Weekly Spin July 11, 2007 LET'S PICKO ON SICKO http://www.prwatch.org/node/6229
A Google advertising sales rep has apologized after using her company blog to urge healthcare companies to take out Google ads attacking Michael Moore's new movie, "Sicko." Moore "attacks health insurers, health providers, and pharmaceutical companies by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst," wrote Lauren Turner. "Moore's film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care." In response, she suggested, Google ads can help companies "better manage their reputations through 'Get the Facts' or issue management campaigns. ... We can place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network." After coming under heavy criticism from non-Google bloggers, Turner beat a hasty retreat, writing that her statement was just "my personal opinion." According to a report in Forbes, however, "The incident does more than call attention to Google's ever-cozier relationships with corporate advertisers as it deepens its role as an online advertising agency: It also highlights Google's unorthodox use of bloggers to communicate with the public. Google has long used blogs as a casual form of public relations, both on its official sites and on the personal sites of its employees, sometimes blurring the line between the two." SOURCE: Forbes, July 2, 2007 The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to further information about media, political spin and propaganda. It is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers. PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch are projects of the Center for Media & Democracy, a nonprofit organization that offers investigative reporting on the public relations industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that work to control political debates and public opinion. Please send any questions or suggestions about our publications to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Weekly Spin, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/sub _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.isoc-ny.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
