Catch this

[Guest guest]

Please understand what I have understood from this article, and I have highlighted this boldly:

http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1996Q1/silicone10.html

Less attention, however, has been given to the remainder of the memo, in which he describes clearly the company's PR strategy. "The number one issue in my mind is the establishment of networks," states. "This is the largest single issue on our platter because it affects not only the next 2--3 years of profitability . . . but also ultimately has a big impact on the long-term ethics and believability issues. . . . I have started to initiate surgeon contact . . . to organize the plastic surgery community. . . . The place we have the biggest hole still missing . . . is in this whole arena of getting the patient grassroots movement going."

"Grassroots" has become a corporate buzzword for a PR strategy which uses corporate wealth to subsidize orchestrated mass campaigns that put seemingly independent citizens on the front lines as activists for corporate causes. , for example, has paid Burson-Marsteller tens of millions of dollars to organize smokers into the National Smokers' Alliance, which effectively lobbies for the company in the name of "smokers' rights."

Patty