Thursday 28 January 2010

The tactics of the European plastics lobby

According to German top blog Basic Thinking, the European plastics lobby has captured a domain name related to an upcoming documentary called Plastic Planet.



The official German website of the film now is http://www.plastic-planet.de, but the European plastics lobby "PlasticsEurope" had already captured http://www.plasticplanet.de on which it presents "a balanced discussion" about plastics in direct reaction to the film.

Isn't it funny to get a balanced discussion from a biased organisation?

This is a perfect example on how European level lobby organisations are not only active in the Brussels bubble trying to influence the minds and draft decisions of parliamentarians and officials, but also on the national level using their power to get into the brains of all of us.

One more reason to watch the film!

5 comments:

Afourms said...

Hi Julien,
Why do you qualify the association as "biased organisation"? As many organisations in Brussels, they are experts in their fields. Often defending/promoting their sectors... but still experts (and identified as such by the insitutions).
Why would the movie be more objective and balanced than the position of plastics europe?

Julien Frisch said...

Well, I didn't say the film wasn't biased, but an organisation defending corporate interests of about 90 plastics producing companies presenting "a balanced" view on a website that is clearly meant to attract people actually looking for the film is not credible.

So instead of a "balanced view" they should say: "We present our view." I'd respect that, because I accept that lobby organisations are there to defend certain views if they are doing it transparently.

But claiming to be balanced when all you are paid for is to sell interest-based information is creating exactly the image many have about corporate lobbyism.

Unknown said...

Ah, but Julien, Werner Boote does not (unless my German betrays me) give any indication of not being biased, so the visitor to his site is left to presume that the film presents a balanced view. The "Partner" tab is not active, so it is difficult to ascertain who has backed this venture.
The only clue is that it is condoned by Bund, which, as we know isn't biased at all... it just happens to earn a living out of getting people worked up about issues enough to pay for promoting their point of view - and claiming that the interest is that of the planet.
To be truly balanced, you might want to point out that NGOs are also "not only active in the Brussels bubble trying to influence the minds and draft decisions of parliamentarians and officials, but also on the national level using their power to get into the brains of all of us."

@paolabrussels said...

Attending a crisis comms event plastics eur has a central role. (see LI). Curious to learn more about their issues (beyond what I have become aware of via research for clients).

Markus K. said...

So,
that webpage is created 'On behalf of the 1.6 million employees of the European plastics industry'.

And the organisation responsible for that site is not biased?