Toxic Sludge is Good for You

Torches of Liberty coined by Edward Bernays, the father of spin and founder of the public relations industry, created a “political demonstration”. He hired beautiful women to smoke Lucky Strikes cigarettes while marching in the 1929 Easter Parade in New York. This “was the first time in the memory of most Americans that any woman who wasn’t a prostitute had been seen smoking in public”. George Washington Hill, former president of the American Tobacco Company wanted to break the taboo against female smoking in public in order to make more money. He succeeded. Edward Bernay’s presentation, presented as a political demonstration, tripled the sales of Lucky Strikes.

I had never heard of Torches of Liberty. That was before I read Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, by John C. Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, (c) 1995 by the Center for Media & Democracy, 236 pp., published by Common Courage Press.

People should definitely read this book to become more informed citizens.
Stauber and Rampton shed light on the manipulative and strategic ways big pubic relations firms cover up oil spills or an unhealthy food item sitting on shelves in grocery
stores. Thus, it is crucial for the pubic sphere to read the book, so the public relations industry will not be able to manipulate and deceive citizens.

The Public Relations industry is designed to alter people’s perception and the book mentions how “The best PR is never noticed” which is also the slogan of the industry (pg. 2). The book starts out with the process one needs to take in order to become a public relations specialist. For example, public relations specialist usually “began their careers as journalists, where they learned how to investigate people and institutions, how newsrooms work and how to write a compelling and informative story” (pg. 2) As a result, journalists are usually paid low wages and overworked, but gain enough experience and contacts to become a PR practitioner.

Toxic Sludge warns people about the dangers of public relations censorship. The book explains how “There is a new censorship in this country, based on nothing but dollars and cents” (pg. 7). The book also educates people on the difference between watching news and watching a video news release. A video news release is a video segment that has been created by a PR firm to persuade and shape public opinion.

Another form of censorship mentioned is about a forward referencing the dangers of eating certain foods sold in grocery stores. Dr. William Marcus, who wrote the forward and did the investigation, was fired for failing to comply with the EPA’s request to remove his forward from the book (pg. 9). Since Dr. Marcus was a government official, his non compliance created a government policy to prohibit officials from writing book forwards (pg. 9).

Ivy Lee, inventor of crisis management advises corporations to “Set your house in order, then tell the public that you have done so” (pg. 20). Lee helped his clients put the best spin on horrible situations. Lee was one of the first to offer clients help with corporate image building.

Beware of Invisible Men. The goal of the public relations industry is to manipulate the public and do so without them knowing they are being deceived. This is on of their best strategies. The book explains that we have a responsibility to get rid of Invisible Men.

“We are spray-painting the Invisible Man in order to make him visible again. We want the pubic at large to recognize the skilled propagandists of industry and government who are affecting public opinion and determining public policies, while remaining (they hope) out of public view. In a democracy, everyone needs to know who is really in charge, who makes the decisions, and in whose interests. Democracies function best without Invisible Men” (pg. 16).

Toxic Sludge, however, provides a solution to becoming aware of Invisible Men:

• First, learn to recognize the influence of PR in your life;
• Second, seek out alternative sources of information,
• Third, become personally involved in local efforts to directly address important issues at the community level.

Corporations and the US government are spending millions of dollars to silence people that try to expose the Invisible Men. They label these activists as “NIMBY” – the abbreviation for “Not In My Back Yard” (pg. 199). However, the public relations specialists claim that they are providing a service and should not be singled out as bad people. They point out that “they are not doing this because they are evil, but because PR is a financially rewarding business (pg. 203). They feel as if they are just doing their job.

After reading this insightful book, one will be more aware of how events are covered and covered up. “The public relations or “PR” industry did not even exist prior to the 20th century, but it has grown steadily and appears poised for even more dramatic growth in the future (pg. 13). Therefore, reading Toxic Sludge is crucial and beneficial for all ages to learn and be aware of Invisible Men.