Episode Two: How Front Groups Mislead

07/13/21 • 43 min

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Flacks to the Front explores how public relations front groups were used in tobacco and how they're showing up today to fuel the climate denial machine. Jennifer Cloer interviews her co-host Amanda McPherson about unwittingly being part of a front group early in her career, and we wrap with an interview with Clean Creatives' Duncan Meisel who says exposing these groups and the agencies that support them can help drive creative talent in new directions.

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Episode One Public Relations Origins: to Inform or Control?

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Amanda and Jennifer dive into their pasts in PR and marketing, including time in a well known front group from the tobacco industry. They then examine the origins of PR itself. Edward Bernays was the godfather of public relations. He was also the nephew of Sigmund Freud. They chart how his tactics based on the teachings of his uncle are used to influence and manipulate us today. Amanda then speaks to noted media critic Eric Alterman on the state of our information ecosystem and how misinformation impacts us all.

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Episode Three: Dangerous PR Stunts

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In Episode Three "Dangerous Stunts," we dive into the world of PR stunts that manufacture attention through spectacle—or worse. Public Relations stunts run the gamut from the harmless to the very harmful. In today’s world of image and social media, stunts are even more of an important tactic. We look back at Ivy Lee and the Rockefellers to see how Public Relations stunts began, and then talk with Dylan Bank, director of the fascinating documentary Get Me Roger Stone on how Roger uses stunts for political gain.