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."
Thursday
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 DayMore about Subliminal Persuasion
Main source:
Scoop, March 24, 2005
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00240.htmPR Watch's Spin of the DayMore about Subliminal Persuasion
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."
Wednesday
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?"
More about Subliminal PersuasionChoicepoint 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...More about Subliminal Persuasion
...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."
Tuesday
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."
More about Subliminal PersuasionLanguage: 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."
More about Subliminal PersuasionSunday
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.
More about Subliminal PersuasionLebanese 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.
PR Week (reg. req'd.), March 10, 2005
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.
PR Week (reg. req'd.), March 10, 2005
PR Watch's Spin of the Day
More about Subliminal PersuasionFriday
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
More about Subliminal PersuasionChoicepoint 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.
Thursday
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."
Wednesday
[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.'
More about Subliminal Persuasion
Saturday
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: "
Source: Lost Remote
More about VNRs and Fake NewsFriday
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."
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."
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 ..."
More about Customer SurveillanceWednesday
Neuromarketing Probe for Subliminal Triggers
Marketers Peer Into Our Brains to Sell, Sell, Sell
Commercial Alert
More about Subliminal PersuasionSecret Scents Influence Customers
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 AlertMore about Subliminal Persuasion
Front Group Under Criminal Investigation
Back Scratching and Greenwashing
More about Front Groups
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.
Tuesday
Hidden Language Style Helps PR Pros
"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' ..."
Common Dreams, February 26, 2005
Saturday
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:"
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
More about Subliminal PersuasionFriday
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
More about Subliminal PersuasionNews stories disguise 'rollover ads'
Webs ads blur line between news and advertising
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
More about News Media CorruptionThursday
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
More about Subliminal PersuasionBiased 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
More about Hired ExpertsWednesday
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
More about Subliminal PersuasionResearchers Expose Corporate 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.
Alternet, February 22, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/21307/
PR Watch's Spin of the Day
More about Subliminal PersuasionFriday
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.
Newsweek, February 16, 2005
More about Subliminal Persuasion
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...
PR Week (reg. req'd.), February 17, 2005
More about Subliminal Persuasion
'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...
PR Week (reg. req'd.), February 17, 2005
More about Subliminal Persuasion
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
More about Subliminal PersuasionMovement 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
More about Government PropagandaTuesday
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.
"
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
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."
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."
More about Subliminal PersuasionDeceptive 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]"
Social Control Via New ID Cards
National Wireless ID Cards:
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.)
Monday
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.
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."
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.)
Saturday
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.
Friday
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.)Wednesday
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..."
Tuesday
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.)
Monday
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.
Sunday
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
Saturday
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."
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.)
Friday
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)
Wednesday
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
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:
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:
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.
(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)
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/
http://slate.msn.com/id/2112608/
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.)
Sunday
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.)
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 ($US74,900) contract to mount an 'extensive communications campaign,' prior to a public referendum on the constitution, likely in 2006.
Main source:Financial Times, January 19, 2005
(Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)
Monday
Chef's Secret Deal with Heinz Exposed
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has admitted accepting £15,000 ($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.
Thursday
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.)
Sunday
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.)
Friday
Double Agent 'Advocates' for Consumers and Industry
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.
The American Prospect, January 3, 2005
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.
Tuesday
First Post
Trens roxas eis ti Plokeing quert loppe eis yop prexs. Piy opher hawers, eit yaggles orn ti sumbloat alohe plok. Su havo loasor cakso tgu pwuructs tyu InfuBwain, ghu gill nug bo suloly sispunsiblo fuw cakiw salo anr ristwibutiun. Hei muk neme eis loppe. Treas em wankeing ont sime ploked peish rof phen sumbloat syug si phat phey gavet peish ta paat ein pheeir sumbloats.
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