In the interest of honesty, I was not watching Rachel Maddow but rather listening to the podcast of her show which I downloaded from iTunes, but as I listened I discovered Washington lobbyist Rick Berman, of the PR firm Berman and Company, who is apparently involved in a campaign against the group Accorn (and also happens to be the estranged father of singer/songwriter David Berman of The Silver Jews).
According to Rachel Maddow, Mr. Berman has been involved in creating ads championing:
- The health benefits of High-fructose Corn Syrup (http://sweetscam.com/)
- The cholesterol, cancer, and disease fighting properties of Trans-fats (http://www.trans-fatfacts.com/)
- Tanning's cancer-fighting properties (sunlightscam.com... as of now I can't get the page to load)
- Eating more fish containing high-levels of Mercury (advising pregnant women to eat more fish). (http://fishscam.com/)
- Drunk Driving, attacking MADD while claiming drunk driving should be considered an act of freedom.
After some cursory research I've learned Berman has also been involved in ads utilizing disinformation to downplay the dangers of Mad Cow Disease and villify:
- raising Minimum Wage
- the Center for Science in the Public Interest
- the Teacher's Union
- attempts to overhaul Health Care
- PETA (well... a broken clock, I guess)
I suppose what I realized is from now on, if, while I'm arguing with someone or thinking of a funny tangent to offer on one of my blog posts, I reach into my memory and draw out an astonishing fact that I may possibly have learned while watching a commercial, I will make every effort to abstain from disseminating this information... which is to say, if we're ever talking and you have something you want to tell me that you may have heard in a commercial, I'd rather you just shut the fuck up.
