Issue Management

Malaysian Palm Oil Producers Plan PR Blitz

by Bob Burton — November 16, 2006 - 11:00pm

Source: Orangutan Foundation

The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), a lobby group whose members dominate the global trade in oil produced from palm oil plantations, is looking to launch a PR blitz in the U.K. to overcome criticism from environmentalists.

Main Source: 
PR Week (sub req'd), November 15, 2006

Philip Morris Using PR To Look Like A Good Actor In The Movies

by Anne Landman — November 16, 2006 - 12:05pm

The Philip Morris (PM) tobacco company has announced a brand new advertising campaign aimed at begging the movie industry not to use Marlboro cigarettes in movies.

Main Source: 
International Herald Tribune/AP, November 15, 2006

Tobacco Lobby Aims To Stub Out Safer Cigarettes

by Bob Burton — November 13, 2006 - 3:43am

The Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA), a U.K.-based trade association, is lobbying against a European Union proposal to require companies to manufacture cigarettes that reduce the chances of causing a fire if not being smoked.

Main Source: 
The Observer (UK), November 12, 2006

Sponsored Police

by Bob Burton — November 13, 2006 - 3:26am

Corporate sponsorship is all the rage, even with the New South Wales Police. In 2002 a mother of three, Diane Brimble, died on board the P&O cruise ship Pacific Sky from a combination of alcohol and the drug gamma hydroxybutyrate. Her death was investigated by officers from the NSW Water Police. Eighteen months later, P & O was one of five sponsors of the opening of a new headquarters for the water police.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, November 11, 2006

Drug Company Pulls Funding After Conference Criticism

by Bob Burton — November 10, 2006 - 10:10pm

Adriane Fugh-Berman, an Associate Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, recounts her experience of speaking at a recent medical conference in New Mexico on the topic of drug industry influence in medical education. "Immediately after my talk, one pharmaceutical company representative announced to a conference organiser that her company would no longer support the annual conference. Another packed up his exhibit and walked out," she writes in the British Medical Journal.

Main Source: 
British Medical Journal, November 11, 2006

Logging Company Stumps Up Millions More for SLAPP Against Activists

by Bob Burton — November 10, 2006 - 2:30pm

Tasmanian logging company Gunns has told shareholders that it plans to spend $A2 million pursuing SLAPPs against a group of environmentalists, known as the Gunns 20. So far the court has thrown out all three of the company's statements of claim and ordered it to pay the defendants legal costs.

Main Source: 
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 9 November , 2006

Why Did KFC Cross the Road? (Because PR Was On The Other Side)

by Jonathan Rosenblum — November 10, 2006 - 10:38am

When KFC crowed on October 30, 2006, that it was planning to ban transfats in its U.S. fried chicken, the company had a PR machine behind it ready to score a news hit in one of the nation's fast food capitals, New York City.

Main Source: 
PR Week, November 6, 2006 (sub req'd)

Drug Company Takes Rap for Burson-Marsteller's Cash Offer to Journalists

by Bob Burton — November 7, 2006 - 3:37am

The U.K. drug industry's self regulatory body, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), has censured Janssen-Cilag after an employee from its PR firm, Burson-Marsteller (B-M), offered journalists cash if they attended a hearing of the government drug regulator.

Main Source: 
Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, November 2006

Restaurant Industry Can't Stop Trans Fat Grease Fire

by Jonathan Rosenblum — November 1, 2006 - 9:11am

New York City, with the support of Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, aggressively is moving forward to ban trans fats from restaurants--the stuff that says “hydrogenated” before the word oil in fast foods, snacks and many other processed and restaurant foods. Other cities are contemplating similar action.

Main Source: 
The New York Times, October 31, 2006

European Brewers Aim to Derail Alcohol Strategy

by Bob Burton — October 30, 2006 - 1:46pm

The European Commission "may be the victim of a carefully planned attack by representatives of the alcohol industry" to derail the adoption of a strategy to reduce the health effects of alcohol, warns Martin McKee, professor of European public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Main Source: 
British Medical Journal, October 28, 2006
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