"Public relations. Monty Python called it a modern useless profession. Too bad they were wrong." reads an ad from Fenton Communications.

"PR has become the way crafty corporations and even the leader of the free world convince people that pollution is harmless, war is peace and greed is good. No wonder we at Fenton Communications don't like to be asked at parties what we do for a living," reads the spot running on Air America Radio, the liberal radio network that debuted last week.

The ad notes that FC is "proud that we help our clients make the world a better place." It names clients, such as MoveOn.org, What Would Jesus Drive, Harvard School of Public Health, Air America – which it launched with Dan Klores Communications – and Natural Resources Defense Council.

Listeners are invited to visit Fenton's website. "Just don't call us flacks," concludes the ad.

Lisa Witter, an executive VP, told O'Dwyer's that FC does not like to be called a PR firm. "We're generally described as a public interest communications firm," she said.

BeenThere (4/06):
Sidebar question: Does anyone else find it ironic that 'Air America' was the well-known cover name for a CIA operation in Vietnam? (Even the subject for a Mel Gibson movie)

Apple lover (4/06):
Fenton Communications has more than a few skeletons rattling in its closet. Its staffers are probably too young to remember the infamous Alar scare that was orchestrated by the firm in 1989 that destroyed the lives of many apple farmers.

Rasputin responds to Apple Lover (4/06):
Well, you can't deny that Fenton didn't do a good job – I have never eaten an apple in my life, and I like to think the Alar scare had something to do with it.

And, GOPlease - better than right wing apologists for every crank organization, don't you agree? ;^)

Invictus (4/05):
Yeah, sure, but flacking for single-issue pressure groups is flacking, no matter whether it's called "public interest," "public affairs," or any of the other euphemisms that have sprung up around this often nefarious business.

Q:Would Jesus allow his name to be used by flacks?

Joshua responds to Invictus (4/06):
Ask Paul/Saul about Jesus and his PR efforts.

As for what he would drive, I always envisioned Jesus in a Volkswagen Van - goes well with the long hair and sandals.

GOPlease (4/05):
How about "left wing apologists for every crank organization in America?"

Thinkman2 responds to GOPlease (4/07):
You can't deny the billions that go into right wing promotions of cranks like Limbaugh, Hannity et al, and especially the armies deployed by the Bushies to destroy anyone who might use their first amendment rights to disagree and to criticize?