Advertising

Chemical Industry To Spend $50 Million For Better Image

by Laura Miller — April 3, 2003 - 11:00pm

"Chemical industry trade association the American Chemistry Council said it selected WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather, New York, and its public relations unit Ogilvy PR for its $50 million advertising account," Advertising Age writes. "The trade group is looking to its agency to develop a more positive image for the chemical industry, which is battling negative views that have been stoked in part by war talk of chemical weapons and bioterrorism. The council wants the ad campaign to improve the public's perception of the contribution of chemicals to improve consumers everyday lives."

Main Source: 
Advertising Age, April 4, 2003

War: Not So Good For PR & US Brands, But TV Ads OK

by Laura Miller — March 30, 2003 - 11:00pm

"Following a disastrous 2002 for the public relations industry, the war in Iraq now threatens to blight 2003," Advertising Age writes. "The most immediate problem for PR agencies is the shrinking news hole -- a vital element of campaigns -- now that it appears the war will go on for longer than some expected." Bad news for PR, but advertisers need not worry. "A majority of U.S.

Main Source: 
Advertising Age, March 31, 2003

TV Networks Continue to Ban Ads for Peace

by John Stauber — March 12, 2003 - 11:00pm

"MTV has refused to accept a commercial opposing a war in
Iraq, citing a policy against advocacy spots that it says
protects the channel from having to run ads from any
cash-rich interest group whose cause may be loathsome. ... 'It is irresponsible for news organizations not to accept
ads that are controversial on serious issues, assuming they
are not scurrilous or in bad taste,' said Alex Jones,
director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press,
Politics and Public Policy at Harvard.

Main Source: 
New York Times, March 13, 2003

The Good Side of War

by Sheldon Rampton — February 4, 2003 - 11:00pm

"Just as the advertising industry picks up the pieces from a crushing slump, the drumbeat of war is threatening to spoil the recovery," write Merissa Marr and Adam Pasick. "Advertisers are nervously reviewing their campaigns as a U.S.-led conflict in Iraq looms ... reporting a reluctance among some marketers to spend money on new campaigns and launch new products. ... In the last Gulf war in 1991, advertising spending almost entirely dried up for two months.

Main Source: 
Reuters, February 5, 2003

"Detroit Project" Won't Play in Detroit

by Sheldon Rampton — January 9, 2003 - 11:00pm

Detroit TV stations are refusing to broadcast the Detroit Project's TV ads linking terrorism to gas-guzzing SUVs, and industry-funded think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute have jumped in to attack the ads.

Main Source: 
Detroit Free Press, January 10, 2003

Program As Advertisement: Somebody Has to Pay for TV

by John Stauber — January 9, 2003 - 11:00pm

"A leading television producer and two major advertisers
have joined forces to present a live variety show with no
commercial interruptions. Instead, the advertising messages
will be incorporated into the show. The advertisers, which so far include Pepsi and Nokia
phones, are buying six hours of air time to create what the
program's producer, Michael Davies, called 'a contemporary,
hip Ed Sullivan show' for the youth-oriented WB Network,
part of AOL Time Warner. ...

Main Source: 
New York Times, January 10, 2003

Just Say No to S.U.V.s

by Sheldon Rampton — January 7, 2003 - 11:00pm

"This is George," a girl's voice says. "This is the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The screen then shows a map of the Middle East. "These are the countries where the executives bought the oil that made the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The picture switches to a scene of armed terrorists in a desert. "And these are the terrorists who get money from those countries every time George fills up his S.U.V." The ads, modeled after the Drug Council's TV commercials alleging that drug users support terrorism, are the brainchild of author and columnist Arianna Huffington.

Main Source: 
New York Times, January 8, 2003

Ad Triumphs and Advertrocities

by Sheldon Rampton — December 29, 2002 - 11:00pm

Advertising Age editor-at-large Bob Garfield reviews the high and low points of TV advertising during the past year and finds mostly lows connected to the "war on terrorism": from ads linking casual drug use to the funding of terrorism ("the evidence is a bit thin"); to the Freedom Campaign, which ran ads celebrating the blessings of American democracy. Unfortunately, Garfield observes, "The most striking - a 'Twilight Zone'-esque glimpse at how an America without civil liberties might look - was more chilling and ironic than intended.

Main Source: 
Advertising Age, December 30, 2002

Drug Companies Profit from Deceptive Ads

by John Stauber — December 3, 2002 - 11:00pm

"Some companies have repeatedly
disseminated misleading advertisements for prescription
drugs, even after being cited for violations, and millions
of people see the deceptive commercials before the
government tries to halt them, Congressional investigators
said today. The investigators, from the General Accounting Office, said
Pfizer, for example, had continued to make misleading
claims in advertisements for its cholesterol-lowering drug
Lipitor, despite several letters from the Food and Drug
Administration in the last four years.

Main Source: 
New York Times, December 4, 2002

PR/Ad Giants Are Spinning Drugs Into Gold

by John Stauber — November 21, 2002 - 11:00pm

"Dentists leafing through The Journal of the American Dental
Association last May found a study concluding that a new
drug called Bextra offered relief from one of their
patients' worst nightmares - the acute pain that follows
dental surgery. Federal regulators had rejected that conclusion only six
months before, leaving Bextra's marketers, Pharmacia and
Pfizer, hard pressed to sell it as an advance over
Celebrex, their earlier entry in a crowded market for pain
drugs. The new study helped light a fire under Bextra. Its sales
soared 60 percent over the three months that followed ... .

Main Source: 
New York Times Friday, November 22, 2002
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