Snippets - O'Dwyers, Nazis, PsyOps and PR Ethics

• The O'Dwyer Company gets ad pulled. To have your firm written up in the O'Dwyer newsletter and Website is a pretty big deal - they don't pull punches, it's read by higher-up executives, and they break a lot of stories.
  
  The company also influences corporate decisions, as noted in today's New York Times. Yesterday, on the O'Dwyer Web site was an article about the Simon Property Group using national landmarks for their ad campaign to get people to go shop at its malls. Today, the New York Times has the article on how Simon Malls has pulled its ad campaign, due to the article on Odwyerpr.com.
  
  Now, that's power.
  

• Is Harvard Crimson the same color as Nazi Red? Many corporations and universities have been shown to have ties to Nazi Germany - IBM, Ford, the Bush family immediately come to mind.
  
  A professor from Oklahoma has presented a paper that shows the Harvard and Harvard Crimson ties to Nazism are a little too close for comfort.
  
  However, most have disavowed their connections, while it appears that Harvard and the Harvard Crimson's PR strategy is deny, obfuscate, or make light of the situation.
  
  Not a good strategy when it comes to Nazism.
  

• Isn't PR Psy-Ops anyways? Love him or hate him, as PR professionals we have to admit that the current Bush administration is full of great spinmeisters. They make Teflon Ron and Bill Clinton look like amateurs some days.
  
  Today's LAT has the story on how the US Military has "duped" various news sources with false information, and is causing a rift within the Department of Defense's public affairs office - in time of war, is it the job of PR and PA to disseminate information, or to use propaganda and false information to give our guys the edge. It's a blurring of PR and Psy-Ops.
  
  Let's be realistic - if this were WWII, this would be a non-issue. The media landscape has changed where it's instantaneous information disbursal with the Internet and always-on cable news channels, but the old adage of loose lips sink ships still rings true.
  
  I'm on the fence on this one. Get back to me later, and I'll think it over more.
  

• Edelman wins Birds Eye. Okay, I just wanted to write "Birds Eye" because it makes me laugh, but, hey congrats to Edelman.
  
  On the PR side of things, though, CEO Richard has an interesting take on PR and ethics on Speak Up.
  
  Now, why does it matter what one blogger says about PR and ethics? It's simple. Richard isn't a blogger; he runs the largest independent worldwide PR firm. His views and comments hold a little bit more weight than "oh, he's just another PR blogger."
  
  I can't do it justice in a snippet - so finish up here, and now go read it!