center for consumer freedom

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after years of smarmy ads in wsj, ny times, us news & world report, and their string of bold editorials last year in favor of childhood obesity, ive become a big fan of the mischievous center for consumer freedom. now im not gonna go into their long boring history (good background here http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom) but essentially its a corporate front run by veteran washington lobbyist rick berman (chamber of commerce '72-74 under nixon, laundered $$ to gingrich in the kennesaw state scandal, opposed the americans with disibilities act on behalf of corporate interests), initially founded in the mid 90s by philip morris as a "smokers rights" p.r. group, and then bulked up to cater to the alcohol and restaurant industries as well. their website is kinda thin on content but theres some editorials, flash games, and vaguely funny cartoons (some original, some licensed from other sources, including the new yorker). berman is also responsible for-

http://www.activistcash.com
http://www.animalscam.com
http://www.cspiscam.com
http://www.neoprohibition.com
http://www.petakillsanimals.com
http://www.physicianscam.com

which are all pretty good in their own ways. see heres the thing, on this laissez faire south park republican tip i think shit can be really funny! heres a statement from cspi director on berman-

"The so-called Center for Consumer Freedom deceives the American people every day of the week by posing as a consumer group, when it's really a front group that does P.R. dirty work for the restaurant and tavern industry," said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "But even I was surprised that Rick Berman and his henchmen would stoop so low as to stop young kids from getting valuable nutrition information. I'm never surprised, though, by the goofy and low-brow tone of his efforts. Berman's a real bottom-feeder."

goofy! low-brow!! a real bottom feeder!! but of course it could be a lot funnier, and more effective. so, i decided i want a job with these dudes, ive always had a lot of interest in p.r. and marketing, and i think i could bring alot to the organization. if any fuckers at CCF are reading this plz get at me i got what yall need

― _, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:02 (eighteen years ago) link

aight first off, dont try and deny the charges from nanny groups like peta and madd- embrace them! well yeah fine SURE we're evil, OF COURSE we're a corporate front group, and so?!! we got nothing to hide!! do an ad campaign with campy lex luthor-type corporate supervilains and regular consumers realizing how goofy and obsolete they are

― _, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:09 (eighteen years ago) link

YAWN

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:10 (eighteen years ago) link

rasheed my man you are straight pussy, i got storyboards for weeks over here. so ok next up- hit the college libertarian circuit. personal freedom is hot this year and we got kids nowadays with bob marley posters dyin to smoke legal chronic but still showing love to eco-fascists and government agencies who tell kids what they cant put in their bodies. run some wink-wink tv spots to make the legalization analogy explicit, maybe some 1984 type shit with a bunch of kids gettin arrested for what looks like a blunt but turns out to be a french fry or a corn dog. fuck it, you cant have commercials for smokes on tv (is this nazi germany?!?!?) but you can do some clever spots based around their absence, scenes from classic films if the anti-tobacco lobbyists had their way (bogart mumbling thru casablanca with a lollipop, clint gnawing a celery stick in fistful of dollars, connery's 007 anxiously chewing on a ballpoint pen). show how boring the world would be if the health nut gestapo had their way. you can do the same for booze and cheeseburgers but really they dont need it, everybody wants booze and cheeseburgers and they still both get tv spots so just leave it alone for now

― _, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:14 (eighteen years ago) link

ok sorry you can tell how bored i am at work but, serious question, how would a "consumer rights" group stand on drug legalization if pressed? i realize theres no reason for them to advocate it because theres no money in it but with all their rhetoric about personal responsibility and self-righteous nanny government id love to ask! abortion, right-to-life & gun control too

― _, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:29 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/images/ads/enlargement/print_cspi_bullies.jpg

― _, Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:34 (eighteen years ago) link

They'd probably say that abortion = bad because those fetuses will grow up to be consumers of cheeseburgers and cigarettes.

These guys are nuts like that, soon they'll be arguing that alcohol has no effect on one's ability to drive (if they haven't already)...

― naus (Robert T), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 04:43 (eighteen years ago) link

tl;dr

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Wednesday, 19 October 2005 05:03 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/20/cheeseburger.bill/

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:19 (eighteen years ago) link

"As one judge put it, if a person knows or should know that eating copious orders of super-sized McDonald's products is unhealthy and could result in weight gain, it is not the place of the law to protect them from their own excesses," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

― jw (ex machina), Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:33 (eighteen years ago) link

"If a person knows or should know that inhaling copious orders of super-strong Columbian blow is unhealthy and could result in septum loss, it is not the place of the law to protect them from their own excesses," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:35 (eighteen years ago) link

I talk to these guys often at work. They are consistently more entertaining conversationalists than the CSPI folks, even if they're fucking crazy and fairly evil (well then again so's CSPI, not so evil on their part).

― as if (teenagequiet), Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:36 (eighteen years ago) link

what work do you do?

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Do they seriously believe their own BS?

― jw (ex machina), Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:40 (eighteen years ago) link

their goofy and low-brow b.s.

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Culture jamming for the National Review set.

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:43 (eighteen years ago) link

to their credit its funnier than adbusters

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:44 (eighteen years ago) link

ts: bush = hitler vs peta = al qaeda

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link

peta = al qaeda at least has the virtue of rhyming.

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:47 (eighteen years ago) link

i'm a reporter on food safety issues

― as if (teenagequiet), Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:48 (eighteen years ago) link

peta does not rhyme with al qaeda!!!!!!!!!!

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:57 (eighteen years ago) link

im tryna figure out if you pronounce peta as pie tah or qaeda as key dah like some folks do

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 18:59 (eighteen years ago) link

how do you know it's not peta as payduh and qaeda as kayduh?? that's what i'd figured.

these guys need to pour some money into springfield, we're facing a public smoking ban. EVEN COMMUNISTS CAN SMOKE! (sign on billboard somewhere b/w champaign, il & buffalo, ny, ca. 1993)

― joe camel, Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:04 (eighteen years ago) link

all the ecoterrorists i know say 'pee tah'

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:08 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.physicianscam.com/images/motto_pcrm.gif

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:09 (eighteen years ago) link

ecoterrorists say 'pee tah,' military brass and DoD yobs say 'al kie-ee-da'

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:16 (eighteen years ago) link

oh yeah kai-ee-dah... kai-dah sounds better

― _, Thursday, 20 October 2005 19:37 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

revive motherfuckers

― and what, Friday, 16 March 2007 02:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Mischievous.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 March 2007 02:38 (seventeen years ago) link

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