Advertainment Reigns

Advertainment Reigns: "Product placements on television shows are booming, with this year's market expected to total $4.2 billion. 'Advertisers pay as much as $2 million an episode to get their products featured on NBC's 'The Apprentice,'' reports the Los Angeles Times. At the TV industry's annual sales drive, actor Amanda Bynes of WB's 'What I Like About You' said of her show's characters, 'This season we found out, like, they eat Pringles and use Herbal Essence shampoo. Next season, we hope to find out what cellphones they're using and what cars they drive.' Other recent product placements include a couple on Fox's 'The O.C.' looking at AmericanAirlines.com, a character on ABC's 'Desperate Housewives' working for Buick LaCrosse, and contestants on CBS' 'Survivor:Palau' using Home Depot tools.
Main source:
Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2005
Main URL:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-payola26may26.story"

(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Pay-for-Praise Comes Under Scrutiny

Pay-for-Praise Comes Under Scrutiny

Jonathan Adelstein of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission called 'for an investigation of experts who tout products on television without disclosing payments from the manufacturers.' The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post have reported on 'technology and other experts who are paid tens of thousands of dollars by such companies as Sony, Apple and Hewlett-Packard' and who have praised those companies' products 'on NBC's 'Today' show, other network programs and during 'satellite tours' of local TV stations.' Such payola violates federal law and could result in fines of up to $10,000 for repeat offenders.

Washington Post, May 25, 2005

(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Middle East Propaganda TV: 'Cheaper than an Invasion'

Good Morning Iraq: US Sponsored Television: "US Sponsored Television in the Middle East is 'Cheaper than an Invasion'
he violence -- and casualties -- in Iraq continue to mount and many in the Arab world continue to view America as an imperialist power. But the US-based television station Al-Hurra is trying to change that. After all, there is some good news in Iraq, isn't there?")

Soundtrack for Torture

Soundtrack for Torture: "In November 2003, one of our DJs received this e-mail from a WFMU listener stationed in Iraq:

Hi, I'm currently deployed to Iraq and recently discovered your program. Since then My tank crew and I listen whenever we get the chance. The reason I'm writing is that we have been looking for anything we can find by happy flowers, not just because I think My Skin Covers My Body is the greatest record of all time, but also It's perfect for Psychological Warfare. Well, the only song we have here is Charlie Got a Haircut and we've used it so much, we can't stand it. Basically I wanted to check if you know somewhere we can score some Happy Flowers we can then load onto an Ipod to use on the Iraqis. Any suggestions would be appreciated."

(Via WFMU's Beware of the Blog.)

Personal Data for the Taking

NYT > Personal Data for the Taking: "Personal Data for the Taking
Senator Ted Stevens wanted to know just how much the Internet had turned private lives into open books. So the senator, a Republican from Alaska and the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, instructed his staff to steal his identity.
'I regret to say they were successful,' the senator reported at a hearing he held last week on data theft.
His staff, Mr. Stevens reported, had come back not just with digital breadcrumbs on the senator, but also with insights on his daughter's rental property and some of the comings and goings of his son, a student in California. 'For $65 they were told they could get my Social Security number,' he said.

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USDA pays for articles

USDA pays for articles: From Washington Post:

The Natural Resources Conservation Service hired freelancer Dave Smith in September 2003 to ‘research and write articles for hunting and fishing magazines describing the benefits of NRCS Farm Bill programs to wildlife habitat and the environment,’ according to agency procurement documents obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Smith, contracted to craft five stories for $1,875 each, also was to ‘contact and work magazine editors to place the articles in targeted publications,’ the records show.

From Real Propaganda

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Subliminal Persuasion

Disney 'reporter' appears in local news

Disney 'reporter' appears in local news: "I'm hearing that some local TV stations are doing live shots from a Disney 'reporter' -- complete with a Disney logo on the microphone -- promoting Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. Doesn't this fit squarely in the VNR category?"

All pre-packaged news need disclaimer

Disclosure for Video (but Not the Radio) Stars - Center for Media and Democracy: "Senators John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg introduced the Truth in Broadcasting Act; a Senate Commerce committee hearing is expected in early May. The bill would require 'all pre-packaged news stories produced by Executive Branch agencies to contain a continuously visible disclaimer stating 'Produced By the U.S. Government',' when aired on U.S. television stations. The bill does not require disclaimers from broadcasters. The disclaimer would not be required for reports from government-supported news agencies like PBS and NPR, or for international broadcasts, 'since the U.S. government has no prohibition on exporting propaganda.'"

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Review: We Know What You Want

Book Review: "WITH ALL THE verbal and written rhetoric for the past several years about the
elite, liberal and/or Conservative media, in order to get at the truth,  you should read
this great soft cover, beautifully produced with exceptional graphics and quotes
about 'how they change your mind. It is a brilliantly conceived book from The Disinformation Press!...AUTHORED BY MEDIA  literacy advocate Martin Howard, this book is a much-needed (and we could say, required reading) and field manual to protecting yourself from subliminal messages, hypnotic triggers, and other perils of modern marketing.  With an introduction by media theorist Douglas Rushkoff, We Know What You Want is a visually organized companion volume to Rushkoff's ground breaking book Coercion. ."

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ExxonMobil Funding Global Warming Skeptics

ExxonMobil Spends Millions Funding Global Warming Skeptics: "Friday, April 22nd, 2005
Report: ExxonMobil Spends Millions Funding Global Warming Skeptics

A new investigation by Mother Jones magazine has revealed that ExxonMobil has spent at least $8 million dollars funding a network of groups to challenge the existence of global warming. We speak with the author of the report, a member of one the organizations that receives money from Exxon and a journalist covering environmental and climate change issues.

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Beaming into the brain - by Sony

April 26, 2005: Get Out Your Tinfoil Hats!: "Sony Electronics has recently been granted a patent for beaming sensory information directly into the brain. They hope to create video games which you can smell, taste, and touch.

You can read the Reuters story here, where a Sony spokeswoman admitted that they haven't had any successful experiments yet. The patent 'was based on an inspiration that this may someday be the direction that technology will take us.' In other words, their mind control lasers are still just smoke and mirrors, but they have a patent now. Fnord."

Blogdigger search for "mind control"

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Free trip in exchange for "a mention"

A Sell-Out's Tale: "One day in February I got a message from a woman named Jennifer. As messages go, it was a good one. She worked for Volvo of North America, and she wanted to fly me to Phoenix for a three-day stay in a first-class hotel, all expenses paid... It would have been a cryptic message, but I had already been on one Volvo press trip, and I knew immediately that I had just been offered a cushy free vacation. All Volvo wanted, in return, was for me to mention their car in a national publication. Or, to put it bluntly, all they wanted was my journalistic integrity"

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Get yourself inserted directly into the stories

Paying to be in the News: "Our startup spent its entire marketing budget on PR: at a time when we were assembling our own computers to save money, we were paying a PR firm $16,000 a month. And they were worth it. PR is the news equivalent of search engine optimization; instead of buying ads, which readers ignore, you get yourself inserted directly into the stories. "

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Global surveillance infrastructure

Warning on spread of state surveillance: "Governments are building 'global registration and surveillance infrastructure' in US-led 'war on terror', warn civil liberty groups."

Guardian Unlimited World Latest

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Paid Experts Disguised Fake News

Trust Us, We're Paid TV Experts!

'The use of TV consumer experts is the latest way marketers have tried to disguise their promotions as real news,' similar to magazine ''advertorials' designed to look like editorial features' and video news releases aired as TV reports. The stable of paid 'experts' includes 'Today' show tech-product reviewer Corey Greenberg, 'trend and fashion expert' Katlean de Monchy, Popular Photography & Imaging magazine editor John Owens, and Child magazine tech editor James Oppenheim.

Main source: Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.), April 19, 2005

Link PR Watch Other Feed

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Army Recruitment Campaign Tricks

Beware Monster.com - by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst: "Interesting but expected..." Sadly, however, most students won’t notice that all those questions about students’ plans for college and career are a cover for the real questions, which are embedded near the end: “If you are considering a military career, which of the following describes your plans?” and “Which of the armed services would you prefer?”... Neither will most kids notice or care about fine print at the bottom, printed in a font size so small that few will bother trying to read it: “To learn more about what kinds of information you might receive %u2026 visit www.YourFuture.org,” which means they’ll never see the “privacy” statement, which makes very clear where their “private” information is going…

Dvorak Uncensored

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Propaganda Technique: Repetition

Censored Propaganda Technique: Repetition

From SourceWatch:"If you repeat something over and over, no matter how outrageous it may be, people will come to believe there's some truth in it. A good example of this is the claim that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. No evidence has been found suggesting collaboration between Iraq and the Al Qaeda network, yet Bush administration officials have repeatedly mentioned the two in tandem. As a result, a recent opinion survey by the Council on Foreign Relations shows that more than 40 percent of the American people believe that some or all of the attackers on 9/11 were Iraqi nationals, when in fact none were.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Repetition"

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Lobbyists Spend $13b to Influence Congress

The 'Fourth Branch' Of Government: "'Special interests and the lobbyists they employ have reported spending, since 1998, a total of almost $13 billion to influence Congress, the White House and more than 200 federal agencies. They've hired a couple thousand former government officials to influence federal policy on everything from abortion and adoption to taxation and welfare. And they've filed--most of the time--thousands of pages of disclosure forms with the Senate Office of Public Records and the House Clerk's Office.

'Washington's lobbyists reported billing $2.4 billion in 2003, the most recent year for which complete data exist. That figure will almost certainly go up to more than $3 billion in 2004.' (AlterNet article)."

Disinformation

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RFID Tagging Rifle

RFID Tagging Rifle: "This is the product of the Danish company, Empire North. It does not shoot bullets, but rather it shoots ultra-miniature GPS tracking chips, allowing police to 'tag' suspects and track them without their knowledge. Chilling? You bet. But the technology was well received by law enforcement agencies when EN unveiled it at China's police exhibition in Beijing.
"

More about Citizen Surveillance

Credit Card Fine Print You Missed

secret history of the credit card: the fine print: "The detailed agreement that comes with a new credit card contains provisions that can add up to hefty fees, penalties and rising interest rates. A look at some of the important sections of a typical contract."

(Via Frontline PBS)

BBC reveals use of Fake News

The Controller of Editorial Policy for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Stephen Whittle, has written to David Miller from the European PR watchdog group Spinwatch stating that the use of audio news supplied by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), an agency funded by the UK Ministry of Defence, was 'not ideal'. Miller revealed the use of fake news by the BBC a little over a week ago.
Main source:
Scoop, March 24, 2005
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00240.htmPR Watch's Spin of the Day

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Review: We Know What You Want

News From Nowhere - reviews » “We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind” by Martin Howard: "Did you know that the classic business self-help text How To Win Friends and Influence People is part of the CIA’s training on interrogation techniques? Or that product placement doesn’t just happen in films, that people in the street or a bar enthusing about a product or brand might have been paid to do so? The book is packed with fascinating information like this."

(Via News From Nowhere.)

Neuroeconomics - Hacking your head gently

via MetaFilter: "Neuroeconomics: 'Eventually it could help economists design incentives that gently guide people toward making decisions that are in their long-term best interests in everything from labor negotiations to diets to 401(k) plans.' Note the ambiguous use of the pronoun 'their'--are we talking about the long-term interests of people in general or of economists?"

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Choicepoint stores 77 page dossiers on citizens

My Life, according to the data merchants

"To find out just what these companies have on us, I bought dossiers on myself from both, spending less than $30. Like most major news organizations, the AP has accounts with data brokers...
...Accurint's list of my possible relatives was brief and dead-on, almost scarily so. That was in distinct contrast to ChoicePoint, whose 200-person list of possible relatives, while rich with celebrities, was largely inaccurate. (If I had my choice between being related to former Go-Go's band leader Belinda Carlisle and dyspeptic playwright Neil Simon, both of whom are in my ChoicePoint dossier, I'd pick Belinda in a heartbeat.)
My Accurint file was 17 pages of small type. For about $25, my ChoicePoint file was 77 pages long. It covered much of the same ground Accurint did but included many more digressions, such as those 200 possible relatives."

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Fake News is Global

(Via AboveTopSecret.com.)

Propaganda Report Finds Bias in Iraq Coverage: "At least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department, have produced and distributed hundreds of phony television news segments in the past four years. Three times in the past year alone, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that government-made news segments push the window on covert propaganda. The Pentagon Channel now is offered to all US media - army public affairs specialists beam news reports from Iraq and Afghanistan. The military-financed Web site at http://www.dvidshub.net provides US TV stations with free news segments. US law and FCC regulations prohibit government propaganda, but the White House is using legal technicalities to fight the restrictions. On Friday, the Justice Department and the Office of Management and Budget circulated a memorandum instructing all executive branch agencies to ignore the G.A.O. findings."

14 Words Never to Use

Political Strategy - Politics, Strategies, Tactics, News and Opinion: "In the tenth and final installment of the text version of the Luntz Republican playbook, Frank warns conservatives of the 14 words they should never, ever use -- and then graciously provides 'proper' alternatives."

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Language: A Key Mechanism of Control

Time to revisit a classic propaganda guide...

Language: A Key Mechanism of Control: "Language is listed as a key mechanism of control used by a majority party, along with Agenda, Rules, Attitude and Learning. As the tapes have been used in training sessions across the country and mailed to candidates we have heard a plaintive plea: 'I wish I could speak like Newt.'...That takes years of practice. But, we believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases."

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White House Fake News Probe: NY Times

From Chuck Currie:

"1984 Bush-style The New York Times is reporting in an extensive article that the Bush Administration has attempted to manipulate the media in unprecedented ways:

Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

It is clear that an independent counsel is required to investigate this White House and their role in pushing propaganda as news to the American public.

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Lebanese opposition buys US support

Pro-Cedar, Anti-Syria

The Lebanese American Council for Democracy, the 'group that played a key role in the passage of the Syrian Accountability Act,' retained 5W Public Relations for 'strategic counsel and media relations.' The group's goal is 'to gain support from U.S. political leaders and United Nations officials to pressure Syria to withdraw its troops.' The group is reportedly 'closely aligned with Michel Aoun, the former Prime Minister who was ousted by the Syrians' in 1990.

Main source:
PR Week (reg. req'd.), March 10, 2005

PR Watch's Spin of the Day

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Book shows risks of surveillance society

Daniel J. Solove, The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the
Information Age: "THE DIGITAL PERSON TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE by Daniel J. Solove ISBN: 0814798462

"A pathbreaking account of the threat to privacy in today’s digitized world.

Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, electronic databases are compiling information about you. As you surf the Internet, an unprecedented amount of your personal information is being recorded and preserved forever in the digital minds of computers.  These databases create a profile of activities, interests, and preferences used to investigate backgrounds, check credit, market products, and make a wide variety of decisions affecting our lives. The creation and use of these databases--which Daniel J. Solove calls ‘digital dossiers’--has thus far gone largely unchecked.  In this startling account of new technologies for gathering and using personal data, Solove explains why digital dossiers pose a grave threat to our privacy."

The propaganda you paid for

Watching the spinners paid by US: "Ever wonder who gets the spin money from the government to sell us everything from wars to reforms to reconnect the Army with the American people. A rundown on the seven biggest PR firms doing business with the government, and their refusal to come clean about what it is they're doing with our tax money. PRWatch has much, much more, including exposing the funding and associations pushing Social Security 'reform'"

MetaFilter

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Choicepoint personal data files riddled with errors

Privacy Digest: Privacy News (Civil Rights, Encryption, Free Speech, Cryptography): "Deborah Pierce held a rare and precious document in her hands. It was the story of her life, as told by ChoicePoint Inc. She wasn't supposed to see it; an anonymous source had smuggled the report to her. But there it was, her "National Comprehensive Report," 20 pages long, a complete dossier of all the digital breadcrumbs she's left behind during her adult life ... Pierce said she felt an uneasy twinge in her stomach as she began to flip the pages. A dozen former addresses were listed, along with neighbors and their phone numbers. Almost 20 people were listed as relatives -- and their neighbors were listed, too. There were cars she supposedly owned, businesses she supposedly worked for.

But the more closely she looked, the more alarmed she became: The report was littered with mistakes.

ChoicePoint, the now embattled database giant, aggregates data from hundreds of sources on millions of Americans. The reports are then sold to thousands of companies and government agencies that want to know more about their clients, customers, or employees.

More about Customer Surveillance

Your online behaviour being recorded to use against you

Customer Surveillance intensifies...

TACODA: "With TACODA's Audience Management Services™ (AMS) publishers can dramatically expand the value of their inventory using behavioral targeting.

AMS gives publishers an eye into the behavioral value of their audience and enhances their ability to sell their Inventory and audience to high-value advertisers."

[Your Name Here] University

[Your Name Here] University: "

Philip G. Altbach has a fine op-ed in tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor about the sale of naming rights at colleges and universities. The trend towards sale of naming rights, Altbach writes, will 'inevitably weaken the concept of the university as an institution that is devoted to the search for truth and the transmission of knowledge, of an institution with almost a millennium of history.'

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Profile: Frank Luntz, Opinion Engineer

Read a comprehensive profile on Frank Luntz at Source watch including leaked memos describing his controversial insights on opinion management via language tricks.

Frank Luntz - SourceWatch: "Frank Luntz, the Republican Party pollster and political consultant, is president and CEO of Luntz Research Companies, which offers 'Strategic Consulting and Message Development,' focus groups, surveys and other research for political and corporate campaigns.[1]

VNRs on CNN

VNR on CNN Domestic: "Are you watching the free advertisement for Virgin Atlantic? The GlobalFlyer's landing has been live on CNN for the past half hour or so. It's a nice story, but why are they live for this long? In true VNR format the video is coming directly from the GlobalFlyer folks. Jeez."

Source: Lost Remote

More about VNRs and Fake News

ASVAB Army Recruiters Tricks

ASVAB Recruiters' Tricks Revealed in Their Own Handbook: "The most striking feature of the Army's School
Recruiting Program Handbook is the forthright way in which it states the purpose of recruiter presence in high schools. Page 1, paragraph 1.1 says it all: 'School ownership is the goal.' It is hard to imagine that any educator or school administrator, no matter how supportive of the military, would not be outraged and deeply offended by this statement."

(Via From Akins Journalism Blog.)

RFID Spychip ban bid in California

Someone is taking action to place limits on the emerging RFID technology...

Anti-RFID Legislation: "California spy-chip ID card ban? p2pnet.net News:- A California senator has introduced a bill aimed at banning spy chip ID cards in the state. Joe Simitian’s SB 682 would, ‘would prohibit identity documents (including library cards) created, mandated, or issued by various public entities from containing a contactless integrated ..."

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Neuromarketing Probe for Subliminal Triggers

Marketers Peer Into Our Brains to Sell, Sell, Sell

"Tomorrow's Los Angeles Times has a front page article on neuromarketing -- the use of fMRIs not for healing but for marketing purposes.

The article has excellent reporting of what some neuromarketers are actually do. But it doesn't well explain the core problem of neuromarketing: what happens if it makes commercial and political propaganda more effective? ...This is no trivial matter. If neuromarketing really makes propaganda more effective, then the implications are serious, because it could lead to more marketing-related diseases, and the stirring up of ethnic & racial hatreds, totalitarianism, fascism, and genocide."

Commercial Alert

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Secret Scents Influence Customers

De-Scent into Madness

"Is this the smell of victory for the shopping mall chains?

Yesterday's Washington Post reported on a study which found that shoppers spent $20 more per outing when under the influence of a citrus aroma....What will the marketeers do next?"

Commercial Alert
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Front Group Under Criminal Investigation

Back Scratching and Greenwashing

The Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a nonprofit organization founded by Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Grover Norquist, has been subpoenaed by 'an interagency criminal task force investigating former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.' Abramoff and associates are being investigated for 'their dealings with Indian tribes.' CREA received significant contributions from tribes represented by Abramoff, as a quid pro quo for help with 'the tribes' lobbying of the Interior Department,' according to anonymous sources.

Read More

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Hidden Language Style Helps PR Pros

You Don't Say

"Communications professor Nancy Snow deconstructs GOP pollster Frank Luntz's memo titled 'The 14 Words Never to Use.' Luntz writes, 'Effectively communicating the New American Lexicon requires you to STOP saying words and phrases that undermine your ability to educate the American people.' Included on the blacklist are 'privatization' ('it evokes images of fat cats on Wall Street picking our pockets,' explains Snow), 'global economy / globalization / capitalism' (these words remind us 'of a world of winners and losers,' writes Snow), and 'outsourcing.' Instead of discussing 'outsourcing,' suggests Luntz, 'we should talk about the 'root cause' ..."

Main source:
Common Dreams, February 26, 2005

Main URL:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0226-27.htm

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Republican Spin Manual Exposed

Track Details Here
"[Influential conservative strategist Frank Luntz has produced a 160-page playbook to advance the right-wing agenda. Think Progress cuts through the spin and gives you the tools you need to fight back. Check here for updates throughout the week.]
Luntz’s playbook is full of things people should never say if they don’t want to undermine the right-wing agenda. Here’s how you can be Frank Luntz’s worst nightmare:"

Download Manual Here

More about Government Propaganda

Choicepoint is watching you

Expect a Few Choice Words for ChoicePoint: "

Even if you don't know what ChoicePoint is, they probably know something about you. A spin off of a credit reporting agency, ChoicePoint has 19 billion public records in it's files. And criminals accessed as many as 500,000 The Senate plans hearings on identity theft as a result. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee want more regulation of information brokers to safeguard against identity theft. And Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) agreed to the hearings the minute they asked for it.

"

Watching Washington

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Bogus New Stories Under Production

Beware the coming propaganda juggernaut'The president himself has been campaigning vigorously for his 'plan,' as have his surrogates. But we now know that the Bush administration regularly employs less transparent and more deceptive techniques to manipulate opinion. In pursuit of the president's political goals, federal agencies have hired pundits with public funds -- creating bogus news stories that appear on television -- and the administration has permitted at least one fake news organization..."

Blogdigger search for propaganda

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News stories disguise 'rollover ads'

Webs ads blur line between news and advertisingOnline sites are generating new revenue by steering readers to advertisements when they click on certain words. But when keywords are embedded in the text of news articles, the sites are generating questions as well. Two months after forbes.com ended an experiment with such keyword ads, citing unease among its reporters, The New York Post is considering adopting the practice for its site.

Business news articles appearing Wednesday on www.nypost.com included underlined words in green; when a visitor rolled a mouse over those words, a small box labeled 'sponsored link' appeared with an advertising message and a link to more information.

An article about rising oil prices and the falling dollar, for example, referred to the Conference Board, the business-sponsored nonprofit research group that issued consumer confidence index figures Wednesday. About 400 online publishers have adopted it, said Doug Stevenson, chief executive at Vibrant Media in New York, which developed it. (NEW YORK TIMES)"

Agenda Inc. Live Feed

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Prepackaged VNR news under microscope

All the News that's Fit to be Prepackaged
from: http://watchingwashington.blogspot.com/
"Comptroller General David Walker has fired off a memo to federal agencies warning them about 'pre-packaged news.' The PR tool has caused problems for at least two cabinet Departments -- for breaking federal anti-propaganda laws.

The prepacked news stories are called 'video news releases' -- or VNRs in the business. They are one-sided, PR pieces that look like an actual news story. They've gotten on the air without changes -- and without any mention that they are produced by your government.

In his memo, Comptroller General Walker wrote, 'Television-viewing audiences did not know that stories they watched on television news programs about the government were, in fact, prepared by the government. We concluded that those prepackaged news stories violated the publicity or propaganda prohibition.'

His memo goes on to say it's not enough that the content is not objectionable nor that the VNR is identified as a government produced spot. He says the disclosures have to be clear to the television viewing audience. (WashPost)..."

Blogdigger search for vnr media

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Biased experts distort nutrition news

Scare Tactics and Really Bad Science

"Bogus and heavily biased ‘scientific’ studies are unfortunately, more common than we’d like to believe. But I have to say, if one were doling out awards for the most idiotic, astoundingly stupid interpretation of study data, then the award will have to go to Lindsay H. Allen, RD, PhD, who apparently masquerades as a professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis. I say ‘masquerades’ because it is impossible to believe that a real professor, one who is instructing students, could stand up and deliver the statements that she did.

In one of the most irresponsible and flat out ignorant statements of recent days, Allen, who also happens to be the Director, USDA ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center (mmm, do I sniff a bias lurking in the shadows?) actually stood up and announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) that ‘There’s absolutely no question that it’s unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans.’

Okay, we already know that anything that emerges from Allen’s mouth is going to be heavily biased towards the meat and dairy industry, as the USDA ..."

www.nabeepchen.com

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Ad Creep in Central Park?

"Gates" A Blind For Ads in the Park?: "Robert Lederman, who has championed artists' rights to vend and display work along Central Park, indicts Bloomberg and the Central Park Conservancy of using 'The Gates' as a stepping stone to ad kiosks in Central Park. Christo vends in the park, and the 'Street Furniture Initiative' takes one step closer to mutilating our landscapes."

The Stop Shopping Monitor

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Researchers Expose Corporate Spin

The Sleuths of Spin: "

Bill Berkowitz writes that the Center for Media and Democracy's 'sleuths of spin John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton have exposed how corporate shills and government spokespersons manipulate the media and undermine democracy for more than a decade,' and are now 'setting about an ambitious - yet necessary - undertaking: reinventing journalism.' Berkowitz interviews Center founder Stauber about recent media scandals involving PR, payola, and fakejournalists.

Main source:

Alternet, February 22, 2005

Main URL:
http://www.alternet.org/story/21307/

PR Watch's Spin of the Day

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PR Damage Control for Halliburton's Iran Deals

PR Damage Control for Halliburton's Iran Deals

'Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran ... the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran’s natural gas fields,' Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball write. 'But overlooked in most of the press coverage of the announcement was that [Halliburton CEO David] Lesar’s statement contained enough wiggle room to permit Halliburton to continue participating in the new South Pars project.
Main source:

Newsweek, February 16, 2005
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Syria steps up opinion engineering

See Syria Spin

'The Syrian government, increasingly under fire for its suspected role in sponsoring terrorist activity, has launched a PR offensive to improve its image in the West,' reports PR Week. The Syrian Society for Public Relations, in collaboration with the British International Society for Public Relations, 'will educate officials about how to maintain good relations with foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, the media...
Main source:

PR Week (reg. req'd.), February 17, 2005
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Close-up on Armstrong Williams Propaganda

PR, as in Profit and Propaganda

'The Armstrong Williams scandal is an example of the close coordination between the advertiser and the commentator ... that violates disclosure and conflicts-of-interest principles,' the Center for Media and Democracy's Sheldon Rampton told the New York Times' Timothy O'Brien. O'Brien's article gives a historical overview of the PR industry, including many firms' consolidation into marketing and communications companies.

PR Watch's Spin of the Day

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Movement to Stop Government Propaganda

Stop Government Propaganda Act: "NEW YORK In response to continued revelations of government-funded 'journalism' -- ranging from the purported video news releases put out by the drug czar's office and the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) to the recently uncovered payments to columnists Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher,who flacked administration programs -- Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce a bill, The Stop Government Propaganda Act, in the Senate next week."

Phase III

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Army Propaganda drive targets highschoolers

The Advocate - Connecticut guard taking measures to increase enlistment: "The Connecticut National Guard, facing a large enlistment shortage, is planning a cable television show, a magazine for young people and more recruiters as part of a new plan to boost its ranks.

The strategy also includes more recruiting visits to high schools and efforts to entice soldiers leaving active duty to remain.
"

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Company offers "Social Movement Creation"

guerilla PR boast some fairly heavy persuasion services: in their "CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY DIVISION they offer
* Social Movement Creation
* Sub-Cultural (Segment) Insight
* Product Ideation
* Promotional Platform Development

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Govt Accountability Office Probes White House Propaganda

Defining Domestic Propaganda:
Day to Day, February 10, 2005 · The Government Accountability Office is investigating three cases where the Bush administration paid journalists to promote a certain policy. NPR's Madeleine Brand examines the cases and explores the definition of propaganda."

More about Subliminal Media Persuasion

Subliminal Encoding Machine Available to Stores

Real time subliminal encoding equipment: "The System99 works by transmitting silent subliminal affirmations via radio waves using a Psycho-Acoustic masking technique. The System99 is played via a main audio amplifier and speaker system transmitting the silent subliminal affirmations into the environment... The System99 transmits subliminal messages into any environment without a background or foreground music source. The System99 is one of the most effective (mind manipulation) systems sold world-wide."

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Deceptive Drug Promotion Tricks Patients

Misleading drug promotion is a major problem: "Six good reasons to be concerned about drug promotion:
> Drug companies spend on average around 35% of sales on promotion.[1]
> Companies would not spend such massive amounts on promotion if it were not effective at influencing prescribing. In Australia spending on drug promotion has now reached somewhere between $ 1.3 billion to $ 2.0 billion per year. (See calculations)
> Promotion influences prescribing much more than most health professionals realise.[2-5]
> Many advertisements and statements from pharmaceutical representatives are misleading.[6,7]
> Promotion which exaggerates benefits and glosses over risks, threatens optimal treatment.
> Reliance on promotional information may endanger lives and expose prescribers to the risk of litigation.[8]"

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Social Control Via New ID Cards

National Wireless ID Cards:

"CNet's Declan McCullagh breaks it down one time like they used to in 1984, when men were women, and the gradual erosion of anonymity was just an ironically distant rumbling. It seems Congress has endorsed a 'standardized, electronically readable driver's license' initiative that would effectively end up being a Federal-level ID card. That's bad, I've been told, because such a technology will eventually have something to do with fiery demons taking our jobs as local grocery clerks or something like that. Honestly, as long as they wear flame-retardant aprons, I'm fine with it.

It seems that new US Passports will be RFID capable soon already, so I'd imagine a national standard driver's license would be something similar. That's not something they can track you from space with, but that's why we have satellites.

From high-tech driver's licenses to national ID cards? [CNet]

Disturbing New Revelations About MATRIX Surveillance Program

American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU Unveils Disturbing New Revelations About MATRIX Surveillance Program: "Matrix operators sent to federal law enforcement authorities a list of 120,000 names of individuals who had been scored with a high 'terrorism quotient.' Seisint, the company that operates Matrix, claimed that scores of arrests resulted from the list. "

Unethical persuasive technology demonstrated

Unethical persuasive technology example: "Here's a great (and terrifying) example of what designers could use technology for if no ethical checks existed. Imagine you called your local pizza place in the year 2020...
http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927
Also note the effectiveness of this simulation as a way..." (Via Captology Notebook - Stanford University.)

Bogus White House Reporter Quits

Gannon Quits After Blogger Inquiry'The Talon News correspondent at the center of a scandal over his White House press credentials quit last night amid a growing online investigation into his history, including allegations of involvement with several websites appearing to support gay pornography and promote male prostitution,' reports Timothy Karr.Main source:

MediaCitizen, February 9, 2005
(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Fake Blogs Wiki

The Fake Blogs Wiki: "With all the recent fuss about fake blogs (and acting on a suggestion from Steve Rubel) we’ve set up a wiki as a ‘clearing house’ for details of blogs that marketing functions would like to have us all think are genuine, but are actually about as real as Piltdown Man."

(Via Cutting Through - A live case study.)

California School Institutes Mandatory RFID Chips

California Elementary School Institutes Mandatory RFID Chips - Parents Outraged: "A California grade school has taken the adventurous and somewhat alarming step of launching a compulsory RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) program to identify its students. Citing more efficient attendence checking and improved security, school authorities notified parents of the impending introduction of the program via mail, in addition to a publication in the school newsletter. Concerned parents have complained to school authorities and submitted their case to civil liberties groups."

(Via AboveTopSecret.com.)

Out Come the Talons

Out Come the Talons: "As you likely know by now, critics of the White House press corps don't have 'Jeff Gannon' to kick around anymore. Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert, quit his post at the conservative Talon News, a website operated..."

(Via CJR Campaign Desk.)

RFID chipping raises legal issues

RFID & The Law: "Below is the conclusion of a good article about the potential of existing laws to be altered to address RFID privacy issues. The writers end on an optimistic note. I'm not so sure lawmakers will do what's best, however. The battle over privacy and RFID is already ..."

(Via Blogdigger search for rfid.)

McDonald's Product Placement Plan

Shill to the Beat of the Drum
McDonald's and MTV Networks have partnered, in a bid by the fast-food giant 'to reach young people without running advertisements.' Instead of ads, a new '30-minute monthly programme called MTV Advance Warning' will 'feature new musical talent combined with McDonald's advertising imagery.' The program will run in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Main source:Financial Times, February 10, 2005

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/251c9cd6-7bae-11d9-9af4-00000e2511c8.html(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Manipulating Government for Profit

A Lobbyist's Progress: "...they are what Republicans in Washington used to call 'Beltway Bandits,' profiteers who manipulate the power of big government on behalf of well-heeled people who pay them tons of money to do so. Sometime around 1995, Republicans in Washington stopped using the term 'Beltway Bandits.'..." (Via MetaFilter.)

Fake News, Fake Reporter

Fake News, Fake Reporter: "'When President Bush bypassed dozens of eager reporters from nationally and internationally recognized news outlets and selected Jeff Gannon to pose a question at his Jan. 26 news conference, Bush's recognition bestowed instant credibility on the apparently novice reporter, as well as the little-known conservative organization he worked for at the time, called Talon News. That attention only intensified when Gannon used his nationally televised press conference time to ask Bush a loaded, partisan question -- featuring a manufactured quote that mocked Democrats for being 'divorced from reality.'

(Salon Magazine article)."

(Via Disinformation.)

Defining Domestic Propagand

Defining Domestic Propaganda: "The Government Accounting Office is investigating three cases where the Bush administration paid journalists to promote a certain policy. NPR's Madeleine Brand examines the cases and explores the definition of propaganda."

(Via Blogdigger search for propaganda.)

Recent developments in Advergaming: "As part of an 18-month global campaign that kicks off on May 5, Disney will roll out an interactive, multiplayer game called "Virtual Magic Kingdom." It aims to provide a virtual visit to Disney's five global resorts and 11 theme parks to anyone with an Internet connection. The target: "tweens" ages 8 to 12 and young teens.... The goal: push kids to urge their parents to visit a Disney park during the anniversary promotion that also includes the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland on Sept. 12. "eens 'As part of an 18-month global campaign that kicks off on May 5, Disney will..."

(Via Captology Notebook - Stanford University.)

Customer Surveillance at Tesco

Tesco RFID's "The group CASPIAN has called for a worldwide boycott of Tesco stores, after they announced plans to use RFID tags to track some individual items, giving them the ability to link a purchase to a crdit card sale, and from there track the purchasers behavior. FIGHT THE MAN!" (Via Blogdigger search for rfid.)

Manipulating Minds: A Closer Look at Bush's Speeches

Manipulating Minds: A Closer Look at Bush's Speeches: "Like many other recent Bush speeches his inaugural address was charged with ideology and emotive symbolism. His speech writers, whatever else one may think of them, are particularly adept at manipulating ideological platitudes, popular psychology and mass culture.

Top 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories

Have you heard about these humanitarian disaster stories? If not, you need to get better news coverage... Uganda | Democratic Republic of Congo | Colombia | Tuberculosis | Somalia | Chechnya | Burundi | North Korea | Ethiopia | Liberia

The Top 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2004.

Companies paying to get on the news

Achieving success with your VNR in 2005: "This article from PR Week details the increasing opportunities for the use of 'Video News releases', or VNRs -- ads disguised as news reports distributed by PR companies to be broadcast as news -- thanks to 'a shrinking news hole'."

Some companies are paying to guarantee their story appears on the news: "Ed Lamoureaux, SVP of sales and marketing for West Glen Communications, says he has noticed a significant rise in the use of guaranteed or paid placements for VNRs.
“The idea of securing a placement and using a VNR is more of a grassroots outreach and has become very popular,” Lamoureaux says. “It goes hand in hand with the coming together of advertising and PR."

(Via Blogdigger search for vnr media.)

Monsanto Manipulated Pollution Assessment

Monsanto pays up: "What do you do if you're trying to plant genetically engineered cotton in a hurry, but the government wants to make sure there won't be any environmental damage from doing so? If you're the giant Monsanto corporation, one answer might be: bribe somebody to skip over that pesky environmental assessment. Who knows how many times this tried and true practice has worked before? This time, they've been caught red-handed in Indonesia, and fined US$1.5 million."

(Via News from Greenpeace.)

Human Surveillance Chip Tested "for Hospitals"

Harvard Medical School CIO Tests Embedded RFID Chip: "The CIO of the Harvard Medical School has offered himself as a guinea pig in order to determine how the human body affect the functioning of wireless RFID (radio-frequency identification) devices and whether RFID can be a practical technology in hospitals."

(Via Blogdigger search for rfid.)

Cult Leader Helps Fund Bush Celebrations

Rev. Moon “funnels” $250,000 for Bush inaugural bash: "Rev. Moon, purported ‘Messiah’ and 'cult leader' of the Unification Church has ‘funneled’ $250,000 to help pay for President Bush’s inaugural festivities reports John Gorenfeld of I approve this messiah.com. The $250,000 cash contribution, which represents the limit set for..."

(Via Cult News.com.)

Goodyear Advertises on Basketball Player's Head

Goodyear Advertises on Basketball Player's Head: "Seems there's no end to the use of the human body as a walking billboard. Just a few days ago, Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton wore the pattern of Goodyear's Assurance TripleTred tire pattern as a hairstyle during the game against the Knicks in Det"

(Via Adrants)

Govt propaganda agent engineered war opinion

Shill to the Stars and Stripes: The Independent profiles secretive PR executive John Rendon, whose firm often works for the U.S. government and military. 'In 2001 he won a contract to handle the PR aspects of U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan. ... The following year the Pentagon hired the Rendon Group to assist its own propaganda agency, the Office of Strategic Information, which was later publicly disbanded amid claims it would engage in 'black' propaganda. Independent, January 31, 2005(Via PR Watch )

Propaganda poster uses deceptive image

Photoshopped propaganda image
Linda Eddy's photoshopped poster, which takes an Iraqi child whose mother has just been killed and turns it into propaganda saying the child is 'glad' for the war in Iraq."(Via PR Watch)

Voicemail broadcast aimed at elderly

Who May I Say Is Calling?
'Automated callers are phoning seniors in at least a dozen Republican congressional districts across the country telling them their representative favors 'privatizing Social Security,'' reports the Hill. The calls are targeting 'Republican members with high concentrations of senior citizens ... in potentially close districts.' They warn of a two trillion dollar cost to taxpayers and decreased retiree benefits, saying Social Security 'should be in a lock box, not a Wall Street slot machine.' No group has claimed responsibility for the calls. Main source: The Hill, January 27, 2005

(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day)

Product Seeding Campaign at Silicon Valley

Third Parties in the Valley
For years, marketers have known that 'sociable, influential early adopters,' or connectors, can drive sales. In California this month, '100 of Silicon Valley's top venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, bloggers and promoters will begin receiving cool new stuff for free. ... These movers and shakers promise to sample the products and offer feedback to their manufacturers. The companies hope that, if the mood strikes, the Silicon Valley 100 will chat up, blog on, or just plain recommend the products to friends and colleagues, generating that most invaluable of currencies:
Main source: Newsweek, January 21, 2005
(Via PR Watch)

Front Group begins persuasion campaign

A Less Kind, Less Gentle Environmentalism

What do the Committee on the Present Danger and the Natural Resources Defense Council have in common? They both endorse Set America Free, an 'energy security' plan put forward by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and other conservative think tanks.

Slate, January 25, 2005
http://slate.msn.com/id/2112608/

(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Fake Fans Preying on Chat Forums

Message Forum Spam: "Not only is pop star Ashlee Simpson lip syncing and manufactured, but so are some of her fans:

'I just read about Ashlee in us weekly. Those guys at the football game were total jerks.' -- mandyc19

Welcome to the world of message forum viral marketing, 'street team' advertising, and corporate shills. That 'fan' posting in forums about Court TV, The Smoking Gun, or shows on Fox isn't a fan at all -- just another type of spammer -- only this time employed by giant media corporations."

(Via MetaFilter.)

British Propaganda Push for EU

Afraid of Being an Island Unto Itself
The British government 'is using taxpayers' money to hire a PR agency to extol the virtues of (European Union) membership and explain why the European constitution is a 'success for Britain.'' The London-based firm Geronimo PR received a £40,000 ($US74,900) contract to mount an 'extensive communications campaign,' prior to a public referendum on the constitution, likely in 2006.
Main source:Financial Times, January 19, 2005
(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Chef's Secret Deal with Heinz Exposed

Beans means cash

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has admitted accepting £15,000 ($US28,000) from Heinz as part of a product placement deal in which he agreed to include an up-market version of baked beans on toast on the menu at his restaurant. 'I should have been brighter,' Oliver told The Independent. The Independent (UK) January 14, 2005.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=600673

(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

How to Deceive Consumers: Management Journal Explains

Exposing stealth marketing
A respected management journal recommends lying and cheating as a marketing tactic.
Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously,' published by The California Management Review from the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley, recommends reaching new customers via deceptive, covert marketing.Authors Andrew M. Kaikati, a consultant with Accenture, and Jack G. Kaikati, Emeritus Professor of Marketing at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
(Via Church of the Customer.)

Fake News Items Circulated By White House

Karen Ryan, Meet Mike Morris
For the second time, the Government Accountability Office 'scolded the Bush administration for distributing phony prepackaged news reports,' or video news releases. The VNRs were produced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, featured former reporter Mike Morris, and were aired, at least in part, on 300 news shows.Main source:

Washington Post, January 7, 2005 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54651-2005Jan6.html(Via PR Watch Other Feed.)

Double Agent 'Advocates' for Consumers and Industry

A Front Group Affront

An American Prospect article on Rick Berman of the front group Center for Consumer Freedom notes, 'Berman's strategy turns on a simple rhetorical gimmick: By employing the language of consumer freedom, he protects his client industries by demonizing (and, hopefully, discrediting) their critics.' Berman 'stands out, if only for the sheer, unparalleled audacity with which he's straddled his dual roles as consumer 'advocate' and industry lobbyist.

Main source:

The American Prospect, January 3, 2005

Main URL:
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8984

(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)

Food Ads Exploiting Children

Responding to an explosion in ads for food that targets children, a consumer group Wednesday proposed nutrition-based limits on marketing aimed at kids that would halt ads for sugary snacks and fatty foods.

First Post

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