Library:Toxic Sludge Is Good for You!
| Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton |
| First published | 1995 |
| ISBN | 978-1-56751-060-2 |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Business, Finance & Scams Technology & Media |
| Tactics | Propaganda Technique Imposture |
Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! is a 1995 book by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton.
Summary
John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton of the Center for Media and Democracy, publishers of the watchdog newsletter PR Watch, published this exposé of the public relations industry in 1995. Its subtitle promised an account of lies, damn lies and the PR industry, and it delivered a detailed case that much of what the public takes as news and grassroots opinion is produced by paid persuaders.
The title
The title refers to a campaign to rename sewage sludge, a waste product that can contain heavy metals and other contaminants, as "biosolids," and to promote its use as fertilizer on farmland. The authors use it to illustrate one of PR's central tools: changing what something is called to change how people feel about it.
Front groups and astroturf
A major theme is the creation of organizations that appear independent or grassroots but are funded by industry. The authors describe front groups with public-spirited names that advance corporate interests, and campaigns that generate letters, calls and apparent public pressure on legislators. They popularized awareness of "astroturf," fake grassroots activity.
News that isn't news
The book shows how PR firms supply journalists with ready-made stories, including video news releases packaged to look like television news reports and aired by stations without disclosure. It also describes the industry's work in crisis management, spinning disasters and scandals for corporate clients, and the monitoring and infiltration of activist groups.
The incubator story
One of the most cited cases concerns the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War. In 1990, a teenage girl identified only as Nayirah testified to a US congressional caucus that she had seen Iraqi soldiers remove babies from hospital incubators in Kuwait. The story was widely repeated by political leaders. It later emerged that she was the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to the United States, and that the testimony had been arranged with the help of the PR firm Hill & Knowlton, hired by a group funded by the Kuwaiti government. Investigations found no evidence for the claim as told.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
This book is a field guide to professional persuasion disguised as information. It is essential for the Propaganda Technique and Imposture tactics, and it teaches editors to ask who stands behind a source that appears independent.