Rick
Berman - Corporate
- Media
- Marketing
- Food
- Safety
- Animals
- Workers
- Consumers
- Health
- Science
- Politics
- Law
- Enforcement "Berman
& Co.: "Nonprofit" Hustlers for the Food & Booze Biz."
... "Restaurant-industry lobbyist Rick Berman says there are two things
that set his firm, Berman & Co., apart from others in the trade. The
first is that "we always have a knife in our teeth." The other is that
"we don't chase the smaller issues. . . . Our work is restricted to and
focused on issues that affect shareholder value. These big issues include
labor costs as they relate to health insurance and the minimum wage, achieving
operator sales increases, and tax rates as they are affected in particular
by payroll and excise taxes."" ... "Based in Washington, DC, Berman speaks
for hotels, beer distributors, taverns, and restaurant chains such as Cracker
Barrel, Hooters, International House of Pancakes, Olive Garden, Outback
Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Steak & Ale, TGI Friday's, Uno Restaurants,
and Wendy's. His strategy for helping these chains maximize "shareholder
value" is aimed at two goals: minimizing wages for restaurant employees,
while driving up sales of his client's high-markup products--in particular,
booze, soda pop, fatty foods, and cigarettes." ... ""Other groups drive
consumer behavior on meat, alcohol, fat, sugar, tobacco and caffeine with
outrageous quotes, exaggeration, junk science and even violent acts," Berman
said in a 1999 interview with the Chain Leader, a trade publication for
restaurant chains. "Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger,"
Berman went on. "Given the activists' plans to alarm beyond all reason,
we've got to attack their credibility as spokepersons."" ... "By way of
disclaimer, we should note that our attention was first drawn to Berman
& Co. when our 1997 book, Mad Cow USA, was attacked recently by one
of Berman's front groups--the "Guest Choice Network," whose stated mission
is to expose what it calls "the Nanny Culture -- the growing fraternity
of food cops, health care enforcers, anti-meat activists, and meddling
bureaucrats who 'know what's best for you.'"" ... "According to the Guest
Choice Network, Mad Cow USA "set new standards for food scare tactics."
Guest Choice has even produced a report, titled "Mad Cow: A New American
Scare Campaign," which insinuates that we are the masterminds behind recent
headline stories about mad cow disease that have appeared in places as
far apart as Agence Press France, ABC World News Tonight, and the Wall
Street Journal. The report includes sinister-looking charts and arrows
alleging hidden conspiratorial ties between us and groups such as People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Center for Food Safety,
Consumers Union, Fenton Communications, the Organic Consumers Association,
Dr. Tom Pringle (who until recently managed a website about mad cow disease,
at www.mad-cow.org), and CJD Voice (an internet-based discussion and support
group for people who have lost family members to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease,
a mad cow-like disease in humans)." ... "Guest Choice claims that all of
these groups and individuals are part of a massive "junk-science smear
campaign" to "ignite a U.S. panic" so that anti-meat "food police" can
"frighten us all into eating only what bears their imprimatur."" ... "It
is a curious honor, of course, to be accused of "junk science" by a flack
for junk food. Given some of the garbage that Berman's clients feed to
an unsuspecting public, it's hardly surprising that he would see a need
to "attack our credibility as spokespersons."" ... "But what about Berman
& Co. itself? How much credibility should anyone give a restaurant
industry spokesperson who brags of having "a knife in his teeth"? The sad
fact is that the news media has given him plenty. " -By
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber -PRWatch.org
Enron
News - "Is
Enron Overpriced? It's in a bunch of complex
businesses. Its financial statements are nearly impenetrable. So why is
Enron trading at such a huge multiple?" (1, 2,
3)
-Bethany McLean -Fortune