StevenSilvers.com

Good move for American Humane Association

You’re going to be hearing a lot about American Humane Association in the months and years ahead. 

One big reason: The 113-year-old champion for the protection of children and animals has rightly moved its national headquarters from the quiet of Denver’s southern outskirts to the buzz of Washington D.C’s central business district.

Most Americans don’t realize they see American Humane’s work every day, from its influence behind federal child abuse prevention policy to being the Hollywood-sanctioned organization that adds “No Animals Were Harmed" to a movie's end credits.  They pull pets from disaster areas and rescue starving horses from hoarders.  They also have a huge head start in the emerging humane labeling marketplace with American Humane Certified, by far the largest and most industry supported farm animal welfare training and auditing program.

With leadership from new CEO and former Pew Charitable Trust executive Robin Ganzert, the now DC-based American Humane Association is on a path to recognition that will no doubt make it one of the nation’s prominent mainstream philanthropic institutions. 

Stay tuned and give them your support. They're good people.

(Disclosure: American Humane Association has been a client of my firm, GBSM Inc.)

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Would Hitler be wearing a seatbelt: Effective propaganda for today's America.

By Steven Silvers

Propaganda posters like these helped America win World War II.  Not to belittle the many fine public service campaigns out there, but I'm wondering if such simple, bold Big Brother messages would work today to promote conservation, saving for retirement or other positive social behavior change?  Or has government pretty much lost all ability to resonate with an increasingly cynical and ambivalent public?   

Perhaps modern social behavior messages need to be just as simple -- but dramatically more graphic.  Consider this print ad below from the powerful Montana Meth Project.  It's real, close to home, compelling, even hard to look at.  And that makes it effective propaganda for today's media-savvy consumers. (Click on ad to see full-size.)

Congressional committees and Hollywood celebrities stroke each other's agendas.

You might remember Justin Bateman, who co-stared in the 80's TV sitcom Family Ties. The show ended 19 years ago, the same year that the first Internet Service Providers started business. Now Bateman is 46 and a partner in an amateur-looking Internet start-up called FM78.tv, which has a home page "currently brought to you by drunken college students." She's also appeared on Desperate Housewives.

All of which apparently are credentials for Bateman to testify before a Senate Commerce Committee on the need for so-called "net neutrality" legislation. Here's how she argued her position:

"In entertainment, I believe we are on the verge of a creative renaissance and the Internet is the new grid upon which this renaissance can rest, because unfortunately the business grid of TV and film today cannot support that. Traditional media is now like a pool over which a pool cover has been placed causing those wild ducks that used to swim around in your pool to go elsewhere."

Yep, the ol' ducks-in-the-pool argument. Considering that kind of blabber, the most obvious question is not whether or not the nation needs more Internet regulation. It's why Hollywood personalities like Bateman are given an audience in the first place.

Because it's just good PR, that's why. Adam Thierer of the anti-regulation Technology Liberation Front blog summarizes a 2006 research report by Harry Strine titled "Your Testimony Was Splendid: The Treatment of Celebrities and Non-Celebrities in Congressional Hearings." Reviewing several decades, Strine found that members of Congress use celebrity hearings primarily as publicity stunts to get positive media coverage that constituents back home are more likely to notice. This is underscored by Strine's findings that almost a quarter of all the questions and comments made to celebrities during their testimony are compliments, expressions of sympathy or other sucking-up gestures. Only eight percent of non-celebrities -- people called to testify because they're actually experts -- get the same treatment.

News media play along for similar reasons, headlining movie stars and super models to spice up otherwise boring public policy stories. "When journalists cover celebrities, what they are doing is they are relying on a crutch," said media advocate Tom Rosenstiel in a 2002 AP story about the increased numbers of celebrities appearing on Capital Hill. "They are hitchhiking on the celebrity of a person to get their story noticed rather than figure out a way to make mountaintop mining, or whatever the issue is, interesting in its own right."

Certainly, there are articulate celebrities who well-represent their causes. But from a legislative perspective it probably doesn't matter. Politicians who have already decided an issue are exploiting the good looks and star-power of celebrities as public relations tools. And the rest have no intention of seriously considering their testimony in whatever position they take.
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A sampling of celebrity experts who have appeared before Congress:

PERSONALITY	THERE TO ARGUE...
Sheri Lewis, actress and Lampchop, sock puppet	For regulation of children's TV
Kevin Richardson, The Backstreet Boys	For coal-mining and water regulation
Meryl Street, actress	For banning Alar
Kim Basinger, actress	For banning animal research
Christie Brinkley, model	For banning nuclear energy
Clint Eastwood, actor	For limiting ADA lawsuits
Mary Tyler Moore, actress	For stem cell research
Katie Couric, news anchor	For colon cancer initiatives
George Clooney, actor	For intervention in Darfur
Kerry Washington, actress	For arts and cultural funding
David Crosby, musician	For banning commercial development

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Great site for newspaper hounds and media junkies.

Check out the day’s front page from 604 newspapers around the world on the Newseum web site.

Just hover your pointer over a city and the image of that day’s entire front page instantly appears.  Click to enlarge the scanned images, which also include links to each newspaper’s own web site.

The actual 250,000–square-foot Newseum building, an “interactive museum of news,” is scheduled to open in downtown Washington D.C. sometime this year.   With funding provided by the nonpartisan Freedom Forum, the museum hopes to give visitors a “better better understanding of news and the important role it plays in all of our lives."

The museum’s web site also includes a virtual tour and information on advance ticket sales.
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Do elderly Americans need protection from their own financial decisions?

The New York Times reports that senior citizens have filed thousands of lawsuits arguing that being old should make them less accountable for buying what salespeople sold them.

The story refers to a ruined 81–year-old retired aerospace engineer who quite willingly squandered his life savings by making terribly illogical decisions, like selling his house for a ridiculous discount because he needed cash.  Now he’s suing his mortgage company and others to get his money back.

Obviously there are strong feelings on all sides of this issue.  Many seniors worry about losing their independence.  Buyer-beware types like the mortgage guy being sued insist they have no obligation to tell customers they’re making a mistake.

But with 12 percent of all Americans already 65 or older — and 5,000 more turning 65 every day — many advocates and political leaders want more protections.  Last summer, Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama demanded the Federal Trade Commission take action after the Times reported that telemarketing scam artists were able to buy detailed databases of elderly Americans.

Stories like the retired engineer who knowingly threw his money away, however, underscore calls for a much broader definition of what constitutes elder fraud and abuse.

“Figuring out how to protect senior citizens from victimization, even when it’s caused by their own mistakes, is one of the most important issues facing us right now,” an official from the National Center on Elder Abuse told the newspaper.  “If we don’t solve this, millions of older people will suddenly be reliant on their families or the government.”

Before you write this off as just another increasingly powerful consumer group getting more outs than others, consider this.  A recent study from the National Institutes of Health suggests that one in seven Americans age 71 and older has some type of dementia.  Of those 3.4 million people, 2.4 million of them have Alzheimer’s disease.

As their numbers increase, the personal finance decisions made by vulnerable seniors like these could have a profound influence on how business in this country is done.
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Newest image campaign against Wal-Mart is probably just more preaching to the choir.

Union-backed WakeUpWalMart has launched a new image-bashing campaign blaming Wal-Mart for Chinese product safety issues. But as I told Associated Press after reviewing a press release outlining the group’s claims, I don't think this approach is going to move most Americans from whatever stand they already have on Wal-Mart, good or bad.

WakeUpWalMart detracts from its more compelling safety issues by teeing them up with a presumption that Wal-Mart’s extensive relationship with China and its habit of pressuring suppliers for low prices is inherently evil. You would of course have to apply this same logic to every major retailer. But WakeUpWallMart doesn’t. What comes across most loudly as a result is the obvious bias of a pro-union group trying to create finger-pointing outrage toward non-union Wal-Mart for doing what every other big company does — and what many millions of consumers confirm they want them to do by spending money at their stores.

WakeUpWalMart probably scores some eyebrow-raising points in recalling news stories alleging that Wal-Mart didn’t immediately remove recalled products from its shelves at some of its locations. But even these relatively very few incidents seem exaggerated for effect. And they certainly don't support the group’s screaming assertion that Wal-Mart knowingly creates and sells stuff from China that makes Americans sick or dead.

Funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers, WakeUpWalMart.com is the most aggressive of the anti-Wal-Mart organizations.  It has attacked the company through television ads, public rallies and constant publicity. It also got presidential candidates including John Edwards and Senator Barack Obama to criticize Wal-Mart as representing everything that’s wrong with America. But the group’s director and senior spokesman left to join Edward’s campaign this summer, suggesting that union activism to influence opinion again Wal-Mart has accomplished all it can.

The notion might be proven true if this latest “blame Wal-Mart for China” campaign doesn’t dramatically move the needle against the world’s largest employer.
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• Associated Press  |  Critics Take on Wal-Mart Over China
• Press release  |  New WakeUpWalMart.com TV Ad & Report Spotlight 'The Ultimate Joint Venture' - Wal-Mart and China
• Scatterbox  |  WakeUpWalMart defections might mean union-backed activist groups have done all they can do.
• Scatterbox |  Listing of related columns and posts

Growing Financial Planning Association looking for top talent.

Denver-based Financial Planning Association is looking to fill several key positions within its talented in-house marketing and communications team.  FPA is the nation's premier leadership and advocacy organization representing the growing financial planning profession and its public stakeholders.  Among the positions that FPA has open:

• Communications Manager
  
• Chapter Relations Manager
  
• Membership Recruitment Manager
  
• Member Retention Manager
  
• Telesales Manager
  
• Web Administrator
  

FPA has been a client of mine for years. They’re great people doing valuable work toward helping ensure the long-term financial well-being of all Americans.  Start by visiting www.fpanet.org and then drop a note to Lida Citroen, Managing Director of Marketing, Communications & Membership at lida.citroen(at)fpanet.org.  Tell her I sent you.
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Call for submissions to Carnival of Image & Influence for August 20.

Coming up, the 4th edition of the Scatterbox Carnival of Image & Influence, a blog digest of news and insights toward understanding, managing and surviving the influence economy.  Just click here to submit your links, research, posts and comments offering insights and perspectives on areas including:

• Positioning and communications strategy
• Corporate and brand reputation
• Issues and crisis management
• News media and journalism
• Social media and information culture
• Stakeholder and community relations
• Marketing, advertising and promotion
• The PR industry

As fall approaches, we also want thoughts on how presidential candidates are managing or mismanaging their image-building.  Here’s a good example: “Why I see John Edwards as a big phony,” a blog post by Brad Warthen, editorial page editor of South Carolina’s The State newspaper.

We also want to hear from the "Transparent Generation."  How has growing up on the Internet impacted your ability to get into the college or land the job of your choice?  Has anyone used those services that promise to “erase” your online past?

The carnival is open to anyone: PR pros, politicians, journalists, opinionated actors and consumers.  Please note, however: No anonymous contributions.  And no rumor-mongering, rambling or incoherent rants, personal attacks, political speeches or product placements.  If your work is on behalf of a client or employer, say so. 

Hope to hear from you soon.
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Submit a link to an upcoming Carnival of Image & Influence
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ARCHIVES

• Vol. 3 - August 5, 2007
• Vol. 2 - July 17, 2007
• Vol. 1 - July 2, 2007

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True or not, racketeering suit against State Farm will deepen distrust of the already beleaguered insurance industry.

Headlines across the country are repeating allegations that State Farm engaged in “racketeering” to avoid paying insurance claims following Hurricane Katrina. 

A federal lawsuit filed by lawyers representing Mississippi homeowners accuses the company of violating the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act — the same RICO Act used to go after the mob.

State Farm dismisses the lawsuit as a desperate PR stunt by attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, a high-profile veteran of the 90’s legal battles against big tobacco who is putting the same populist zeal toward challenging the insurance industry’s handling of Katrina claims. 

But trying to discredit opposition may just make things worse.  Americans have never exactly loved insurance companies, but after Hurricane Katrina the industry’s reputation took a real nose dive.  A 2005 study by Ipsos North America showed that almost half the country disapproved of the way insurance companies were treating disaster victims.  Since then, the industry’s favorability rankings have sunk to being just slightly better than the least-loved oil and energy business. 

For an industry with its reputation already in tatters, it really won’t matter whether the State Farm racketeering suit is a PR stunt or legitimate case.  What will matter is how it responds to more headlines that validate what millions of Americans already believe to be true.

(Photo courtesy Associated Press/MSNBC)
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• Associated Press  |  State Farm accused of Katrina racketeering
• Wall Street Journal Law Blog  |  Scruggs v. State Farm: The Thrilla in Pascagoula

Great people needed in the Denver market.

Andrew Hudson’s Rocky Mountain PR Jobs List includes several great career opportunities in the Denver area, including:

GBSM, Inc. — Senior Associate, Corporate and Media Affairs.  Yes, you’d be working with me and my brilliant colleagues. And every job comes with its own chair, too.

CH2M Hill — Director of Internal Communications.  Colorado’s largest private company, doing exciting work all over the world.

University of Denver — Senior Marketing Manager.  To work in the creative services and brand strategy areas.

Colorado Public Radio — Executive Director of Development & Major Gifts.  A two-channel, statewide network.

You can subscribe to get Andrew’s email free of charge by going to the sign-up page.
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