Media

Appetite for Profit: An Interview with Michele Simon

by Judith Siers-Poisson — February 28, 2007 - 11:16am
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Obesity, Front Groups, Corporations, Health, Marketing, Media, Politics, Public Relations, Science

    • In December 2006, I interviewed author Michele Simon about her book, "Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back." The excerpts below are from that original interview, which took place on WORT, community radio in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Michele and her work, please visit her website.

    Judith Siers-Poisson (JSP): How did you personally become so involved and interested in food politics?

    Michele Simon (MS): It started about 10 years ago when I was struggling with my own weight and turned to a vegetarian diet and, lo and behold, I lost the weight I was struggling with. And then, from there, I started to learn all of the other ways our diet impacts our own health, in addition to the environment, animal welfare, and labor, and so many aspects of society -- I was just amazed at how much was impacted by those food choices.

    Murdoch Columnist Wrote Speeches for Australian Minister

    by Bob Burton — February 26, 2007 - 6:14am

    A parliamentary committee reviewing government expenditures was informed that Christopher Pearson, a conservative columnist who writes on national politics an

    Main Source: 
    Sydney Morning Herald, February 22, 2007

    Not-So-Liberal Hollywood

    by Diane Farsetta — February 22, 2007 - 2:04pm

    A sign protesting U.S.-Philippine military exercises (Source: PBS Frontline)

    "Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have acquired screen rights to 'Jihadists in Paradise,' a Mark

    Main Source: 
    Variety, February 16, 2007

    Drug Company Funds Direct-To-Consumer Movie

    by Diane Farsetta — February 16, 2007 - 1:58pm

    Johnson & Johnson's biopharmaceutical unit, Centocor, "has developed a documentary film to serve as the centerpiece of a national campaign," reports O'Dwyer's. The movie, "Innerstate," follows "three patients living with chronic diseases like Crohn's disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis -- ailments for which Centocor markets treatments.

    Main Source: 
    O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), February 15, 2007

    The Gori Truth: Tobacco Industry Payments to Toxicologist Undisclosed

    by Anne Landman — February 12, 2007 - 5:27pm

    As part of a program to give voice to a select group of think tanks, on January 30 the Washington Post printed an article by toxicologist and epidemiologist Gio Batta Gori, titled "The Bogus 'Science' of Secondhand Smoke." Gori claims that many published studies on the health hazards of secondhand smoke are based on

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, January 30, 2007

    Bush's Fantasy Budget and the Military/Entertainment Complex

    by Robin Andersen — February 12, 2007 - 3:41pm
  • Topics: Media, War / Peace

    • Those distressed by the bloated military budget that Bush recently announced should be equally alarmed by corporate media's stake in defense spending, because among other things, it helps shape news, entertainment culture and public attitudes toward war and its weapons. The CBS News report on Bush's budget was typical of the news coverage, describing it as a proposal for "a big increase in military spending, including billions more to fight the war in Iraq, while squeezing the rest of government" -- a euphemism for slashing Medicare and social programs across the board, further impoverishing Americans now sitting on mountains of debt with no medical coverage.

    Flowery Fake News Deemed Evergreen

    by Diane Farsetta — February 9, 2007 - 7:57pm

    Valentine's Day is approaching, and the public relations industry is readying fake news promotions for jewelry, candy, flowers and other traditional gifts.

    Main Source: 
    Medialink Worldwide, February 8, 2007

    Beyond Focus Groups: The Marketers Among Us

    by Diane Farsetta — February 5, 2007 - 3:29pm

    Forget about focus groups. Before launching their new weekly glossy magazine for women, "Look," executives at Britain's IPC Media (a Time Warner company) engaged in "immersion research," or ethnography. "We went out to our audience," explained IPC's Chris Taylor. "We literally lived for weeks at a time with [potential] readers in their homes.

    Main Source: 
    The Independent (UK), February 5, 2007

    Guerrilla Marketing Gone Bad in Boston

    by Diane Farsetta — February 2, 2007 - 12:53pm

    Turner Broadcasting apologized "for a marketing campaign that sparked Boston's biggest security scare since the September 11, 2001, attacks -- closing bridges, shutting major roads and putting hundreds of police on alert." The "outdoor marketing campaign" promoting an Adult Swim cartoon "had been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia." Boston police feared that the magnetic lightboards of cartoon characters might be bombs.

    Main Source: 
    Reuters, January 31, 2007
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