Chapter 11-News

This chapter really opened my eyes to the workings that go on behind the newsroom. The stereotypical image of the trusted, hardworking, honest reporter is quite the opposite of reality. The chapter points out that most journalists work overtime in hours and oftentimes, the pay is not that great. Moving beyond that, there is the fact that the media is being fed propaganda by the PR firms to show/pose as "the truth," "our trusted news." Page 189 also states that the "PR industry has also mastered the art of using "third party" experts and "non-profit research groups" to feed their views to the general public. It really makes one question who we can trust. If one can't turn to the news, trust the companies supplying our food, or understand the motives of government agencies--how do we know who to trust? Fabrications, exaggerations, and cover-ups are essential to the operations of the PR firms in promoting propaganda.

Divide and Conquer

The chapter starts off with describing the four groups of activists; radicals, opportunities, idealists, and realists. PR has a goal to break down each group of activist; some easier than others. Basically, money is a leading force behind reputation and drive. PR has the sources and funds available to side with anyone and have the top executives see their side of things while seeing the dollar sign. It was interesting to read about the corruption and hypocrisy that lies at the heart of some of these major businesses. PR firms are able to buy the rights we have to know what we are eating; to keep the general public in the dark, all the while claiming their false cries of concern for the common good.

Spies for Hire

Once again, Chapter Five speaks of the double-sided PR firms. Page 49 states, "The public relations industry has developed a lucrative side business scrutinizing the thoughts and actions of citizen activists, using paid spies who are often recruited from the government, military, or private security backgrounds." This is an unsettling concept to think that PR workers, if they wanted, could implant themselves into any organization and pose as spies. Information that is supposed to be entrusted to a few now becomes a matter for those not involved. It seems that PR is lurking around every corner to make sure our thoughts and actions are in check.

Osama, Ollie, and Al

Chapter 7 deals with the credibility of sources of the Internet. We are all aware of the vast amount of information that is available on the Internet. Many sites such as Wikipedia allow anyone to post, correct, change, add information on any given topic. The chapter warns just because a site reads .gov, does not actually mean it is 100 percent accurate. Page 134 states, "Government websites have as much authority and credibility as the agencies that stand behind them." Also the chapter looks at sites posted as .edu. Here too, we must be careful. Any professor or student can post his/her own opinion as fact and it would still read .edu. The chapter asks us to consider who's behind the information, can we verify it, what is it asking us to do. These are all important things to keep in check and has given me some advice to keep in mind when it comes to doing research.

Burning Books

The first chapter of Toxic Sludge was fairly interesting. It shed some light on the practices of PR firms and the influence they have over us. Page 14 states, "The PR industry claims that it is simply participating in the democratic process and contributing to public debate. In reality, the industry carefully conceals most of its activities from public view." These people act undercover and do their dirty deeds in the dark. PR for any company can easily sway our opinions and perceptions of reputation. The chapter talked about the CALRAB and this reminded me of KFC's Animal Welfare Advisory Council.
KFC claims to care about animal rights and their treatment in the factory farms. However, as investigations have revealed, animal rights are non-existent in these factory farms. First hand witnesses have revealed and shown the way the workers treat the animals and the disgusting conditions they live in. Many members of "the Council" have quit because they feel cheated. “[KFC] never had any meetings. They never asked any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this animal-welfare advisory committee. I felt like I was being used.”—Dr. Adele Douglass, former animal welfare advisor to KFC, Chicago Tribune This chapter brought up many striking points about the misleading advertisement PR gives us about the food we put into our bodies.

Chapter 6

The Great Crow Fallacy in the beginning of the chapter brought to mind the tendency that we have to believe these urban legends and wives' tales. There is an entertaining show on Discovery called "Mythbusters" that tests the credibility of stories such as these, using actual data. It is also true that most people believe these things to be true because so many other people have heard of the same things, and the lies are passed down from one person to another. As the book states, repetition does not make a claim true. This chapter also made me aware that not all "scientific studies" can be trusted, though it does have a nice ring to it. "Studies" can be performed by anyone, using any set of criteria, for specific data tailored to what they are looking for. We must be careful of studies because they may not hold that much weight.

Chapter 3

I found the examples in the chapter very eye-opening. Near the end of the chapter the author speaks of the Ab Force belt, which I remembered their absurd commercials on t.v. Most claims of losing weight associated with belts or diet pills are completely bogus. I will admit I was suspicious of many of the diet pills out there, but I chose to take Hydroxycut. I did a lot of online research and the claims seemed credible, but I should have known better. I took the pills for two weeks, and while I did lose a couple pounds, I also suffered from frequent headaches and a pounding heart. It was not the pills that helped me lose the weight, rather the mass amount of water I was drinking (which the pills required), and the extra time I was spending at the gym.
Also, the eight "tricks" that the author mentioned brought to mind a job I had as a customer sales rep (A.K.A telemarketer) for Verizon. We had very extensive training on the use of power words to make sales. I used to sell what was formerly known as DSL. However, when Comcast came out with claims of faster broadband service, we were no longer able to address the service as DSL. Verizon changed the name of their DSL to "High Speed Internet" in order to persuade customers into believing that the service was actually faster.

Chapter 4

"We embrace information that supports our beliefs and reject evidence that challenges them." (pg 60) I found The Psychology of Deception passage strikingly true. Statistics and evidence can be twisted to fit any argument if you want it to. Oftentimes, just as much evidence can be found to disprove your claim, as there is to support it. The chapter mentions deception in the ways in which information is presented; the language used (or not used). Rhetoric is a very tricky tactic to sway people. A lot of the times in advertising; it is not so much the words that are being said, but the way in which they are said.

Chapter 1

I found this chapter to be very interesting. I find that the authors do a great job on presenting the information on both sides-very objective. It never occurred to me the great deal of "creative thinking" that takes place in the advertising world to market a product. Some of the products mentioned in the book seemed absurd to me, yet it is shocking to know that many people blindly believe the claims. However, as absurd as some of those products sounded, I know I have been duped into buying the brand names because of their "superior quality."