WARNING!! This web site is now the property of
Burson-Marsteller (read about
it here!). Thanks to the Internet, however, this site will now be
hosted on BMFACTS.COM, a web site about all things with the initials "BM"!
Take a look at these new features in the works...
---> http://www.bmfacts.com/ <--- (coming soon) |
This Web site contains third party information about the public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller. This website is in no way related to Burson-Marsteller or any of its affiliates. While the author makes every effort to ensure that the information on this Web site is accurate, the author makes no guarantees or representations as to the accuracy or reliability of any information provided herein.
This website is owned and maintained by Dexter Smith.
Burson-Marsteller's Crisis Management practice is among the most well known in the world. Following the toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. India that has cumulatively claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people since 1988, BM worked for the company to ensure that its liability would be limited and public opinion would support as little a compensation for the families of the victims as possible. BM's client's have also included Babcock & Wilcox following Three Mile Island.
Burson-Marsteller has a long history of working for governments with documented major human rights abuses. In the late 60s, during the Biafran war, BM countered reports of genocide for the Nigerian Ministry of Information. In the In the early 1970s, BM worked to increase confidence and foreign investement in Romania during the leadership of dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu. BM worked for Argentina during a time when the goverment operated 341 death camps that claimed the lives of 30-35,000 civilians between 1976 and 1983, for the Indonesian government following the massacre of approximately 200,000 citizens (1996), for the Greek military junta in 1968, and most recently for Saudi Arabia directly after the events of September 11.
Burson-Marsteller, working for Philip Morris, famously created the National Smoker's Alliance in 1993. The Alliance, which according to the Center for Media & Democracy "organized tobacco's victims to protect its profits," used high tech and low tech methods to enlist over 3 million smokers and agressively pushed its pro-tobacco social and legislative agenda, then quietly dissolved in 2001.[2] Other groups created by BM include the Foundation for Clean Air Progress, the British Colombia Forest Alliance, Californians for Realistic Vehicle Standards, Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, the Advocacy Communications Team, the Wise Use movement, the Global Climate Coalition, and countless others.
When Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), a genetically engineered hormone designed to increase milk yield in cows, became a hot topic in 1989, Burson-Marsteller worked for Monsanto to silence public debate. BM worked for A. H. Robbins following the Dalkon Shield IUD crisis and subsequent Dalkon Shield Trust claims settlement involving 200,000 women, for Tylenol after incidents of tampering and consumer poisoning, and maintained a long relationship with Dow Corning, manufacturer of silicone breast implants that have leaked or exploded in at least thousands of patient's bodies, among others.
