ABSTRACT
When Herbert Schmertz retired in April of 1988 as vice president of Mobil Oil Corporation, the company—and the oil industry—lost its most effective advocate. Over a period of some twenty years, Schmertz’s doctrine of “creative confrontation” had contributed to a much higher level of public relations sophistication on the part of big business in general. Mobil Oil became public television’s first major corporate underwriter in 1970, a year before the Whitehead and Colson memos were written, but at a time when the writing was clearly on the wall. Public interest advertising as well as public television can also serve the needs of corporate political communication. Under pressure in recent years on the issues of alcohol abuse and, especially, drunk driving, the beer industry has undertaken an extensive campaign promoting “responsible” drinking. Another strategy pursued by business is the “massaging” of the news by creating and distributing video news clips. This strategy was anticipated by Mobil and has now become commonplace.
