deal

by Sheldon Rampton — July 2, 2002 - 7:12am

SatireWire.com has posted a couple of clever spoofs regarding the current wave of corporate fraud scandals. One story reports, "the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that corporate earnings statements should be protected as works of art, as they 'create something from nothing.'" Another states, "Band of Roving Chief Executives Spotted Miles from Mexican Border ...

Product Placement TV: The Commercial IS the Content

by John Stauber — June 30, 2002 - 10:00pm

"Who wears the pants on The Best Damn Sports Show Period?
Why, the advertisers, literally and figuratively. In the latest example of how television programming and advertising are becoming increasingly indistinguishable, Levi Strauss & Company paid for an actor featured in a commercial for its Dockers pants brand to appear on the show on Fox Sports Net, a cable TV channel owned by the News Corporation and Cablevision Systems. ...

Main Source: 
New York Times, July 1, 2002

Living in Fear of Nuns With Guitars

by Sheldon Rampton — June 30, 2002 - 10:00pm

Nichols/Dezenhall, a "brass-knuckled, Machiavellian" PR firm that specializes in attacking critics of its corporate clients, is profiled in the June 29 National Journal. "Corporations live in mortal terror of being seen as ungentle," says company founder Eric Dezenhall. "They live in fear of a nun with a guitar showing up at their annual meeting to protest something. But that nun isn't always innocent." Clients of Nichols/Dezenhall have included Motel 6, the Foundation for Biomedical Research, the American Chemistry Council, the Meat Industry Council, and Browning-Ferris Industries.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, July 1, 2002

Outing ALEC

by Sheldon Rampton — June 30, 2002 - 10:00pm

Behind the scenes of American politics, the powerful American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been quietly pulling the strings of state legislatures. "The organization's reach is impressive: More than one-third of state legislators are ALEC members, and about 100 hold senior leadership positions," writes Nick Penniman.

Main Source: 
The American Prospect, July 1, 2002

Martha Stewart, Reform Mascot

by Sheldon Rampton — June 25, 2002 - 10:00pm

Martha Stewart's involvement in insider trading allegations may finally ring in corporate reforms, according to Kevin McCauley at O'Dwyer's PR Daily. "The names of Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco), Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom), John Rigas (Adelphia Communications), Dave Komansky (Merrill Lynch) and Gary Winnick (Global Crossing) don't ring a bell to those who skip the financial pages when reading their morning papers," McCauley writes. "Martha Stewart. Ding dong. That's a bell-ringer. ...

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, June 26, 2002

WorldCom's Accounting Errors Too Big For PR

by Laura Miller — June 25, 2002 - 10:00pm

"We've believed from the start that the perception of these negative items has been overstated," PR Week reports WorldCom CEO John Sidgmore telling shareholders at the company's June 14 annual meeting. "We must convince customers, employees, and investors of that fact." Sidgmore, who took the CEO job in April, was referring to WorldCom's growing debts, stock price plunge, and recent layoffs.

Main Source: 
PR Week, June 24, 2002; Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2002

ExxonMobil Sues Greenpeace

by Laura Miller — June 25, 2002 - 10:00pm

"Greenpeace, which is urging a boycott of ExxonMobil because of its anti-global warming treaty stance, has been sued by the energy giant in France for trademark infringement. That has provided a rich PR opportunity for the media savvy environmental group," O'Dwyer's PR reports. Greenpeace altered the Esso logo by replacing the "ss" with dollar signs. ExxonMobil says that the Greenpeace-altered logo resembles the insignia of the elite Nazi SS army and that it is a "repulsion." According to O'Dwyer's, ExxonMobil fears the E$$O logo "will drive consumers away from its brand."

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, June 26, 2002

Canada's Propaganda War for Engineered Foods

by Sheldon Rampton — June 24, 2002 - 11:29am

The Canadian government, working closely with the biotech industry, is spending millions getting Canadians to accept genetically modified foods. Lyle Stewart describes the "spider's web of influence" that brings together the biotech and agri-food industries, large grocery distributors, the Hill & Knowlton PR firm, and industry-created front groups such as the Food Biotechnology Communications Network, and co-opted NGOs including the Consumers' Association of Canada.

Main Source: 
This magazine, May/June 2002

System Failure: Ethical Meltdown Burns Wall Street

by Sheldon Rampton — June 23, 2002 - 10:00pm

"Phony earnings, inflated revenues, conflicted Wall Street analysts, directors asleep at the switch--this isn't just a few bad apples we're talking about here," writes Fortune magazine. "This, my friends, is a systemic breakdown. Nearly every known check on corporate behavior--moral, regulatory, you name it--fell by the wayside, replaced by the stupendous greed that marked the end of the bubble. And that has created a crisis of investor confidence the likes of which hasn't been seen since--well, since the Great Depression." And the crisis hasn't even peaked yet.

Main Source: 
Fortune, June 24, 2002

The Media: White, Male, Republican, Corporate

by Sheldon Rampton — June 17, 2002 - 10:55am

A new study by Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR) shows that 92 percent of all U.S. sources interviewed on the nightly network news in 2001 were white, 85 percent were male and, where party affiliation was identifiable, 75 percent were Republican. Big business, too, was overrepresented. In a year in which the country lost 2.4 million jobs, corporate representatives appeared about 35 times more frequently than did union representatives.

Main Source: 
http://www.fair.org/extra/0205/power_sources.html
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