Monday, September 11, 2006

Corporate Spin In Sheep's Clothing

If McDonald's makes the case that fast food is nutritious or ExxonMobil argues against higher taxes, it looks like simple self-interest. But when an independent voice makes the case, the ideas gain credibility.

So big corporations have devised a form of idea laundering, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to seemingly independent groups that act as spokesmen under disguise.

Their views wind up on the opinion pages of the nation's newspapers - often with no disclosure that the writer has financial ties to the companies involved. A few examples:

- John Semmens, a policy adviser at the Heartland Institute, wrote a column for the Louisville Courier-Journal that called Wal-Mart "a major force in promoting prosperity for everyone." Readers were not told that his think tank had received more than $300,000 from the Walton Family Foundation, run by the heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.

Full article here

The Bush administration has a habit of doing this too. Taken together with my previous post on Public Relations ethics, you have to wonder if there is any honest discourse in non-internet media at all aside from John Stewart and Stephen Colbert!

To me, this speaks volumes about the nature of corporations.

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