PR Week Offers Free Advice to Philip Morris

This article was first published as "PR Week Offers Free Advice to Philip Morris", PR Watch, volume 8, number 3, 3rd Quarter 2001. The original article was authored by John Stauber and is used here with permission. As with all SourceWatch articles, feel free to edit and revise. -

The Philip Morris tobacco company was recently forced to apologize for its role in commissioning a report which claimed that the Czech Republic benefits economically from the premature deaths of smokers. Ever eager to help an old friend, the August 6 issue of PR Week asked PR experts, "How can Philip Morris regain PR ground following the publication of the Czech report?" Advice from the pros included:
 * "More advertisements praising the philanthropic activities of its Kraft and Miller subsidiaries would be wise."
 * "The best thing for it to do is minimize its public profile."
 * "Partner itself with a consumer watchdog group."
 * "Fire all of those involved in commissioning these studies, and obtain confidentiality statements from each of them."
 * "Resist interview requests; any interviews on this will be no-win situations."