Ross S. Irvine

Ross S. Irvine is President of ePublic Relations Ltd and Public Relations Management Ltd.

In a biographical note ePublic Relations is described as "a company he established to explore and explain how social activists use the Internet to promote their causes so effectively" while Public Relations Management Ltd. "provides traditional PR services". 

According to the note "Ross served as director of media relations for the Canadian Life and Health Insurance, provided PR counsel and services to a variety of corporate and public service clients, worked as an account executive and copywriter for one of western Canada¹s largest advertising agencies, and was a speech writer for senior government officials and business leaders."

"Ross received an Honors B.A. in journalism from the University of Western Ontario in 1975. Audiences for his presentations on PR have included the Wise Use Leadership Conference, the Ontario Association of Professional Planners, and the North West Territories Mining Association," the profile states.

(The preliminary agenda for the 1993 Wise Use Leadership conference in Nevada listed Irvine speaking in a media workshop and identified him as being from "Enviro-Scan (Canada)"). Download a pdf of the Wise Use Leadership conference program - 140k file (See Wise Use movement for more information).

In 1991 Jim Lohman, writing in the Ontario newspaper The Record, reported on a "pro-pesticide" Enviroscan newsletters published by Irvine. Irvine told Lohman that he was on "an almost personal campaign" to defend pesticides against environmentalists campaigns for tighter restrictions. Irvine attributed a rise in malaria cases in Ceylon to the 1964 ban on DDT and complained that further restrictions could be based on emotionalism not science. Irvine told Lohman that he had some "who deal in the chemical field". The Enviroscan newsletter, he said, was "funded entirely out of my own pocket."

Irvine, who describes himself as a "corporate warrior", appends as the footer to his emails the quote: "Public relations is war. It's about winners and losers. Winners gain public, media, and regulatory acceptance and support for their products, services,and organizations. Losers see their products, services, and organizations sacrificed on the altar of public opinion, pilloried by the media, and trampled by excessive regulation." (1)

Irvine is an enthusiastic supporter of the work by Gary Johns from the conservative Australian think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs in proposing a range of administrative changes by governments to constrain the advocacy work of environmental, human rights and development organisations. Based on Johns work, Irvine drafted a Non-government government (NGO) / Civil Society Accountability and Transparency Report. 

Irvine suggests some possible uses for such reports. "First, PR folks, politicians and others who deal with NGOs can ask NGOs to complete, certify and sign it. Second, it can be used as a basis for creating internal files on NGOs. Three, it can be used to ask questions at public meetings and other forums," he wrote. 

In May 2002 Irvine was a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand. In his presentation Irvine identified "charitable organization legislation" as one of the key focal points to consider in New Zealand. Excerpt from Irvine's presentation

When the New Zealand government tabled a Charities Bill in Parliament, the New Zealand Green Party was alarmed that advocacy organisations would be penalised by the bill provisions. "There is a real danger that community groups performing advocacy work will not be eligible for charitable status. Is this an attempt to control or kill off groups who carry out lobbying alongside their services function?," said Sue Bradford, Green Party Spokesperson for the Community & Voluntary Sector. 

Articles by Irvine

 * Ross S. Irvine, "ePublic Relations™ 101 PR lessons from the Battle in Seattle: An introduction to how the internet has fundamentally changed PR", ePublic Relations Ltd, December 1999.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Computers and modems for everyone: Ford to arm 370,000 netwarriors", ePublic Relations Ltd, February 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Needed: PR warriors and anarchists", ePublic Relations Ltd, February 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Environmental Media Services: Journalists' resource or special interest group? (Or, how one group can be many things to many people on the internet)", ePublic Relations Ltd, March 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "activists complete opinion research: GE food moratorium campaign planned", ePublic Relations Ltd, April 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "$100,000 vs $50-million - Competing biotech PR campaigns: The little guy has the upper hand", ePublic Relations Ltd, April 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Biotech industry uses antiquated weapons to battle adversaries (Or, how to miss the mark with a $50-million communications campaign)", ePublic Relations Ltd, April 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, 'Netwarriors' fight way to top in corporate PR" and "PANNA establishes alliances via 'Net'", O'Dwyers PR Services Report, May 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "7 PR lessons from antibiotech confrontations: Preparing for the millennium", ePublic Relations Ltd, May 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "The librarian, geek, and honorable warrior: The PR team of the 21st century", ePublic Relations Ltd, May 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Internet? What internet? PR folks work in their own unreal world", ePublic Relations Ltd, May 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR confession: The other guys do it better!!! PR should communciate values", ePublic Relations Ltd, August 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Global anti-genetic engineering infrastructure proposed: A good example of ePublic Relations™", ePublic Relations Ltd, September 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Environmental magazine seeks undisclosed funding for researching and writing special issue: Many questions raised about journalistic objectivity, credibility and disclosure", ePublic Relations Ltd, September 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Oppressed biotech industry needs social workers: And yes, the military is standing by, too", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR industry values money more than innovation: Why PR has failed to adapt to the internet", ePublic Relations Ltd, December 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR industry admission: We don't understand the internet (but we sure want to bill our clients for what we don't know)", ePublic Relations Ltd, December 2000.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Information, training and trust: The keys to successful communications by antibiotech and other activists", ePublic Relations Ltd, January 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Mathematics conspires against biotechnology PR: The numbers speak for themselves", ePublic Relations Ltd, January 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR is a 3-legged stool: PR folks build it with two", ePublic Relations Ltd, February 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Activists release powerful genie: Corporate PR folks can learn from it", ePublic Relations Ltd, March 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "The values and money behind Trade Secrets: Are they yours?", ePublic Relations Ltd, March 2001
 * Ross S. Irvine, "The anti-Starbucks protest: How much media coverage will the activists get?", ePublic Relations Ltd, March 2001
 * Ross S. Irvine, "What would you do? Activists set to attack chemical and other industries on March 26, 2001", ePublic Relations Ltd, March 2001
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Environmentalists move money across international borders to influence Canadian policies, legislation, regulations, and media", ePublic Relations Ltd, April 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "How business and activist groups use websites to support and oppose the Bush energy policy: Command-and-control vs empowerment", ePublic Relations Ltd, June 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Activists take broad approach to bring down biotech industry: Communications and PR lessons for industry", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Food First seeks funding to discredit biotech industry: Small budget takes on entire industry", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "One small town destroys major portion of a national pesticide market: seven lessons for PR, marketing and branding folks", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "An activist makes 15 suggestions for successful campaigns. Or, what PR folks can learn from Detroit", August 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "It's alive! The internet fact PR folks need to understand", ePublic Relations Ltd., September 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "The PR battle for democracy: What NGOs are all about", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR has lost its vision: From brand manager to publicist", ePublic Relations Ltd, December 2001.
 * Ross S. Irvive, "Who benefits when an international PR agency hires an eco-warrior? The agency? Clients? Or, the crusader?: Burson-Marsteller hires former Greenpeace head", ePublic Relations Ltd, January 2002.
 * Ross S. Irvive, "21st Century PR: The War for Ideas and Ideals", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2002.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Today's PR is about ideas and concepts, not the internet", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 2002.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "The internet is not a technology; it's a mindset", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 2002.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "How to keep NGOs honest: introducing the Non-government organization (NGO) / Civil Society Accountability and Transparency Report", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 2002.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR 2003: 7 thoughts for the year", ePublic Relations Ltd, February 2003.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Environmentalists win victory of unprecedented importance and magnitude: PR changed globally and forever", ePublic Relations Ltd, June 2003.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "PR is war: It's a matter of attitude", ePublic Relations Ltd, September 2003.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Two approaches to PR: The activist way and the corporate way (examples from the biotech field)", ePublic Relations Ltd, December 2003.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Global moral war", ePublic Relations Ltd, January 2004. (Originally published as a guest editorial "Environment and Sustainability", 'BioScience News & Advocate', January 26, 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "How to succeed like an activist in 2004: 9 suggestions for corporate PR folks", ePublic Relations Ltd, January 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Activist film aims to destroy the corporation:Capitalism, democracy, health, education and environment threatened", ePublic Relations Ltd, February 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Activists around the world watch Mendocino County: An example of corporate vs activist PR", ePublic Relations Ltd, February 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "'They had the money, we had the people': Passion defeats well financed biotech PR campaign", ePublic Relations, March 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "The next global anti-business, anti-technology battle: Nanotechnology", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Do PR folks take the easy way out? Activists prepare for another confrontation with a global industry", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Australian state governments stomp biotech industry: Traditional PR fails", ePublic Relations Ltd, July 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "How to succeed like an activist", ePublic Relations Ltd, Presentation to CropLife Canada Annual Meeting, Montreal, September 21, 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "Down with NGOs, up with The American Dream: A PR perspective on the re-election of George W. Bush", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 16, 2004.
 * Ross S. Irvine, "How activists do it: Nine PR observations and suggestions from 20+ years of monitoring", ePublic Relations Ltd, November 16, 2004.