Episodes

  • Herb, Ep 3: The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case

    Herb, Ep 3: The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case
    Aug 1 2023
    In more than 30 climate cases making their way through U.S. courts today, oil companies are using an argument they've been laying the legal groundwork for since the 1970s: that since everything they've ever said about climate change was in the interest of shaping policy or blocking regulation, it's protected speech, even if it was misleading. In this episode we take a look at how those cases are playing out and the likelihood that this new take on "corporate free speech" could make it all the way to the Supreme Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    27 mins
  • Herb, Ep 2: A Legal Strategy

    Herb, Ep 2: A Legal Strategy
    Aug 1 2023
    Worried that all their work creating Mobil's personality and a multi-pronged issue advertising campaign to go with it would go to waste if the TV networks deemed it all "propaganda" Herb and his boss looked to the courts for protection. In this episode we follow the "corporate free speech" movement through the courts, where it got a big assist from tobacco lobbyist-turned-Supreme Court justice Lewis F. Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    31 mins
  • Herb, Ep 1: The Panic

    Herb, Ep 1: The Panic
    Jul 21 2023
    In the 1970s, Mobil Oil had invented the advertorial and was aggressively pursuing an entirely new type of marketing, branding the company as a person with a unique personality and opinions that deserved to be heard. When public backlash threatened to undermine their approach, they launched a campaign that would change the course of U.S. history. Transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    35 mins
  • S1 Ep6 | How a Standard Oil PR Guy Shaped Post-War America

    S1 Ep6 | How a Standard Oil PR Guy Shaped Post-War America
    Dec 7 2021
    In 1944 the greatest threat to American industry wasn't World War II, it was convincing Americans to fall back in love with free-market capitalism after having experienced government systems that actually worked for the greater good. In the season finale of Rigged, we lay out the strategy contained in a never-before-published confidential document from the archive of Earl Newsom, Standard Oil of New Jersey's (today ExxonMobil) top PR guy from the late '30s to the late '60s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • S1 Ep5 | Fun with Front Groups

    S1 Ep5 | Fun with Front Groups
    Nov 30 2021
    Astroturfing—the creation of fake grassroots groups to agitate for pro-business policies—has been a favorite tactic of industries and companies trying to avoid regulation for decades. In this episode we take a look at some of the greatest hits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    28 mins
  • S1 Ep4 | The Birth of SponCon

    S1 Ep4 | The Birth of SponCon
    Nov 16 2021
    The legendary Herb Schmertz, VP of Mobil Oil, worked with PBS and The New York Times to invent sponsored content—sponcon—back in the 1960s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • S1 Ep3 | A Tie Is A Win

    S1 Ep3 | A Tie Is A Win
    Nov 9 2021
    The tactic of science denial is fairly well known these days. In this episode, we dig into a lesser-known aspect: the PR strategy behind science denial, and the origins and architects of that strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • S1 Ep2 | Ye Olde Crisis Actor Myth

    S1 Ep2 | Ye Olde Crisis Actor Myth
    Nov 2 2021
    You could be forgiven for thinking the crisis actor myth was cooked up by Alex Jones to sell people on school shooting conspiracies, but in fact it's more than a century old. In this episode we meet the world's first publicist, the legendary Ivy Ledbetter Lee, and learn about his work crushing mine strikes for the Rockefellers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins