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Chamber Ads Distort Truth, Contain Falsehoods

by Anne Landman — October 18, 2010 - 2:24pm

Ads being run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce contain demonstrably false distortions of truth and statements that fact-checkers have repeatedly exposed as false. The Chamber's "cookie-cutter" ads running across the U.S.

Main Source: 
Washington Post/The Plum Line, October 18, 2010

Larry Kudlow Calls for Campaign Ad Funding Disclosure

by Anne Landman — October 8, 2010 - 8:54am

Former Reagan Administration official, CNBC host and columnist Larry Kudlow, who writes for the National Review -- one of the oldest and most influential conservative publications in the country -- said October 6 that shadowy groups like the

Main Source: 
People for the American Way, October 6, 2010

Honda Buys the Rose Parade

by Anne Landman — September 27, 2010 - 11:58am

After 121 years as an independent event, the iconic New Year's Day Rose Parade has sold its naming rights to the American Honda Motor Company, the U.S.-based headquarters of the Japanese car manufacturer. The name of the 2012 event will be "The 122nd Rose Parade, Presented by Honda." Honda will get the lead float in the parade, and full usage rights for the Tournament of Roses. The name "Honda" has been incorporated into the parade's trademark rose logo.

Main Source: 
Contra Costa Times, September 27, 2010

Wow, Nice Tibias

by Anne Landman — September 10, 2010 - 4:08pm

The EIZO Company of Japan is a relatively obscure manufacturer of x-ray monitors and medical imaging displays, but thanks to the work of the Butter Advertising Agency in Berlin/Duesseldorf, Germany, the company is grabbing attention with a new promotional pinup calendar that shows everything -- and we mean everything. X-ray images of nude models posted on the Internet caused a viral storm of commenting and link-sharing.

Main Source: 
Wired Magazine Raw File, September 8, 2010

Progressives Up In Arms Over Brand Obama's Insult

by Steve Horn — August 10, 2010 - 2:53pm
  • Topics: Left Wing, Advertising, Marketing, Media, Politics

    • A year and a half after his November 4, 2008 election, the progressive left is, rightfully, up in arms over the lack of integrity President Barack Obama has shown across the gamut of burning contemporary political issues. These include, but are not limited to issues such as war, health care, secrecy, warrantless wiretapping, and environmental issues, among many others.

    A healthy and flourishing representative democracy depends on an engaged citizenry standing up and demanding that their representatives represent them. President Obama said so himself at this year's Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas in his desperate plea to show progressive activists that he is, indeed "one of them." It does not take a political guru to understand that this was a desperate attempt to garner support from progressive Democrats for the 2010 elections, who, according to soundbites his Administration pulled together from The Rachel Maddow Show and included in the video address to the attendees at Netroots Nation, have fought so hard for that magical buzzword he used so loosely in 2008: change!

    T-Boone Pickens and the Truth about All that Drilling

    by Steve Horn — August 10, 2010 - 1:20pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Global Warming, Energy, Environment, Lobbying, Public Relations

    • The home page of T. Boone Pickens' "Pickens Plan" is emblematic of the oil industry's aggressive push to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale basin. The page greets visitors with the blaring headline, "WE MUST BREAK AMERICA'S ADDICTION TO FOREIGN OIL. The Pickens Plan will do it, but we need your help."

    In the age of the perpetual War on terrorism, politicians, pundits and other U.S. demagogues have successfully used fear as a bargaining chip. Fear-mongering is a method of Orwellian thought control. In this example, Pickens equates foreign oil with evil, similar to the Bush Administration's Orewellian logic regarding American's position in the world: "You're either with us, or you're with the enemy." Bush put forth a false paradigm of absolute good versus absolute evil. The Bush Administration used fear as a political tool after 9/11 to march the country into war, and convince citizens that we need to permit domestic spying to keep us safe domestically. (Think Patriot Act). Fear also led to the heinous crimes committed at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib Detention Centers.

    The Newest Hasbara Group in Town: the Emergency Committee for Israel

    by Steve Horn — July 13, 2010 - 2:45pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Right Wing, Front Groups, Propaganda, Public Relations

    • There's a new player in the game that is pro-Israel lobby hasbara in the United States: The Emergency Committee for Israel, which is running an ad attacking House Representative Joe Sestak for his positions on Israel.

    The Committee has arisen just in time for the 2010 mid-term elections campaign season, and right in the middle of what have been, albeit weak and mostly a public relations stunt, a push for peace talks, mediated by the Obama Administration, between the Benjamin Netanyahu-lead Likud coalition of the Israeli government, and the Palestinians. Even the facade of Obama pushing for negotiations for a two-state solution and holding both sides of the conflict accountable, though, is too much for this new committee, which explains why it has arisen from the dust.

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