Public Relations

Have a Coke and a Greenwash

by Diane Farsetta — August 21, 2008 - 2:07pm

Coca-Cola wants you to think of it as green. That's why its public relations firm, Manning, Selvage & Lee, promoted the premiere of the soft drink company's film "Environmental Champions" at the Beijing Olympics complex.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), August 20, 2008

Yet Another Kind of Fake News

by Diane Farsetta — August 20, 2008 - 2:35pm

As more newspapers and other media outlets cut staff, public relations and advertising make gains. The Minnesota-based firm ARAnet provides "free print and Web content. ... More than 65 of the nation's top 100 newspapers, including the Star Tribune, use" ARAnet content, which "carries client messages." ARAnet president Scott Severson says his firm provides "high-quality consumer content" that "just happen[s] to be underwritten by our clients." ARAnet clients pay $4,500 for content creation, tracking and reporting; media outlets use it for free.

Main Source: 
MinnPost.com, August 18, 2008

Former IndyMac Employees Go Swift Boating

by Diane Farsetta — August 20, 2008 - 12:28pm

Former employees of the failed California IndyMac Bank have hired the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's former public relations firm, Creative Response Concepts (CRC), in an attempt to hold Senator Charles Schumer responsible for the bank's collapse.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2008

Canada's Oilsands Tarred with the "Greenwash" Brush

by Diane Farsetta — August 18, 2008 - 12:08pm

The UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled that a Shell ad that repeatedly referred to extraction from Canada's oilsands as "sustainable" was "misleading." The advertising regulator noted the "considerable social and environmental impacts" of oilsands development, adding that Shell has not explained how it will manage "carbon emissions from its oilsands projects in order to limit

Main Source: 
Calgary Herald (Canada), August 14, 2008

Medialink's Meltdown

by Bob Burton — August 18, 2008 - 6:05am

Medialink Worldwide -- the largest producer of fake news products such as video news releases (VNRs) -- is in financial meltdown.

Main Source: 
Medialink Worldwide, August 14, 2008

Penn's Tentacles

by Bob Burton — August 18, 2008 - 5:14am

The senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly, Joshua Green, thinks some commentators may be too quick in claiming that a political consulting career is over for Mark Penn, the CEO of Burson Marsteller and former "chief strategist" for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Main Source: 
The Atlantic Monthly, August 2008

Fridays with Tory

by Sheldon Rampton — August 14, 2008 - 3:38pm

Canada's Tory government is taking heat for using Friday afternoons to release negative news to the public. "The Tories took office promising clean, open governance and vowing not to practice the same old politics as previous government," reports the Canadian Press.

Main Source: 
CTV News, August 5, 2008

Faking Reality in the Name of National Interest

by Anne Landman — August 13, 2008 - 11:20am

First the organizers of China's spectacular Olympic opening ceremony admitted that they digitally faked the dazzling "footprint" fireworks that viewers saw on TV leading up to the Bird's Nest stadium.

Main Source: 
ABC News, August 12, 2008

Lincoln Group to Convince Afghans Bombs Are Bad

by Diane Farsetta — August 7, 2008 - 11:35am

Wondering what the Lincoln Group, the public relations firm that planted U.S. military-written propaganda in Iraqi newspapers, is up to now?

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), August 7, 2008
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