I came across a Fear Factor episode recently and it was so awful, way worse than I remembered - hard to believe the powers that be saw it and decided to gift him with more fame

Food companies used front groups (Keep America Beautiful) to shift blame for packaging waste from corporations to individuals

Fossil fuel companies and other major carbon emitters have worked hard to make climate change the fault of consumers, not firms

OpenAI seems to be going down the same path

No, but I've been thinking about setting up a website to get the stories of these organizations out there. I also still need to publish my dissertation papers 😅

He should have stewed on his ideas a bit more and used his noodle before saying the quiet part out loud

If you can't beat em, join em 🤷‍♀️

Another great example! I've been wondering if any "AI" related front groups have popped up - it's on my to do list to do a search

😅

I did my dissertation on corporate front groups and their dissinformation campaigns - I've built a database or more than 300 examples - and let me tell you, it's bleak

Most people, even academics, don't know what they are. Hard to defend against something you're unaware of

Food industry giants used front groups (Americans Against Food Taxes) to prevent taxes on sugary beverages like soda - and won in some states, like New York

Michael Moss has a fantastic book on all the manipulations food execs use to sell their products

And the chemical industry kept laws mandating flame retardent use in place for decades using the front group Citizens for Fire Safety and a "scientist for hire" - a Dr who lied in state hearings about children burned in home fires

The Chicago Tribune did a successful expose on this

One of the major reasons our homes are pumped full of carcinogenic flame retardent chemicals is because the tobacco companies successfully blamed furniture makers for causing house fires - not cigarettes

The Guest Choice Network was created by a public affairs firm with tobacco clients. GCN posed as a hospitality trade organization to convince hotels & restaurants to oppose smoking bans to honor their guests' right to choose to smoke

The tobacco industry used corporate front groups to run disinformation campaigns designed to stop smoking bans and keep people smoking longer. Example: the Guest Choice Network (GCN) in the mid 90s

Infuriating that it's still being called a cease-fire, as it's anything but

Next week, the ghost of Henry Kissinger will guest lecture

Did this guy make the poster?