Co-opting Sustainability or
How Corporations and the Public Relations Industry Make Big Pharma Look Good

Irena Knezevic

It is no secret that big pharmaceutical companies have greatly profited from products that promote large-scale single-crop farming. While organic farming is to a great extent threatened by a specific group of pharma product – genetically modified foods – the value of pharma shares is also boosted by sales of myriad of pesticides, artificial fertilizers, etc. However, this threat is more than just physical. Economic competition with these corporate giants has been virtually impossible, partly due to the amount of funds spent by corporations on portraying their products as sustainable, nutritious, and bountiful.

This paper deals with corporate spending on public relations (PR), which in addition to media releases and overt advertising, involves other activities such as fake front groups and “educational” funding. PR firms are some of the most profitable business ventures in North America, and though the industry is supposed to abide by a set of ethical standards, ethics are often far removed from PR practice. In reality, PR industry has been very much complicit in facilitating the financial success of big pharma by delivering a misleading corporate image. Funding of phony grassroots and consumer groups, staging fake protests, and manipulating media with advertising revenue are some of the strategies used. On the other hand, “generous” donations to universities and research centers have significantly influenced the kind of research that is being done.

This paper contrasts the resulting corporate image with actual implications of pharma food production to human and environmental health, consumer rights, academic freedom, and the survival of non-industrial food production in the increasingly deceivingly termed “free market”. Anecdotal evidence is discussed to illustrate some of these problems.

Full Paper

Source
Presented at the Social Research in Organic Agriculture Symposium. Guelph, Ontario. January 2006


Author Location and Affiliation
York University,iknez@yorku.ca


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