My New Client is Perverse -"Be Aware"

DS-MAX
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DS-Max ("Direct Sales to the Maximum"), or more precisely D S Max USA Inc [1] and its affiliates, is a direct sales company that originally specialized in selling discount/overstock/damaged merchandise directly to the public, and later expanded to include sales of discount coupons, telecommunications contracts like AT&T, credit card processing services and other sales packages on behalf of more service based industries.
Contents

* 1 Company beginnings
* 2 Division of DS-MAX, 2003
* 3 Offices and Distributors
* 4 Affiliated companies
* 5 Complaints about DS-Max companies
* 6 External Links

Company beginnings

Started in Toronto, Ontario ,Canada in the late 1970's by Murray Reinhardt who began selling goods directly to the public, it later expanded to become an extremely large organization, with thousands of affiliated offices and a presence in numerous countries. Murray Reinhardt recruited fellow Canadians Larry Tenebaum and Avie Roth to join the organization at the very genesis of what would become DS-Max worldwide. These three men are known as "The Big Three" in DS-Max folklore. Today, Larry Tenebaum is the most powerful man in the DS-Max network. He oversees all operations over every division. Mr. Tenebaum is also the CEO of ThreeSixty Sourcing which sources Asian based product suppliers. Avie Roth oversees all of Cydcor. Murray Reinhardt is retired from the business but does occasionally show up at DS-Max conventions to deliver high spirited motivational speeches.

As of October 2006, with provisions to allow corporate letterhead, signage, corporate name to change, etc., the Innovage Parties being Innovage Inc.(U.S.A.), DS-MAX Canada Inc., and DS-MAX International Inc. shall and do transfer to Nu-Life Inc., of Toronto, Ontario Canada, all of their rights, title and interests anywhere in the world in any trade mark, trade name, corporate name or domain name which includes the term DS-MAX.

Division of DS-MAX, 2003

In 2003 DS-Max divided into three main braches. The products division (Clearance) became Innovage.The advertising division became Granton Marketing, which has just recently been renamed Smart Circle International. The communication division became Cydcor. These three divisions are still under the DS-Max / Innovage umbrella but this connection is not promoted and even avoided if possible when discussing the structure of the business with new distributors.

Offices and Distributors

DS-Max claims to have more than 15,000 offices around the world and more than 2.2 million independent distributors. The company also boasts a presence in more than 40 countries and a net worth of 75 Billion US Dollars. However, because the company is privately held and represents a loose confederation of independent offices there is no reliable way to verify these estimates.

The name DS-Max is often used to refer to the whole distribution system that includes DS-Max USA Inc., its affiliated suppliers and independent offices. Each affiliated sales office is an independent and incorporated business. This legal separation between the DS-Max supplying organizations and each individual office insulates DS-Max from any legal or financial liability should something happen within an individual office. Because all sales offices are independently owned and operated each individual distributor and manager/owner reaps the rewards of and is both financially and legally responsible for his own business. The majority of all distributors work as independent contractors and thus are not paid a salary, receive no health benefits and are responsible for paying their own taxes.

The DS-Max system runs similarly to network marketing businesses but with several key differences:

1) Sales representatives (distributors) generally work full-time (often six days, 60 hours or more a week), relying on their sales for their primary source of income, rather than a slow transition from part-time to full-time.

2) The individual owner assumes the cost and advertises for new distributors and finds a mentor for them, rather than the distributor absorbing the cost of recruiting.

3) Distributors receive the products on consignment rather than paying for them up front and there is no fee for becoming a distributor.

The business only grows when new distributors are added. While DS-Max as a whole has grown quite large through the years the vast majority of distributors and managers have not achieved the high level of success that was promoted to them during the initial recruitment process. In the 20 plus years of operation the DS-Max business model has generated some tremendous success for a small group of Vice-Presidents, or as they are referred to now, National Consultants, but the question of how many have found success in DS-Max compared to the number who have attempted to achieve success can only be answered by analyzing accurate and detailed records of these organizations and their affiliates. This type of public financial disclosure is almost impossible to obtain because each individual office is privately owned and thus they are not required to disclose this information.

All participants begin as canvassing salespeople (door to door, both residential and commercial) and must work to build their organizations by adding more sales people to achieve higher sales goals.

Affiliated companies

Affiliated companies include Grupo B&F, IPG Imports,The Cobra Group and Happy Valet Dry cleaners among others. Innovage and Smart Circle International are participating members in the Direct Selling Association and as such are bound by the organization's code of ethics. However, the fact that each sales office is an independent incorporation and is only legally bound to the parent company through distribution contracts, makes the implementation of these strict guidelines on ethical conduct difficult to enforce.

Complaints about DS-Max companies

One of the most common complaints about DS-Max affiliated companies is in their recruiting and advertising practices. Often the position is advertised as an "entry level management position", and claims to operate in any number of glamorous, competitive, high profile, industries ranging from pro sports and entertainment to 4 star restaurants and world travel, when in reality the position is that of a door-to-door salesperson who peddles pizza coupons, discount baseball tickets, 5 dollar umbrellas, designer knock-off hand bags, and travel alarm clocks, none of which the applicant will actually discover until they are out "in the field" with a distributor on their "second interview."

A common interviewing formula used by the independent sales offices consists of:

1. A very short first round interview conducted in the office of the manager. Typically in this interview the manager will briefly outline the structure of the business to the potential new distributor. A typical DS-Max manager will interview anywhere from 10 to 30 people a day so this first interview is usually short on detail and any prolonged question and answer sessions are avoided if possible.

2. A full day "second interview" in the sales field where the potential distributor shadows a current distributor while they attempt to sell their products or services door-to-door. This full day interview is an attempt to show the potential distributor how a typical day in the field works. This full day interview, like the first interview is purposefully vague on details and most questions are not answered fully or more difficult questions get passed on to the manager/owner to handle during the final interview. This is known within DS-MAX circles as the "Day of Observation" or the "Day of O".

3. A "final interview" takes place in the manager's office when the potential distributor returns after a full day in the field. If the applicant has any problems or objections, the manager may attempt to overturn them. If the potential distributor needs some clarification in order to understand the "big picture" of this business opportunity the manager will attempt to explain the business beyond just selling products door-to-door. The goal of every manager is to encourage the interviewee to start full time the very next day.

"Defend the Press" -Support Reporter Sarah Olson, Subpoenaed in Court Martial of Ehren Watada

By John Stauber
Created 01/24/2007 - 07:40

Contact: www.DefendThePress.org [1]
Scott Goodstein, Defend The Press, (202) 256-8320
Sarah Olson, Free Press Working Group, (415) 298-5573
John Stauber, Center for Media and Democracy [2], (608) 260-9713
Email: Editor AT PRWatch.org

(Madison, WI) The Center for Media and Democracy [3] announces the launch of Defend The Press [4], a new coalition of journalists, public interest groups, academics and citizen activists. Defend The Press is asking the US Army to drop its subpoena of Sarah Olson [5], an independent print and radio journalist based in Oakland, California, in the court martial of Iraq war resister Lieutenant Ehren Watada [6]. Olson interviewed Watada in May 2006, and in June he announced he would not go to war in Iraq [7], challenging its legality. Watada's Army court martial begins February 5, 2007, at Fort Lewis, Washington.

Sarah Olson has been served with a subpoena from the President of the United States requiring her to be a prosecution witness against Lieutenant Watada. The subpoena states "failure to appear may result in your being taken into custody and brought before the court martial." Olson risks felony charges, jail and a fine if she fails to cooperate.

Sarah Olson recently wrote in an editorial column, "I stand firmly by a conviction I share with many: a member of the press should never be placed in the position of aiding a government prosecution of political speech. This goes against the grain of even the most basic understanding of the First Amendment’s free press guarantees and the expectation of a democracy that relies on a free flow of information and perspectives without fear of censure or retribution."

Defend The Press believes journalists should not be forced to participate in government prosecutions — especially prosecutions seeking to criminalize political speech. Defend The Press supports Sarah Olson and journalists like her; independent journalists especially need stronger protection of their rights in the age of the Internet.

Among the dozens of noted journalists and authors participating in Defend The Press are Noam Chomsky, Phil Donahue, Daniel Ellsberg, Barbara Ehrenreich, Diane Farsetta, Laura Flanders, Robert McChesney, Greg Palast, Sheldon Rampton and Howard Zinn.

Defend The Press was founded by the non-profit Center for Media and Democracy [8] of Madison, Wisconsin, and by Free Press Working Group [9] of Oakland, California, in the belief that the press cannot function if it is used by the government to prosecute political speech. Turning reporters into the investigative arm of the government subverts press freedoms, and chills dissenting speech in the United States.

Source URL:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5668

Links:
[1] http://www.DefendThePress.org
[2] http://www.prwatch.org
[3] http://www.prwatch.org
[4] http://www.defendthepress.org
[5] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sarah_Olson
[6] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ehren_Watada
[7] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=war_in_Iraq
[8] http://www.prwatch.org
[9] http://www.freepresswg.org

"Please; I Beg You -Wake Up!"

PR Day 7

A Fight Against Evil

Neo-conservatists are planning our lives. They are deciding the faith of the world and everything around us. Their philosophy is based on greed and thirst for power. They do not respect anyone or anything. And I watch my closest friends and foes ignoring these facts as if everything was just OK. And I ask myself, what kind of life will my own son and the others' descendants will live if we don't act now? Chomsky used to say that the fact that we are aware of the world around us imposes a big responsibility over our shoulders. It is not sufficient to take care of our own personal concerns. If we become aware of the atrocities happening as an indirect consequence of our actions, we are responsible for those effects as well. It is our fault that all these American organizations are destroying the planet. The evil is within and in the mirror as much as it is on their own hands. So, I beg you today to take matters on your own hands. A revolution can happen without weapons, without blood. Please, spread this information and help the revolution to begin today.

Thanks to my friend Matt that today posted a new video on his profile (Watch Here! ). A new warrior was born.

“China; Oops, My Bad - Walmart Is Taking Over”

PR Day 6 – Walmart ‘s PR Good Guys Campaign

Small businesses around America are dropping like flies at a pace of 3 billion dollars in retail wages every year. Another Walmart here, another Walmart there. Another new ghost town here, another new ghost town there. That’s the trend building up in small towns all over the country. Why? Cheap Chinese products! According to the AFL-CIO, "Wal-Mart is the single largest importer of foreign-produced goods in the United States", their biggest trading partner is China, and their trade with China alone constitutes approximately 10 percent of the total US trade deficit with China as of 2004. As of 2004, 60% of products sold at Wal-Mart were imported into the United States from other countries. But how? Communism is the evil, right? Conservatists have been trying to liberate us from these bad guys for generations or at least make us believe those are their intentions. WRONG! Communism, or should I say? The watered-down version of it, namely social capitalism (such as the type of societies run in countries like China and Cuba. Lets not confound it with pure Marx-Engels communism, because that does not exist just yet) is feeding Americans with cheap items that promote laziness and conformity in the American population. Why would I go to school and strive for a better job, if I can get a cheap Chinese product for a dollar at Walmart? The answer is a very politically involved system built by the American government, namely the neo-conservatists. China has the perfect social environment to abuse his population and to create cheap products that the capitalist countries die to get their hands on. And so Walmart has become the perfect feeding tube of social capitalist’s items into this country. What does that mean for the American population? An increasingly poor living situation.

Walmart has been known in the last decade as a company that every single year breaks its own records on sales and profits (For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2006, Wal-Mart reported net income of $11.2 billion on $316 billion of sales revenue (3.5% profit margin). As of January 04, 2007, revenue was $33.3 billion higher than it was one year ago); however, at the same time, they have been known as a company that pays its employees extremely low wages and expensive health care benefits that six out of ten employees cannot pay for. Wal-Mart's health insurance covers 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1.3 million U.S. workers and spends 27% less than the retail-industry average on these benfits. Thus, these uninsured employees look for welfare and Medicaid benefits from the government. Who pays for that? Every hard-working American that pays taxes to the IRS. So, how is it possible that a company that every year grows at a tremendous pace cannot share its profits with its employees, namely the persons that actually do the job involved in order to make those same profits? Let’s give a thunderous round of applause to the Capitalist system and the neo-conservatists presently running it!

Wal-Mart has been criticized for their policies against labor unions. In North America, the company has largely thwarted unionization through anti-union tactics such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize.

In August 2006, the company announced that it would roll out an average pay increase of 6% for all new hires at 1,200 U.S. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations, and at the same time would institute pay caps on veteran workers. While Wal-Mart claims the measures are necessary to stay competitive, critics claim the salary caps are primarily an effort to push higher-paid, veteran workers out of the company.

Today, I present this video in order to help you understand these and other points from the perspective of these employees and the small-business owners that are losing their war against Walmart, the world's largest retailer and second largest corporation (behind Exxon Mobil). Walmart has tried to hide this and other truths for quite some time now and presently are running an enormous public relations campaign in order to convince the American population that they are the good guys. Have you seen those commercial on TV about Walmart that say NOTHING about the products and services they sell at their stores? That’s PR at its best.

Walmart - High Cost of Low Prices

A facts summary video.



For the entire video, please follow this link

"NBC Owned by GE & the FCC's Weak Policies"

PR Day 5

Howard Stern is best known for his efforts to confront the FCC's (The Federal Communications Commission, the commission which regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable) policies on censorship. Hearing Mr. Stern complaining for years and years about the fact that the FCC would not permit him to freely speak about asses and tits, you might think that the FCC is a very strict organization that does not chicken out when confronted against public figures and other organizations. HOWEVER, think again. The FCC has a powerful grip on how communications of every kind are distributed around the country, but it seems that for the right price or the right organization the FCC does not care about the fact that fair distribution of information is essential for a democratic system to function correctly.

Today I present a small video that shows that “when the FCC relaxed their policy on character qualifications in 1985, General Electric immediately bought NBC. What has been the legacy of this seemingly unholy alliance? Danny Schechter (MediaChannel), Jim Ledbetter (Village Voice), Janine Jackson (FAIR and former NBC President) Larry Grossman, explain”.

For those of you ignorant of the reach that GE has in the way America has been shaped in the last century, let me inform you that GE has been participant of the most complex strategic plan to shape the US into one of the most controlled countries in the planet. Talk about fascism and tyranny! GE has faced considerable controversy and legal battles relating to its business operations. This has included numerous legal proceedings relating to environmental pollution.

In 1983, New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams filed suit in Federal District Court to compel GE to pay for the clean-up of what was claimed to be more than 100,000 tons of chemicals dumped from their plant in Waterford.

In 1999, the company agreed to pay $250 million to the United States, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to resolve claims it polluted the Housatonic River with PCBs and other hazardous substances.
GE has also faced criminal action regarding its defense-related operations. GE was convicted in 1990 of defrauding the U.S. Department of Defense, and again in 1992 on charges of corrupt practices in the sale of weaponry to Israel.

A summary…GE controls NBC and GE is a terrible corporation that makes weapons of mass destruction and then sell these weapons to other countries, that explodes people on third world countries, including children, that pollutes the world, that creates illusory necessities in the world population in order to sell its products, that influences federal and global policies regarding pretty much everything that we see around us, but you will never hear about it in the media, because they own it as well. Do you get the point? Media consolidation and control by multinationals corporations is a cancer to democratic life.

Think about it!

"Fox News Disgusting Journalistic Tools"

Myspace is Completely Owned by Fox

PR Day 4

Today's Topic "Rupert Murdoch"

Just to correct my friend Kevin's last bulletin, Myspace is not "partially" owned by Fox. Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Media, the company that owns Fox as well, owns Myspace since 2005. On July 20, 2005, News Corp. bought Intermix Media Inc., which held MySpace.com and other popular social networking-themed websites for $580 million USD. Mr. Murdoch is one of the most powerful individuals in the planet, along with the Bush Family and other members of the CFR. He controls 3/4 of the entire planet's media outlets. He is the one person that can tell you via television, newspapers, music, books, radio, movies, etc. what is going on in the world around you and influences how do you learn about it. He is the real "great teacher" of the modern world.

He is also one of the most twisted individuals around. His power in politics, economics and military influence around the globe its immense. His company has helped US politicians to create federal and global policies, to start and end wars, to place entire governments in third world countries, to help US corporations to be able to get away with terrible atrocities around the planet, such as Coke’s killings in Colombia just in the last year, or Hershey’s factories in Africa, in which more than 200,000 children as young as mine (5 years old) work 16 straight hours a day for pennies, so we can eat our tasty chocolate bars for cheap over here. Mr. Murdoch is the real enemy against a democratic life. And yes incidentally he also controls this social network as well. He is the one that decides what to do with the information that you give away here. Don’t you ever wander what do Myspace does with your e-mail account, name, and demographic and psychographic information? Myspace sells this information to companies in order to maximize its profits and of course to develop marketing and public relations campaigns that allowed these companies to develop their businesses as well. Some of the new trends going on the business world is to look up your e-mail account in Myspace in order to make a decision in the hiring process. This of course is a form of discrimination, but these big companies are the ones that actually make up the law thanks to their political, economical and social influence as well, so what’s the difference. So while some of us are ignorantly posting information left and right here, Myspace owners are using this information for undesirable purposes.

Today, I will post a video that gives you a very good understanding of how powerful Mr. Murdoch is and how strong his influence in the world around you, including your decision making process is as well.

"Fair and Balanced News", my ass!

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

“Oil Addiction Does not Equal Weapons of Mass Destruction"

As promised, today I will present a video that shows interviews with intelligence agencies’ representatives and media leaders, reports and other evidence that shows how the war in Iraq had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks in New York and how although Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, that does not justify the 35,000 civilians (that’s the number reported by the mass media outlets; however, alternative media outlets have estimated the number closer to 75,000) that have been killed in Iraq so far just so Americans can keep feeding their addiction for oil.

As I mentioned in my last bulletin, Rendon Group, a PR firm with government connections was hired for a $7 million contract, in order to convince the American population that there had been a link between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. From fake videos, reports copied from a college student’s assignment, false mass media news, intelligence agencies’ censorships, false presentations by the Secretary of Defense to the UN and other PR tools the US government convinced its population that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that constituted a threat to the US. False, oh so false.

You see, the area around Iraq, namely Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Israel are hot oil spots. Top global countries including Russia, France, England and of course the US have tried desperately to control the area, since the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to take control over oil prices, against the US and other first world countries’ desires. The first war against Iraq was a loss for George Bush senior. He tried and tried to take over Iraq for any reason whatsoever after Iran was liberated, but he failed. The 9-11 attacks were the perfect opportunity for his son to conquer his father’s dream. That’s why some people believe that the 9-11 attacks were actually orchestrated by the US government itself; although, as a matter of fact, the evidence points to other criminal organizations. Not a lot of people know that below the two towers there were more than 1,000 million dollars and that only 200 million were recovered after the attack. So the main reason for the attacks were not a fundamentalist hatred episode against the US, but one of the biggest robberies of all time. In case you have not heard either, Osama Bin Laden was treated at a military hospital controlled by the US government weeks before the attacks. In addition, the Bin Laden family were the only individuals allowed to fly out of the country the day of the attacks after the US government had decided to prohibit any, and I repeat ANY fly to take off in US grounds. Why? Because the Bin Ladens have had “legal” connections with the Bush family for decades. I mean Osama was trained by the CIA when Bush’s father was the director as well, so all was kept within the family.

Rendon Group was also contracted later on to help the US government in their campaign to erase Afghanistan from the American’s word of mouth. Does any media outlet talks about it anymore? Do you discuss or ask yourself what happened after the US attacks in Afghanistan? If your answer is no, then you are part of the Rendon Group’s successful PR campaign. Many intelligence agencies in the US claimed that a war against Iraq at the moment that we were fighting against Afghanistan was a mistake. Split your army in two and you will become twice as weak, it is not rocket science, but that did not matter either, since the US government had already made up its mind. So keep on watching your American Idol, Top Next Model, Fox News or your football games and worrying about how are you going to buy beer tomorrow, that’s one more point in favor to the people in control of your life, so who cares, right?

Today I present this video, so you guys can get an idea on how a war, the concept of terrorism in US soil and the changes in dozens and dozens of federal policies including new national security policies against immigrants and also US citizens had been modified thanks to the power of public relations. I don’t know if you are aware, but a couple of months ago the Bush administration signed a new bill that permits the government to take ANYONE into custody without giving the person any rights whatsoever. Forget about the line “let me talk to my lawyer first”. In US soil that’s a thing of the past. Also, any, ANY communication that you have with others can and most likely is monitored by the government and you can’t do anything about it thanks to the new policies implemented after the war, so be careful about what you say over the phone, via text messages, mail or e-mail. This is not a conspiracy theory any longer, it is a fact.

Please follow this link in order to watch this video

Note: you need to update your Real Player and the video seem to only work using the Internet Explorer browser.

"Disney & War Propaganda"

Public Relations Day 2

Today, I will present a film made by one organization that usually would not make you think that are involved in anything else but making children's dreams come true, namely Walt Disney. Well think twice. Walt Disney is one the five biggest media owners in the US. It's power in politics, federal and global policy development and specially news consolidation and control has been felt behind the curtains for more than 80 years now. Yes, yes Mickey Mouse is the devil as some jokingly seem to express.

For those of you that are not familiar with war propaganda, let me briefly explain the term. War propaganda is the use of public relations in order to gain power on policies that influence war development. For instance, few Americans know that there has not been one single report from any of the 20+ intelligence agencies in the US and UK about any connection between the terrorist attacks in New York and the war in Iraq. However, Rendon Group, a PR firm with high government connections due to past and present projects with several federal agencies in the US, was contracted by the Pentagon to create in the American population the illusion that there was one, in order to gain acceptance by the public to go to war against Iraq. I will present irrefutable evidence about this in the next days, so keep on reading.

A second example take us back to the fifties when the American government contracted Edward Bernays, the founder of public relations, in order to create a PR campaign that would create the illusion that the Guatemalan government, specifically his president, had connections with the communist party. After many PR stunts, including fake riots by the Guatemalan population and the deliberate placement of communist material in the presidential house, the US government gained acceptance by the American population to send the CIA to stop the communist threat. The CIA managed to killed 150,000 civilians. Yes, civilians! Unarmed people like you and me minding their own business, in order to create a new government that would follow the American way. You see the Guatemalan president had promised his followers to throw the American companies that owned 99% of the banana industry in Guatemala out of the country and give the lands back to the people. However, of course that did not go well with the US government, since Americans love their bananas and they want them cheap. Mmm, mmm, mmm, bananas!

The present video is an example of how the use of PR develops in the population the branding of a concept which later on its very, very difficult to challenge, since it becomes part of the common cultural paradigm. In this case, the US government hired Walt Disney in order to teach our grandparents how bad the nazis were. Funny thing about this video is that its main purpose is to teach you how the nazis would control their population from childhood in order to develop more controllable soldiers later on. The satirical part of course is that that’s exactly what this video is doing. It is trying and it was very successful on its own time and up to now to convince the American child on how bad the nazi’s ideology was and still is. I DO NOT condone any of the nazi’s past and present actions of any kind, in case that some of you guys started to think that I am a Hitler’s ass kisser. However, this video let me explain you how war propaganda works and how twisted it is.

Enjoy the show!

Please Read the Following - PR Day 1

As some of you know, in the last year I have become a student of the Public Relations world. Most persons have not even heard of it or have a very obscure sense of this profession; however, let me assure you after 12 months of hard work I have discovered that your life is run by an elite of PR executives that have molded the way you behave, think and act upon for the last hundred years or so. They are the true government not only of the US, but of the entire planet. Organizations, such as the CFR (Council of Foreign Relations), are the real threat to a democratic life, not terrorists living in a cave thousands of miles away from you.

Indefinitely from now on, I will post every day a bulletin describing via video, sound or written form one finding on my long research about public relations and its impact on the world. I would like to start spreading my knowledge on this matter with you my close friends, because I consider you some of the most capable persons I know and this information is vital for any individual that considers her/himself a true citizen of the world.

DAY 1

I will start by describing that within the business world there are many areas including finances, production, informatics and our main topic in this case "marketing". We all have an idea of what marketing is. We have all see it all around us in commercials, radio advertisings, magazines ads, etc. We all think many things about continually. From the ones that hate it, because they think that corporations are evil and they control the things we buy, to the ones that actually love to watch a well created commercial portraying an artist or public figure doing acrobatics of any kind. Within the marketing paradigm there is a rather hidden category called "Public Relations". I will let wikipedia.org define the term for us.

Copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations

Definition

One of the earliest definitions of PR was coined by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. "

According to two American PR professionals Scott M. Cutlips and Allen H. Center, "PR is a planned effort to influence opinion through good character and responsible performance based upon mutual satisfactory two-way communication".

Public relations is the art and science of managing communication between an organization and its key public constituents to build, manage, and sustain its positive image.

Public relations is the process of aligning the perceptions of targeted audiences (or publics) with the current realities and reasonable prospects of another entity.

Public relations is about building public relationships.

Public relations involves:

1. Evaluation of public attitudes and opinions.
2. Formulation and implementation of an organization's procedures and policy regarding communication with its publics.
3. Coordination of communications programs.
4. Developing rapport and good-will through a two way communication process.
5. Fostering a positive relationship between an organization and its public constituents.

Examples include:

* Corporations use marketing public relations (MPR) to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short and long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market.

* Corporations also use public-relations as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians, seeking favorable tax, regulatory, and other treatment, and they may use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programs.

* Non-profit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies, use public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services.

* Politicians use public relations to attract votes and raise money, and, when successful at the ballot box, to promote and defend their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at career’s end, to their legacy.

PR has had many definitions over the years and since its early boom days of the 1980s has almost entirely redefined itself. This is probably because most clients these days are far too media-savvy to think that fluffy ideas and champagne parties constitute a good media service (of course this is a good thing, but we do still like a good champagne party).

PR these days is often misunderstood, and it’s probably the fault of the PR industry itself that most people aren’t sure where PR is supposed to stop and marketing, advertising, branding and all the other media services begin.

Put very simply, good PR encourages the media (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio) to say good things about your product/service or whatever it is that you want to promote so that more people buy your product/use your services/think you’re great.

Of course, most PR companies have a team that will come from a mixture of media backgrounds and may be able to offer all sorts of PR-related services such as branding, marketing, copywriting and advertising. That can make defining pure PR all the more confusing for the client.

End of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations definition.

I will leave you today with a video that might make you laugh, but that after a while, if you decide to follow my bulletins will most likely make you very very angry.

Thank you,

Guillermo Zuniga
Marketing & PR Executive