Behind the Curtain

Trey Smith

A common strategy for corporations suspected of or caught in wrongdoing is immediately to start running ads that depict the corporation as a responsible steward. When Walmart is accused of labor or environmental infractions, the next thing you know they have launched a major ad campaign which touts how much they care about their workers or the environment. BP did the exact same thing after the Gulf Oil disaster. While they actively were trying to shirk as much responsibility as possible, they launched a major ad blitz that told viewers the exact opposite!

It is a bit ironic then, as Alfredo Lopez points out, that Microsoft is currently

running an advertising campaign with the slogan "Your privacy is our priority"

when we have now learned that Microsoft was the first corporation to sign on to the NSA's PRISM program! Yes, Microsoft cares SO MUCH about our privacy that they have turned over virtually every bit of information about users to a secretive government agency!!   With friendly stewards like that, who needs enemies?

Hopefully, this present example will serve as an object lesson for the general public. The next time some big corporation launches a major ad campaign, don't take it at face value. You need to ask yourself an important question: What are they trying to cover up? And the answer to that question shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Whatever perspective or point of view they are trying to sell us on is the opposite of what they are really up to.

If they try to sell us on the idea that they value the democratic process, it means they genuinely are working fervently to undermine it.

If they try to convince us that protecting the environment is their #1 priority, it means they truly are polluting it like there is no tomorrow.

If they look straight into the camera to say they value their workers, it means they really are planning to pare back their meager benefits and/or ship their jobs overseas.

And, when they tell us our privacy is their most important concern, it means they actually are shredding our privacy in every way, shape and form possible.