Bad PR is complicated. As P.T. Barnum possibly said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” But that’s clearly false. Sometimes the impact of bad PR is real. A canonical example is how Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring spurred a DDT ban in the United States and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1962, when the book was published, DDT was widely used in the US, though
You present such interesting topics in an unexpected way! I look forward to your posts.
After World War II, when the time arrived to promote certification of chemical use in our lives, the US established very good testing controls for NEW products. The large chemical companies exerted, probably through lobbying, a carve-out for all of the existing products in the marketplace to be "grandfathered" in. This, in some ways, was the power of the established chemical makers exerting their near monopoly power like you describe in the post about lobbying! We've known forever that there is no better way to kill living tissue than to use chlorine. Despite what a former President might have surmised, chlorine inside our bodies (like a little bleach for a cleaning) is universally a bad idea. Insecticides and pesticides are always based on heavily chlorinated stuff.
In case of smoking I wonder if the fact that it is addictive and you just can’t quit despite the bad PR is a factor. I think a lot of smokers feel bad deep down that they are slowly killing themselves, but they simply can’t quit. I have seen ads on TV that make you feel awful.
I would love for you to explore the topic of green energy and and how big oil is managing the PR game while also lobbying intensely to keep the oil flowing.
Bad PR Can Spark Change - But Not Always
You present such interesting topics in an unexpected way! I look forward to your posts.
After World War II, when the time arrived to promote certification of chemical use in our lives, the US established very good testing controls for NEW products. The large chemical companies exerted, probably through lobbying, a carve-out for all of the existing products in the marketplace to be "grandfathered" in. This, in some ways, was the power of the established chemical makers exerting their near monopoly power like you describe in the post about lobbying! We've known forever that there is no better way to kill living tissue than to use chlorine. Despite what a former President might have surmised, chlorine inside our bodies (like a little bleach for a cleaning) is universally a bad idea. Insecticides and pesticides are always based on heavily chlorinated stuff.
Another insightful post!
In case of smoking I wonder if the fact that it is addictive and you just can’t quit despite the bad PR is a factor. I think a lot of smokers feel bad deep down that they are slowly killing themselves, but they simply can’t quit. I have seen ads on TV that make you feel awful.
I would love for you to explore the topic of green energy and and how big oil is managing the PR game while also lobbying intensely to keep the oil flowing.
Keep up the good work. I love your stuff.