Americans Against Food Taxes shows Astroturfing is still with us

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Will we ever be able to stamp out Astroturfing in public relations?

Take a look at this Website and this that the group ran on television and posted to YouTube.

Hold on a second. “Americans Against Food Taxes?” The names on the About Us page suggest to me it really should be called Soft Drink Manufacturers/retailers opposed to a tax on sugar-packed soft drinks. And if this ad really did run on the Super Bowl, as the Website claims, a total of 95, 275 signups on their petition sounds to me like no real grassroots movement actually exists.

The whole thing smacks of disinformation and bad spin. Yes, the ad makes explicit reference to a tax on soft drinks, but look at everything else: the images of fresh fruit on the Website home page, a grocery cart packed with wholesome food, the domain “nofoodtaxes.com” (why not “nosoftdrinktaxes.com?” and the name of the group itself. Take them all together and the uncritical viewer could easily think that there is a broader tax being proposed on all food. No lies are told. But it is possible to mislead by how we frame an issue and (mis)direct attention.

I raised this issue with Martin Waxman and Gini Dietrich in the most recent episode of Inside PR.

Inside PR 2.41 [ 17:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What do you think?

Do you know more about this campaign than I do? Am I setting the bar of acceptable behaviour too high – or does this campaign in fact cross the line?

Also worth a look:

Sourcewatch

Health Habits

PolitiFact

Treehugger

Join a live recording of Inside PR at Podcamp Toronto 2011

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If you’re in Toronto next Saturday, February 26, we’d love it if you could join us at Podcamp Toronto 2011 for a live production of Inside PR. We’ll be recording during the first session after lunch. And Terry Fallis and David Jones, the original hosts of Inside PR, will be joining us for this special session. So, do come out and be part of a live recording of Inside PR.

Inside PR: The G20 Summit aftermath and Kenneth Cole = #Crass

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It’s the week after the snowstorm – and Inside PR is digging out from under the snowbanks – or at least Gini Dietrich is.

Inside PR 2.40 [ 15:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Lots to talk about this week

Last week, I chaired a conference on Social Media for Government, organized by the Advanced Learning Institute. This conference was bookended by a pair of extraordinary presentations by Linda Williamson and Elena Yunusov from the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario andScott Mills from Toronto Police Services that dealt with the demonstrations and conduct of the police during last summer’s G20 Summit in Toronto. Both the Ombudsman and Toronto Police Services use social media – and both were remarkably candid about their experience and the lessons they learned. All in all, two extraordinary presentations.

Gini takes us through the Kenneth Cole #Cairo fiasco on Twitter. Gini reminds us that companies trying to raise their profile through stunts should remember that all PR is not good PR. Martin draws on his background in comedy to point out that gallows humour is a tough thing to pull off. I suggest that hashtag for Kenneth Cole’s tweeting should have been #Crass.

And to close out the show, Martin talks about Twitter’s appearance in a recent episode of Gray’s Anatomy. Martin, is Gray’s Anatomy still on the air?

As always, thanks to Yasmine Kashefi for producing Inside PR.

Join us at Podcamp Toronto

We’ve scheduled a live Inside PR recording on February 26 at Podcamp Toronto. If you’re planning to attend Podcamp, please join us to take part in the live recording.

Let us know what you think

Let us know what you think. Leave a comment below or send an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, or message us @inside_pr on Twitter. Or connect withMartin Waxman, Joe Thornley, and Gini Dietrich on Twitter.

Inside PR: Do you trust LinkedIn recommendations?

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On this week’s Inside PR podcast, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I talk about a question raised by FIR‘s Shel Holtz: should we trust recommendations of a person that are posted on LinkedIn?

Listen to this week’s podcast to hear our take on this question.

Inside PR 2.39 A LinkedIn Recommendation? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What do you think about this issue? Leave a comment below or send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, or message us @inside_pr on Twitter. Or connect with Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich, and me on Twitter.

Inside PR tackles questions to ask before accepting a controversial client

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In this week’s episode of Inside PR, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I discuss how each of our companies deals with the question of whether we should take on a controversial client. And we don’t all agree.

Listen to the episode to hear us discuss this issue from several perspectives.

Inside PR 238: CC Chapman Content Rules + controversial clients [ 16:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

And tell us what approach you take at your company? Do you believe that all clients deserve public relations representation? How do you decide whether to accept a client or decline the business?

Inside PR: Do you provide references?

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In this week’s episode of Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and I discuss how we, as employers, tackle the challenge of providing references for former employees.

It seems to me that this is one of those areas in which legal liability forces us into a situation in which we are constrained in what we can do. That leads to conflicting impulses and emotions. We want to do the right thing. But are we allowed to?

Listen to this week’s episode to hear Martin, Gini and I discuss how we try to deal with this struggle. None of us claims to have the right answer, but we all think it’s something that we must come to grips with.

Inside PR 2.37 - Would you give me a reference? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Would you?

If you are an employer, do you provide references for past employees? If you do, what practices and standards do you apply to ensure that you are fair and consistent? When you are hiring, do you rely on references?

If you are an employee, do you expect your employee to provide a reference for you?

Inside PR: Talking about Quora and viral videos

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This week on Inside PR, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I discuss viral videos and Quora, the question and answer website. The viral video discussion begins at minute 2:55 and the Quora discussion at minute 11:34.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Inside PR 2.36 [ 18:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

And please join the conversation with us. Leave a comment on this post. Even better, send an audio comment to [email protected]. We’d love to include your audio clip in the next podcast.

Big thanks to our producer, Yasmine Kashefi.

Do you become more verbose when your thinking isn't clear?

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Do you become more verbose when your thinking isn’t clear? I know I do. The less certain I am about what I want to say, the more words I will use. In effect, I think out loud.

This is not something I’m proud of. I know it makes others cringe and run as fast as they can out of my hearing. And I try to edit myself. I tell myself, “Silence is my friend.”

Do you want an example of what I mean? Then listen to this week’s Inside PR. Not my best episode. Clearly, Gini Dietrich and Martin Waxman are good people. Otherwise, I’m sure they would have said, “Joe, shut the heck up.”

Inside PR 2.35 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How about you? Do you ever feel that you share this problem? Thinking out loud, but not necessarily getting to the point?

What matters to you: Volume of followers or Community of interest?

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Inside PR 227 [ 25:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How many followers on social media are enough? Do you watch your numbers and constantly search for new ways to gain a new friend or an extra follower?

Do you see a herd or a community of interest?

In this week’s Inside PR, Gini Dietrich expresses her annoyance at discovering that some people seem to be using the #FF (Follow Friday) hashtag primarily as a means to get the attention of others on Twitter who have high follower counts. Ginny observed that some people she is following seem to point only to others who already have high follower counts. Ginny wonders whether those recommendations are sincere endorsements of content or instead, attempts to get those high follower people to reply, putting the original person’s ID in their Twitter stream and attracting more interest to themselves. Thinly veiled spam? An extension of the old-style interruption broadcast advertising psychology?

I monitor the number of followers, subscribers, mentions and comments on my blog and other social media as part of my calculation of return on investment. Given that my greatest cost of creating and sharing content is my time (and I always have other things that I could be doing with my time), I make a calculation of whether I am talking to myself or whether I am part of a community that shares my interests and is actively engaged with me. While I don’t put a dollar amount on that calculation, I do make a calculation of my relative return on the investment  of my time.

So, having admitted that I do track my numbers, why don’t I spend more time trying to dramatically increase my numbers of followers? The answer is simple: I am interested in engagement with the community that cares about my content, not in raw reach. What counts for me is a genuine connection with a community of interest, not simply growing the size of my audience.

How does that compare with your approach to social media?

Do you focus on finding and engaging with a clearly defined community of interest that corresponds with your personal interests or the interest of your organization? Or do you pursue ever larger numbers of subscribers, followers and friends?

Inside PR Podcast: I want content that's relevant to me. How about you?

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I’m a big fan of podcasts. I listen to them in the car, at home, while I’m on the treadmill and on the subway. Thanks to podcasting, I can listen to my favorite programs when and where it’s convenient for me. But what’ s even better about podcasts is that I can find content that focuses on my interests. And my interests are much narrower than the general public’ s interests. This isn’t broadcasting. It’s content for me and my community.

Each week, Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and I record the Inside PR podcast. We talk about things that interest us as communications professionals who are also exploring the changes that social software and social networking have made possible in the ways that people find one another, form relationships and interact. We try to talk about what’ s really going on, not just what happened. So we look for the truths and trends that underlie the communications and technology developments of the week.

It’ s fun for us to share our thoughts. But it’ s even better when you tell us what you think. So, please do give us your ideas for what we should talk about on inside PR. You can reach us on our Inside PR podcast Facebook Group, by leaving a comment on the Inside PR blog, or by tweeting to @inside_PR.

Don’ t be a stranger. Don’ t be shy. Let us know what matters to you and what you would like Inside PR to talk about.

And because seeing is better than reading, here’s my video invitation to participate in setting the agenda for Inside PR.