The leftist president of Ecuador admits the South American nation is using PR as a weapon targeted at its long-time legal combatant, Chevron, over pollution in its Amazon region.
Ecuador has bankrolled a hefty $6.4M one-year campaign at Brooklyn's MCSquared to counter political and economic forces in the circles of international power that are allegedly fostering "ill will" against it.
MCSquared, in turn, farmed out a $30K monthly pact to DC's FitzGibbon Media that specifically deals with placing ads to "inform the US public of Chevron's responsibilities so the public interest of Ecuador will be furthered."
President Rafael Correa, via a Twitter posting, said: “MCSquared and others were not hired to improve the president’s image but to defend the country from Chevron.”
Dave Samson, Chevron's top PA staffer, told O'Dwyer's via an email, it doesn’t matter how many PR firms go to work for Ecuador's existing government.
"If the government continues to shut down the free press, suppress human rights, undermine the rule of law, and distract attention from its own poor environmental record, it will continue to draw the ire of many in the international community," he wrote.
The best PR firms, according to Samson, "cannot rectify the government’s behavior. After all, as they say in the agency world, you’re only as good as your client."
Liz Allen, undersecretary for public diplomacy and PA at the State Dept., has stepped down from that post to join the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
Anne Buckley will join the University of Maryland as VP-marketing and communications on Sept. 4. She will exit her PR post at University of California San Diego.
Damion Potter, former British diplomat and trade & economic development representative, has joined Burson as global chair of its public affairs operation.
The Better World Campaign has hired FleishmanHillard for strategic communications and PA to strengthen support for the work of the United Nations in the US.
PR leaders signed the Partnership for New York's statement calling for civility in the wake of the assassination attempt of Donald Trump.
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