WEBVTT - One PR Firm Works on More Climate Obstruction Than Any Other 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:15.360 Welcome back to Drilled. I'm Amy Westervelt. This week, a 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:20.280 really important study was released from a frequent voice on Drilled, 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.960 Robert Rule, visiting scholar at Brown University, an environmental sociologist. 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:32.320 Rule looked at the rule of PR firms in blocking 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.120 climate action, a subject we've covered a. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.279 Lot in this podcast, and what he found. 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.160 When he looked at which firms the utilities, and coal 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:47.600 companies and oil and gas companies were using was somewhat surprising. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:52.400 Only one firm showed up in the top three across 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:58.920 all categories, Edelman PR. Which is interesting because back in 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.040 twenty fifteen, Edelman made this big announcement on the heels 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.920 of several executives leaving the firm that it was no 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.080 longer going to engage in greenwashing, that it was no 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.600 longer going to work for coal companies at all, and 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.720 that it was going to commit itself to being a 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.959 responsible actor on climate. Well, the data that Rule found 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.760 does not back that up. If you haven't listened to 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.920 season three of this podcast, I would recommend going back 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.360 and doing that. We did a deep dive on all 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:36.280 of the various PR folks involved in helping to block 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:41.800 climate action, including We also just recently did an episode 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:46.120 of our other podcast, rig on Edelman and their role 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:53.080 in particularly astroturfing, this strategy where companies or industries will 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:57.080 create front groups that seem like grassroots groups, but are 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:58.960 in fact paid for by. 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:00.760 A company or industry group. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.560 We're going to bring you that story today after the break, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:09.280 and next week a conversation with Bob Boule and former 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:11.600 Edelman VP Christine Arena. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.760 Hope you've enjoy today's. 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.960 Episode and come back next week. 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:17.840 For that conversation. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.680 It's simple, supply and demand. More abundant energy means more 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:29.680 affordable energy. 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.960 Producing more American oil and natural gas will help keep 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:34.040 energy bills in check. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.600 Who doesn't want that. I'm rich and I'm an energy voter. 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.320 If you can afford a tesla, then this message won't 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:43.560 really matter to you. 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.160 His name is Don Smith. I've been with Walmart for 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:49.480 their years twenty. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.720 Eight years, seventeen and a half years, six and a 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:53.720 half years, seventeen years. 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.560 Been here eleven years and just eleven Just love my job. 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:08.079 If these commercials are to be believed, hundreds of Americans 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:13.640 are out there rallying around the causes of protecting energy 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:19.320 companies automakers and big box retailers from regulation. Wow, those 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:25.080 plucky little guys protecting those vulnerable behemoths of US industry. 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.880 As like this tend to appear when legislation or unions 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:36.920 threaten the profits of big companies. They claim to be messages. 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.800 From grassroots groups. 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:44.400 Like Energy Citizens or the California Driver's Alliance, or from 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.640 employees that just love Walmart so much they want to 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.200 sing it from the rooftops, But they're actually paid for 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.680 by industry trade groups or specific companies. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.680 They give these fake front groups these names that sound 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:04.360 they're like perfectly innocuous names, like the California Driver's Alliance 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.400 or the Washington Consumers for Sound Fuel Policy. 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.400 This is Christine Arena. She knows a lot about this 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.960 tactic because she used to be a VP at a 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.320 PR firm that's famous for using it. 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:21.839 There are hundreds of them, are usually secretly run by 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:26.200 lobbying organizations, like though two I just mentioned are actually 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.599 run by the Western States Petroleum Association, which is a 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:34.120 top lobbyist for the oil industry. The Western States Petroleum 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:39.039 Association is in turn funded by members including BP Shell, 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:45.640 ex OnMobile, Chevron, and Occidental, among others. So it's fake activism, 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:52.400 it's corporate money posing as activism, and it's designed to 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.800 undo all of the progress that real activism makes. 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.440 Welcome back to Rigged Up podcast about the war for 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.520 hearts and minds and activism right here on us soil. 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.400 I'm Amy Westervelt. And today's trick is astroturfing. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:12.560 Ah. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:17.320 Yes, astroturfing. When grassroots don't exist, a plastic version will 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.880 do very nicely. One of the PR firms most associated 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:27.240 with astroturfing is Arena's former employer, Edelman PR. It was 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:32.040 started back in nineteen fifty two in Chicago by Daniel Edelman, 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:36.120 a former journalist who had spent World War Two working 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.200 in psychological warfare for the US Army. Here he is 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.360 much later in life describing that gig. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.640 Working at drug and doing the psychological warfare thing was 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:52.680 fascinating because we were upsetting the claims made by the Germans. 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:54.120 It's all lies. 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.559 I mean, we had to disclaim them, yep. 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.240 And then he came home and put those skills to 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:05.240 work on behalf of US industry against the American public. 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:10.840 Edelman's son, Richard took over as CEO in nineteen ninety six, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.360 and one of his first moves was to make a 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.320 really big show of how the firm was no longer 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.599 going to work with tobacco companies, a noble move after 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.560 his dad had spent decades helping the industry push the 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.719 idea that secondhand smoke was no big deal. It must 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.400 be weird joining the family business when the family business 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:35.600 is propaganda. In a strategy he crafted for R. J. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:41.520 Reynolds in nineteen seventy seven, Daniel Edelman Datleman, if you like, 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.760 recommends a civility campaign for smokers as a way to 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:51.120 push the idea that smokers care about non smokers, that 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.880 they're not just trying to be assholes imposing their cigarettes 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:55.560 on the public. 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:01.279 He writes a program directed at our own constituency, the 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:06.200 Smoker makes the greatest sense to us. Example, a code 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.080 of conduct for smokers publicized in all the traditional ways, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:15.600 a smoker's etiquette handbook distributed in smoking sections of trains, airplanes, 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:22.000 et cetera. Restaurant tabletops on smoking etiquette, awards to courtesy smokers, 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.160 contests to develop the dos and dots of civility in smoking. 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:31.239 The possibilities are limitless. We need to develop various ways 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:36.480 such a campaign and be pursued intelligently and effectively. It 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.320 also seems to us that within the framework of a 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.000 campaign of this sort, we have the best opportunity and 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:48.040 the most congenial way of communicating our case that there 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:53.040 is no real evidence that inhaling someone else's cigarette smoke 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:55.600 causes any health problems. 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:01.120 In nineteen ninety eight, after Big to B had lost 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.680 multiple lawsuits and been hauled in front of Congress and 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.720 investigated by the Department of Justice, Richard Edelman said, no, sir, 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:12.720 we will no longer work for these guys. Richard Edelman 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.240 may have sworn off tobacco, but he made up for 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.960 it with a voracious appetite for oil, or at least 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.440 the money of oil companies who were more than eager 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:26.000 to pay him for bringing that Edelman family magic to 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:31.440 their industry. Christina A Rena joined Edelman in twenty twelve, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.600 leading the business and social practice. She thought she'd be 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.160 helping the firm do good work for organizations that were 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:43.560 doing genuinely good things for the environment, but she quickly 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:48.240 realized that she'd just been hired to do greenwashing. In 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:52.800 the summer of twenty fourteen, Edelman created an astroturfing master 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:58.480 plan designed to sway public opinion on trans Canada's Keystone 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:03.120 Excel pipeline. It did, just not in the way they'd hoped. 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.800 In November that year, the astroturfing plan was leaked to 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:12.360 the press, embarrassing and Edelman enjoyed another moment in the spotlight. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.520 By the end of twenty fourteen, Arena knew she had 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.440 to leave. In twenty fifteen, the Guardian caught wind of 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:26.120 Arena's departure, along with three other Edelman executives, who all 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.680 left the firm over its work with Big Oil. The 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.680 Guardian published an article on that, and it got quite 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.560 a bit of attention. So once again Edelman took a 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:41.120 brave stand, promising to do better in the future. The 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:45.200 firm vowed to stop promoting climate denial and to stop 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.720 working with the coal industry period. It also committed to 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:55.560 no more greenwashing or astroturfing, which is weird because in 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.360 twenty eighteen they submitted an entry for a pr Award 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:04.760 for a campaign they created for Shell that well, it 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.880 sure looks a lot like greenwashing. In their award submission, 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.719 Edelman said their campaign was meant to quote. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.600 Raise awareness of Shell's ambition in the UK to create 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.640 more and cleaner energy solutions in a way that appeals 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:24.240 to millennials, and in doing so, to build Shell's reputation 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:28.000 in the UK as an innovative energy company. 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.560 They claimed a twenty eight percent increase in people's belief 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.720 that Shell quote works to provide a sustainable energy future 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:41.480 as a key result of their campaign. Is that green washing, 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.160 you say, persuading the public that a fossil fuel giant 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:50.360 is a plucky investor in renewables, I say, potato. So yeah. 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.079 One of the precursors to all of that was that 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:58.520 ad you heard up top from Energy Citizens. Energy Citizens 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.600 is a front group created by Edelman for the American 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.000 Petroleum Institute way back in two thousand and nine. But 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.880 creating groups like that is something Edelman has done over 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.920 and over again for lots of clients in lots of 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:12.600 different industries. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:16.120 Like that creation of bake grassroom support, which came to 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.360 be known as like astroturfing, and Edelman was genius at 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.440 doing that. And that's like rallying, you know, with the 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.840 tobacco companies. That was like state you know, doctors and 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:31.040 academics and climate changes, like the scientists who take contrary 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.520 and perspectives and anybody who will like prepare it the propaganda. 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:36.640 I'll use that. 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:43.240 AstroTurf plan to then influence media, to influence politicians, influence 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:44.280 regulatory to do. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.440 The Eedlman created all kinds of astroturfing groups to fight 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:52.880 environmental regulations. But they didn't just work against environmental regulations. 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.839 They worked against all kinds of other regulations too. We're 0:11:55.840 --> 0:12:03.720 going to hear more about that after the break. Examples 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:08.400 of Edelman's astroturfing work for oil companies and other big 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.200 polluters abound, But the most over the top example of 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.200 astroturfing they ever did was for Walmart. When I heard 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.800 about it, I had to call up Mary Anna eas Hegler, 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:24.160 writer and my frequent partner in crime. Okay, I'm going 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.840 to just I'm going to read you a little story 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.920 and we can pause along the way for your reactions 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:31.240 to this. 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.320 Oh that's so sweet. Story time. 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:36.200 It's story time with Mary. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:38.400 Here we go. 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:42.680 In April two thousand and six, Jim and I hiked 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:47.600 the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Slot Canyons in Escalante. During 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.880 our trip, we ended up in Page, Arizona at five am, 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:52.600 we were up and ready to go. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:57.520 Although not much else is in page except of course, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.480 the Walmart supercenter. We pulled into the parking lot amid 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.280 at least a dozen RVs. Not sure what was up, 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.000 we asked why, and we learned that Walmart allows r 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:12.320 vs to stay and store parking lots overnight for free. 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.960 As we hiked up Bright Angel Trail from Phantom Ranch 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.280 in the Grand Canyon, a new adventure was born. I 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.120 started thinking about all the other amazing things there are 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.160 to see in this vast country of ours, and then 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.560 I started thinking about how Walmart, one in every town, 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.760 practically lets you park overnight for free. The idea just 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.559 sort of came together. We would take vacation from our 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.120 full time jobs and drive across the country in a 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.480 rented RV from city to city, spending the night in 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.600 a different Walmart parking lot every night. And of course 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.280 I'd write an article about it, maybe and maybe able 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:52.320 to sell a story to an RV magazine with photos 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:56.040 of rving in America and only staying at Walmart's. Given 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.240 the litigious age we live in, we decided to get 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.680 permission from Walmart to do so. So I called my 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:07.439 brother who works at Edelman and whose clients include Working 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.080 Families for Walmart, in order to find out if we'd 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.000 be allowed to talk to people and take pictures in 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.719 Walmart parking lots. As a freelance writer, I've learned over 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.480 the years that it's always better to ask about stuff 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.800 like that in advance. They didn't just give us permission, 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.520 they said they would even sponsor the trip. A blog 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.040 seemed like the perfect medium to tell those stories, and 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.720 even more exciting no editors, what writer could say no 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.000 to that? Oh, dear Paul. In all, it was a 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.320 perfect fit. Working Families for Walmart wants to get the 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.960 word out about all the good things Walmart does for people. 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.720 I wanted to make this trip and write about it. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.160 It just seemed to. 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:53.920 Work that the end of that story. 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.840 Have you ever heard about the blog Walmarting across America 0:14:59.320 --> 0:14:59.760 dot com? 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:01.480 I have not at all. 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:08.600 Okay, okay, So this is the final post in that blog. 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:16.560 It was a project of Edelman PR Company for Walmart, 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:22.480 and it was started amidst a push among Walmart employees 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:28.240 to unionize. So Edelman helped them create this group called 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:33.120 Working Families for Walmart, which is one of the many, many, 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:39.280 many examples of astroturfing that Edelman has done for various companies. 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:45.680 And it was kind of presented as like, you know, 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.760 an employee group of people who really didn't want to unionize, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.640 and that they were just good old fashioned working glass 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:57.720 Americans who just loved Walmart. And this blog came about, 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.440 like as this whole you know, fight about you reunizing 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.720 was happening, and they would go to all these Walmarts, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.080 this woman and her husband, they would talk to employees, 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:07.880 and the employees would just go on and on about 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.320 how much they loved working. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.520 For I'm sure they dare. 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:24.800 Meanwhile, hair and makeup is like just off parking lot, right, yes. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:31.400 Yes. At the time that Walmarting Across America debuted, Walmart 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:36.240 was paying Edelman some ten million dollars a year to 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:40.720 improve its reputation. That reputation, of course, was that it 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.080 was cheap with its wages and its benefits. Nothing like 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.000 paying a pr for millions to make you look generous 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.400 instead of just paying your employees. In the aftermath of 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:55.840 the Walmarting Across America debuckle, Richard Edelman himself went to 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:56.680 the press with. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.640 A statement, we regret not being one hundred percent transparent 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.959 about the identity of the bloggers. That was entirely our fault, 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:06.080 not our clients. 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:10.360 Okay, sure, But nowhere in there did he say anything 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.200 about Working Families for Walmart, which was just as big 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.560 of a fake. The organization was set up by Walmart, 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.159 and most of its members were Walmart executives, not the 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:25.520 store clerks. You might imagine when you hear Working Families 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.640 for Walmart. Well, I mean, technically, those executives do work 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.320 for Walmart, and I guess those families must really like 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.760 the sweet paychecks they bring home. Walmart execs can earn 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.320 a thousand times that of an average employee. If I 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.040 were in that family, I'd be very in favor of Walmart. 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:48.080 The sole goal of Working Families for Walmart seemed to 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:52.520 be to stop Walmart workers from unionizing, which tracked with 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.360 Walmart's history. When a handful of Walmart butchers at one 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:59.800 store in Texas came together to bargain with the store 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:03.800 collectively in two thousand, the company shut down not only 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.600 the meat counter at that store, but all of its 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:12.240 stores in Texas and five neighboring states, just in case 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.760 any of those rogue butchers had it in mind to 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:19.440 move to a nearby state. I guess as a business practice, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.080 taking off and nuking the site from orbit is always 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:27.800 an option if you're Walmart. Of course, Edelman doesn't have 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:32.399 a monopoly on astroturfing. The other absolute legend at it 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:39.479 is Doctor Evil aka Dick Evil. Richard Berman, king of 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.080 the Front Group. He's the Attie is a win guy. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.720 From episode three, You don't need to get people to 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.000 like you. All you have to do is create enough 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:52.280 uncertainty that they won't act against you. Remember back in 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.000 episode one when we heard from the Doctor with the 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.240 Center for Accountability in Science and he was talking about 0:18:58.240 --> 0:18:59.600 antibiotics and meat. 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.400 Choosing a burrito or a foot long sub labeled antibiotic 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.919 free might make you feel like you're making a healthier choice, 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.479 but in reality, you're simply paying more for a label. 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.280 To learn more, visit accountablescience dot com. 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:18.480 That's a Berman group. He also runs the perfectly innocuous 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:23.880 sounding Environmental Policy Alliance, which is the official publisher of a. 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.520 Site called Big Green Radicals that highlights the bad behavior 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:35.320 of environmental groups some real eco extremists like the Sierra Club. 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.520 The money for that site came from the right wing 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:44.119 Bradley Foundation and initially went to another Berman group, the 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.159 Center for Consumer Freedom. That group must have gotten too 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.680 much bad press, because in recent years Berman scrapped it 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:56.520 and renamed it the Center for Organizational Research and Education. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.960 Big Green Radicals was an environment focused spinoff of a 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:07.600 previous project that Berman had done for Bradley called activistcash 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.720 dot Com. And then, of course, Berman also runs the 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:18.679 Center for Union Facts Surprise Surprise, and anti union site. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:24.479 If you're getting lost in this maze of slightly boring 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:30.240 sounding innocuous names, guess what. That's the point He's hoping 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.320 you lose track of all the money he's throwing at 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.720 these fake pressure groups. One of Berman's many claims to 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:41.040 infamy is his work going after those radicals at Mothers 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:45.080 Against Drunk Driving on behalf of the restaurant and bar industry, 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.560 and those hippies at the Humane Society on behalf of 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.680 the industrial Meet guys, here's an ad for the website 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:57.760 humane Watch, a watchdog site that Berman runs to highlight 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.800 the nefarious ways of the Humane Society. 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.080 Would you give money to a charity that was involved 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.440 in a multimillion dollar racketeering lawsuit. 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:09.400 Would you donate to a charity that was being investigated 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:10.479 by an attorney general? 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:12.359 Would you write a check to an animal charity that 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.160 moved fifty million dollars to offshore counts instead of using 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:16.080 it to help animals? 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.280 Would you support a humane society that actually ran zero 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:21.280 pet shelters? 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:21.720 Would you? 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:22.399 Would you? 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:23.840 Would you? Would you? 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:27.480 But he's got more serious sounding groups too, the Employment 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:32.399 Policies Institute Foundation, for example. Okay, actually the use of 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:35.560 both institute and foundation there in an attempt to sound 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:40.240 serious and objective is goofy and hilarious. Classic Berman. The 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:45.560 Department for Academic Studies, It's amazing. He really can't help himself. 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.760 But that organization looks, on the face of it like 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.120 a pretty standard DC policy you think tank, and it 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.920 is in fact part of a cluster of nonprofits funded 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.520 by the Bradley Foundation. They're an ultra conservative group that 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:03.639 spends more money than the Kochs, a huge funding source 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:09.080 for anti environmental campaigns. The Bradley Foundation pushes very specific 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.679 pro business policies, and in this case, a group of 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.199 Berman led efforts, the Center for Union Facts and the 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:21.080 Center for Consumer Freedom, and the Employment policies Institute Foundation 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:25.480 all focused on one thing, getting rid of labor unions. 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:30.760 Here's Berman defending his right not to disclose who's funding 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.560 which groups on Rachel Maddow back in two thousand and nine. 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:37.399 I start a lot of these myself because I believe 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.480 in them, and then I go to people and I say, listen, 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:41.840 this is what I'm doing. If you, if your beliefs 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:44.040 are consistent with mine, will you help me get this 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:46.520 thing out of it? So who does anything to put 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:47.199 a website up? 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:47.399 Right? 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:48.760 But who on the acorn? 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.399 So nobody ever else ever supported that was out of 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:52.280 the goodness your heart. 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:52.639 Yeah. 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:55.520 The problem with that is that I can't prove it 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:57.280 one way or another because you don't have to disclose it, 0:22:57.320 --> 0:22:58.679 and so I have to take your word on that, 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.119 and I will. There's no reason not to. But in general, 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.480 your strategy is not to say, I, Rick Berman, am 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:08.360 being paid to tell you that the efforts to stop 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:11.320 you from eating fish, or stop eating trans fats, or 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:16.840 or stop smoking cigarettes, whatever they are, I'm being paid 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.240 to tell you that these things are a bad idea. 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:20.879 I don't want things that I don't believe. 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:23.080 Okay, but you are being paid to save them as 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:25.080 well by people who have a vested interest. If you 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:27.919 admitted that, but somebody would call you doctor evil anymore. 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:29.840 They just call you a pr guy. The reason that 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:31.800 you're on the show is because you don't disclose who's 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:33.160 paying you to say the things that you're saying. 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:35.000 Well, then you can't have anybody on your show from 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:37.000 the left or the right who is connected to these 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.960 nonprofit organizations because they won't tell you who's funding them. 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:41.320 And you think that's wrong. 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:44.320 I think that they're entitled to do that. They're entitled, 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:47.119 they're entitled to keep their donors quiet. I think that 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:47.800 that's up to them. 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:51.760 Of course, not all astroturfing attempts are as obvious and 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:56.080 goofy as walmarting across America. I mean, come on, guys, 0:23:56.440 --> 0:23:59.720 through at least one employee and who doesn't just love 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.480 the show out of their Walmart job if you want 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:05.560 to sell this thing. But if you know what to 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:08.960 look for, even the more subtle efforts are pretty easy 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:14.200 to spot. They really play up though we're just normal 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:17.680 average citizens. Thing in their names and in their messaging 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:23.439 they talk about saving you average American money, but their 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:27.080 number one goal actually seems to be saving a company 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:32.359 or an industry money. They use stock photos of people 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:35.679 who are supposed to be members of their group in 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:39.399 their ads. Hilariously, these guys are constantly doing this and 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:43.119 thinking they're not going to get caught. They always get caught. 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:46.200 There's no real way to. 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:47.000 Join the group. 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:50.160 You can learn more or sign a petition, sometimes even 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:53.240 show up at a rally, but unlike genuine community groups, 0:24:53.640 --> 0:24:57.320 they're never having meetings unless you're hanging out near the 0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:02.679 Walmart executive washroom in Arkansas. These types of ads really 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:05.920 ramp up around elections, so keep an eye out for them. 0:25:06.040 --> 0:25:13.400 In twenty twenty two. That's it for this time. Next time, 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.359 on our final episode of this series, we're going to 0:25:16.440 --> 0:25:22.040 find out why Americans really embraced consumerism after World War Two. 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:26.080 Come back for that. Thank you for joining us on 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:28.920 this hair raising journey through the murky history of PR. 0:25:29.600 --> 0:25:32.600