Public Relations Nightmares

Edelman Likes It Hot

corporate social responsibility, international, issue management, activism, global warming - No Comments » - Posted on August, 1 at 1:26 am

Protesters outside Edelman’s London officeOver the next week, campaigners from around the United Kingdom will converge on the site of a proposed expansion of the coal-fired Kingsnorth Power Station and participate in civil disobedience protests. The company behind the proposal, E.ON UK, a subsidiary of the German energy company E.ON, is so worried by the […]

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Weekly Radio Spin: Smokin’ the Competition

crisis management, ethics, public relations, U.S. government, race/ethnic issues, corporate social responsibility, activism, children, corporations, health, lobbying, marketing, internet, science, social justice, advertising, Politics, tobacco, arts/culture - No Comments » - Posted on May, 16 at 1:03 pm

Listen to this week's edition of the “Weekly Radio Spin,” the Center for Media and Democracy’s audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at why we should pity the oil industry, how invasion of privacy is sold as a good thing, and kids fighting back. In “Six Degrees of Spin […]

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Daughter Busts Dad: Burger King VP Caught Running Dirty Tricks Campaign

crisis management, corporate social responsibility, human rights, activism, children, corporations, labor - No Comments » - Posted on April, 28 at 9:00 am

Amy Bennett Williams reports, “As the Coalition of Immokalee Workers prepares to deliver more than 60,000 petitions to Burger King headquarters in Miami today, the daughter of Burger King’s vice-president Stephen Grover confirmed her father is responsible for online postings vilifying the coalition. The Immokalee-based group is asking Burger King to improve tomato harvesters’ working […]

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A Not-So-Candid CAMERA

secrecy, international, issue management, activism, internet, third party technique - No Comments » - Posted on April, 23 at 12:39 pm

CAMERA, a lobby group that campaigns against criticism of the Israeli government in U.S. media, had a campaign to impact Wikipedia’s coverage of Israel and Palestine issues. In emails, CAMERA’s Gilead Ini stressed that the effort should be secret, and counseled members to avoid “picking a user name that marks you as pro-Israel, or that […]

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Spinners Queue Up to Help China

crisis management, public relations, human rights, international, issue management, activism, democracy, war/peace - No Comments » - Posted on April, 11 at 4:16 am

The Free Tibet Campaign in the UK has waned that “any PR agency that is trying to assist China in its twisted distortion of the truth would be potentially exposing itself to protests outside its offices.” Despite this, PR Week reports that Ogilvy, Burson-Marsteller and Ketchum have “all refused to rule out working […]

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It’s Not Your Grandfather’s Oil Industry

public relations, issue management, activism, corporations, lobbying, Iraq, global warming - No Comments » - Posted on March, 24 at 4:04 pm

The oil industry’s “nationwide publicity drive to clear up what it calls ‘common and surprising misperceptions’” about its record-breaking profits continues. The American Petroleum Institute’s (API’s) senior economic analyst, Rayola Dougher, was in Denver recently. Her message: “It’s not your grandfather’s oil and gas industry anymore.” She added that API is “trying to reach out […]

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The Weekly Radio Spin: Intravenous Government Propaganda

U.S. government, corporate social responsibility, issue management, activism, health, journalism, internet, global warming, tobacco, cause-related marketing, Weekly Radio Spin - No Comments » - Posted on December, 7 at 2:05 pm

Listen to this week's edition of the “Weekly Radio Spin,” the Center for Media and Democracy’s audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we cover “green” marketing, the cynical uses of corporate social responsibility, and what the White House really thinks of bloggers and reporters. In “Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin’,” […]

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Fake Green Certification Backfires

crisis management, ethics, corporate social responsibility, international, activism, marketing, citizen journalism, environment - No Comments » - Posted on August, 29 at 5:13 am

The Australian supermarket company Woolworths has withdrawn a range of tissue products after being outed by an anonymous blogger for using a “Sustainable Forest Fibre” logo on products sourced from a notorious Indonesian forestry company. In its most recent corporate social responsibility report, Woolworths states that a “key element of our ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) […]

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Booklaunch: Inside Spin

crisis management, ethics, public relations, corporate social responsibility, international, issue management, activism, corporations, democracy, think tanks, lobbying, pharmaceuticals, food safety, environment, third party technique, nuclear power, video news releases, tobacco - No Comments » - Posted on July, 31 at 3:39 am

If you live in Sydney, you are invited to the launch of Inside Spin by SourceWatch editor Bob Burton. Inside Spin is the first behind-the-scenes investigation of the billion dollar a year Australian PR industry. Using leaked internal documents, Freedom of Information searches, interviews and court records, Bob Burton lifts the lid on some of […]

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Solid Spoof

corporate social responsibility, international, issue management, activism, democracy, environment, global warming - No Comments » - Posted on July, 30 at 1:06 am

Solid Energy protest: Source: Happy Valley CoalitionThe New Zealand Government-owned coal mining company, Solid Energy, has had only a limited win with the legal action it launched over a spoof corporate social responsibility report. Initially, the company aimed to suppress the entire report, produced by the Save Happy Valley Coalition, and sought damages for defamation […]

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