How to Not be Manipulated: A Clever, Crafty PR Exec Reveals Tricks of His Trade (#239)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "How to Not be Manipulated: A Clever, Crafty PR Exec Reveals Tricks of His Trade" (#239)

Host: Lynn Thoman
Guest: Phil Elwood
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Podcast: 3 Takeaways

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Introduction

In episode #239 of 3 Takeaways, host Lynn Thoman engages in a revealing conversation with Phil Elwood, a seasoned public relations executive with nearly two decades of experience in Washington's PR landscape. Elwood, who has worked for high-profile clients including Libya's Gaddafi, Syria's Assad, and various blue-chip companies, delves into the intricate world of public relations manipulation. He shares insights from his new book, All the Worst: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians, offering listeners a candid look into the strategies and ethical dilemmas faced by PR professionals.

Key Campaigns Discussed

1. The 2022 World Cup Bid Manipulation

Phil Elwood recounts his involvement in thwarting Los Angeles's bid to host the 2022 Soccer World Cup, ultimately leading to Qatar winning the hosting rights.

• Strategy: Instead of promoting Qatar's bid, Elwood's role was to undermine the United States' bid negatively. He introduced a fabricated resolution into the U.S. Congress that linked support for the World Cup to the funding of physical education programs, leveraging the national concern over childhood obesity.

• Implementation: "I wrote a resolution that said the United States government would not support bids for any International Games... until we fully funded physical education programs in public schools" (Phil Elwood, 02:32).

• Outcome: The leaked resolution, highlighted in a Politic article titled "World Cup versus Gym Class," showcased internal dissent within the U.S., weakening its bid and facilitating Qatar's successful application. Elwood reflects with regret on the human rights issues that emerged in Qatar, notably the treatment of laborers under the Kafala system.

2. Securing the Release of a Turkish Barber from Saudi Arabia

Elwood describes a campaign to free Sabri Bog Day, a Turkish barber wrongfully accused of blasphemy in Saudi Arabia.

• Strategy: Utilizing media pressure to shame Saudi authorities into releasing Bog Day. Elwood orchestrated media coverage by pitching the story to prominent publications like The Huffington Post, highlighting the injustice and hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia hosting a conference on religious tolerance.

• Execution: "I emailed several reporters and said, look, I think you need to cover this case of this Turkish barber" (Phil Elwood, 06:27).

• Outcome: The sustained media attention led to Bog Day's pardon and safe passage to Istanbul, demonstrating the power of strategic media manipulation for humanitarian purposes.

3. The Tuna Foundation's Mercury Contamination Campaign

In a more controversial example, Elwood discusses his involvement with the U.S. Tuna Foundation's effort to counteract FDA reports warning pregnant women about mercury in tuna.

• Strategy: Launching an astroturf campaign to promote tuna consumption by undermining the FDA's findings. This involved funding disguised organizations and academics to disseminate misleading information about mercury's effects.

• Implementation: "We push the agenda that they should eat more tuna... it was entirely regrettable" (Phil Elwood, 09:17).

• Outcome: The New York Times exposed the campaign, leading to public embarrassment and Elwood's departure from the PR firm. This incident underscores the ethical pitfalls of manipulating scientific information for corporate interests.

PR Strategies Revealed

Phil Elwood provides an insider's perspective on various PR tactics used to shape public perception and control narratives:

1. Don’t Be a Hero. Always Find a Better Villain:

   • Concept: Every news story contains a villain, a victim, and a vindicator. Instead of positioning the client as the hero, find a more compelling villain to shift focus away from the client.

   • Example: In the event of an oil spill caused by a malfunctioning part, Elwood suggests blaming the larger oil company rather than the specific component, redirecting the media's attention to a "bigger bad guy."

2. Paying People to Say Nice Things:

   • Description: Hiring individuals, including former government officials, to publicly support or defend the client through op-eds or public statements.

   • Elwood’s Stance: Although effective, Elwood acknowledges the unethical nature of this practice and has ceased engaging in it.

3. Astroturf Strategy:

   • Definition: Creating fake grassroots organizations that appear to have genuine public support but are funded and controlled by corporate interests.

   • Prevalence: Elwood emphasizes how widespread and unregulated this tactic is, describing it as "very devious."

4. Detonate the Bomb in a Safe Location:

   • Strategy: If anticipating negative coverage from major publications, preemptively leak the information to lesser-known outlets to dilute the impact or cause major outlets to disregard the story.

   • Metaphor: "Would you rather get hit by Mike Tyson being the tier one media, or someone named Mike from accounting?" (Phil Elwood, 16:00).

5. Don’t Repeat the Negative:

   • Advice: When confronted with negative accusations, avoid restating the negative claims. Instead, pivot to positive attributes or alternative narratives.

   • Quote: Referencing Richard Nixon, Elwood notes, "Don't say, 'I'm not a thief,' say 'I'm an honest person.'"

Personal Impact and Ethical Evolution

Elwood candidly discusses the personal toll his PR tactics took on his mental health. Diagnosed with bipolar II, PTSD, extreme depression, and chronic anxiety, he attributes much of his risk-taking and ethically questionable decisions to his untreated mental health conditions.

• Transformation: After receiving his diagnosis and treatment, Elwood implemented a personal deadline to cease unethical PR practices. He now focuses on applying his skills to "better causes," ensuring he no longer works against democratic principles or engages with dictatorial regimes.

Conclusion and Takeaways

Phil Elwood's journey from a manipulative PR strategist to a more ethically conscious professional offers profound lessons on the power and responsibility inherent in public relations.

Notable Quote:
"Once you have ink, your story becomes real. A conversation that didn't exist moments before. The public begins to accept something you created out of nothing." (Phil Elwood, 19:54)

Three Key Takeaways:

1. Do Not Let Your Job Destroy Your Mental Health:
   Prioritize mental well-being over professional demands to maintain personal integrity and stability.

2. Ask the Question, Should I Do Something? Not Just Can I Do Something:
   Evaluate the ethical implications of actions, not merely their feasibility or potential success.

3. When Talking to the Media, Do Not Repeat the Negative:
   Avoid reiterating negative accusations to prevent reinforcing unwanted narratives. Instead, steer conversations towards positive or alternative messaging.

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Phil Elwood's experiences serve as a cautionary tale about the ethical boundaries in public relations and the importance of personal accountability. His insights empower listeners to critically evaluate the information presented in the media and recognize the subtle manipulations that shape public discourse.

For more insightful episodes, subscribe to 3 Takeaways on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform. Follow the podcast on LinkedIn, Twitter (X), Instagram, and Facebook. Sign up for the newsletter at 3takeaways.com.

Transcript

[Lynne Thoman]

Foreign. I'm going to begin this episode with my guest reading a quote from his book.

[Phil Elwood]

You enter a liminal space where truth and reality can be whatever you want. It's almost as if the world freezes. And if you're good at what you do in public relations, you can manipulate things, people, facts, the truth. Before the world starts back up again. It doesn't matter what the truth is. The facts get changed, the public takes up your narrative, and you watch as the world resumes turning.

[Lynne Thoman]

Does that really happen? And what are some examples? Hi everyone, I'm Lynne Thoman and this is three Takeaways. On three Takeaways, I talk with some of the world's best thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, newsmakers and scientists. Each episode ends with three key takeaways to help us understand the world and maybe even ourselves a little better. Today I'm excited to be with Phil Elwood. After working for nearly 20 years in the Washington public relations business for clients including Libya's Gaddafi and Sirius Assad as well as many well known blue chip companies, Phil Elwood reveals how stories literally get spun out of thin air. His job, which he was superb at, wasn't to manipulate public opinion, but to get others to do it for him. Phil's new book, which is a great read, is all the Worst How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons and Politicians. I'm excited to find out from Phil how a PR operative manipulates people, facts and the truth so we know what to be on the lookout. 4. Welcome Phil and thanks so much for joining Three Takeaways today.

[Phil Elwood]

Thank you so much for having me on the program. I'm really excited to be here.

[Lynne Thoman]

I'm excited too. Let's start with some of your most astonishing campaigns. You ran a no Fingerprints campaign to kneecap Los Angeles bid to host the Soccer World Cup. The campaign for Los Angeles to host the Soccer World cup was spearheaded by Bill Clinton. Tell us about it.

[Phil Elwood]

My client at the time was the Royal family of Qatar and they engaged the firm I was working for to help them secure the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup. My job was not to promote the Qatari bid. My job was to go negative on our opposition to host the games and that principally was the United States of America. So we tried a number of different strategies and tactics, but it wasn't until the US Congress pass a sense of the House resolution. Now this is a resolution that means absolutely nothing, has no enforcement of law. They passed a sense of the House resolution saying they thought the United States should Host the World Cup. Well, this enraged my client, who instructed my employer to instruct his man in Washington, me, to get a resolution introduced into the US Congress opposing our own bid to host the Games. Seemingly an impossible task. Now, when my employer told me what he wanted, he said to me, phil, I said it. You make it true. And then he hung up on me. So what I did was I went out to a bar, and I was sitting there having two or three vodka sodas. I was sitting outside, and a group of school children walked by, and they were all morbidly obese. And this gave me my idea. And on a cocktail napkin, I wrote a resolution that said the United States government would not support bids for any International Games, World cup or Olympic, until we fully funded physical education programs in public schools. I then took this napkin and met up with a lobbyist who I paid $10,000 to, I believe, who got a member of Congress from Detroit to introduce the resolution. I then leaked the text of the resolution to a reporter from a publication called Politic, who published an article two days before the vote in Switzerland over who would host the Games with the headline, world cup versus Gym Class. Now, the important part of this was that it showed that not only was there dissension in the US Congress, but dissension in the United States about who should host the Games.

[Lynne Thoman]

But when you were involved with this, Los Angeles lost their bid and Qatar won.

[Phil Elwood]

Exactly. It wasn't just Los Angeles. It was several other cities. Los Angeles was one of the bidding cities. So what they do is they play the Games in a lot of different towns. And Los Angeles was one of the cities that was going to host it, but no, la. And the rest of the United States lost the bid. Qatar hosted the Games in 2022, and it was pretty rough. So this, what seems like a prank here, getting a resolution introduced, actually. And this is tragic. Turned into a human rights issue. Qatar. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Qatar has something called the Kafala labor system. It's essentially indentured servitude. They estimate that about 5,000 people died building the stadiums in Qatar. This is one of the deepest regrets of my career.

[Lynne Thoman]

It is so shocking. And you even included Michelle Obama's words.

[Phil Elwood]

Yes. She had a whole campaign to get kids moving. So part of the idea in public relations is to fit your strategy into the zeitgeist of the time. And Michelle Obama was very big on childhood obesity. So what we did was use that messaging and just put it into our resolution and got a reporter to Write the story that we used as evidence of the dissension of the game. Now, I won't say that I switched a single vote by a FIFA member because there was a lot of bribery going on. But what it did was provide coverage for every member who voted against the United States to say, look, not even the US Congress wants it.

[Lynne Thoman]

How did you wield the power of the press to shame Saudi Arabia into releasing a Turkish barber? That to me was another one of your extraordinary campaigns.

[Phil Elwood]

Yes, that's the flip side of things. That's one that I'm incredibly proud of. There was a situation where a Turkish barber named Sabri Bog Day Turkish barbers are coveted throughout the Middle East. They're known for being good barbers. So you can set up a Turkish barber shop in a country and do quite well. Well, he set up a shop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He had an altercation with a client and said the words, God damn it. And this client called the religious authorities. And on the same day, Sabri Bagde was arrested for blasphemy. And he was given a one day trial with no lawyer and no translator and he was condemned to death. My client at the time was a Turkish American who read about this in the Turkish News. He personally translated an article for me that he emailed to me with the subject line, get the English speaking press to write about this. So I thought about what the pitch could possibly be. And well, he was a barber. So the first thing that came to my mind was barbarism. And so I emailed several reporters and said, look, I think you need to cover this case of this Turkish barber. Finally, the Huffington Post, two reporters there who were very good friends of mine wrote a story that detailed the entire thing. So what I did was I sent that to a bunch of other journalists and then a couple of weeks later, Saudi Arabia was hosting a conference at the United nations on of all things, religious tolerance. And I sent a few reporters to go and ask them questions about this Turkish barber. Shortly thereafter he was given a pardon by what is called the keeper of the two great Mosques or the King of Saudi Arabia and a one way ticket to Istanbul and told never to come back to the kingdom, which I am sure he hasn't. So we helped to get a guy off of death row in Saudi Arabia using shame.

[Lynne Thoman]

Phenomenal that you got him off of death row and free. Before we come back, when I ask you more about your tactics and how you invisibly influence news, let's talk about some more examples because the examples are extraordinary. Let's talk about a blue chip client. When you worked for one of the biggest public relations firms in the United States, your largest client was the US Tuna Foundation. Tell us about that.

[Phil Elwood]

That was another one that was entirely regrettable. Now that I look back on it. The U.S. tuna foundation had a problem because the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, issued a report saying that pregnant women should avoid eating too much canned tuna in the United States. If you say something is bad for pregnant women, it is a bellwether for all human health. So people stopped buying tuna. And the reason was the. The mercury content in tuna. The Tuna foundation is entirely funded by the tuna industry, the canned tuna industry. So they freaked out a little bit and wanted the firm I was working for at the time to push a campaign to get pregnant women to eat more tuna and to kind of rebut this report by the fda. And there was a series of efforts to get astroturf organizations and academics to argue that the mercury in tuna, the molecule, was too large to cross the blood brain barrier. Something about the difference between ethyl and methylmercury. Really. I'm not a bio chemist, so I shouldn't have been talking about this at all. But, you know, used it to kind of push the agenda that they should eat more tuna. And shortly thereafter we were caught by the New York Times who wrote an expose on this PR firm's efforts to do this. And it was quite embarrassing. And I left the firm shortly thereafter.

[Lynne Thoman]

But the firm essentially paid academics to make the arguments.

[Phil Elwood]

Yes, that was part of it. It was honorarium is what they called it.

[Lynne Thoman]

You mentioned the term astroturf organizations. What is that?

[Phil Elwood]

Let's start with what a grassroots organization is. A grassroots organization is an organization built up of people who all have a common political alignment. So something like the one campaign or the NRA is a grassroots organization. An astroturf organization, by contrast, is a fake grassroots organization. Generally it's a tax filing in Delaware with a bank account and the ability to issue press releases. And there is no grassroots support. It's all fake. So that's hence the term astroturf.

[Lynne Thoman]

And in the TUNA public relations, you use an astroturf organization. Can you share on that?

[Phil Elwood]

They were one of these kind of in between, half legitimate, half paid by industry organizations. But yes, they were mentioned in the New York Times article as being paid off by the Tuna Foundation.

[Lynne Thoman]

And it sound like such a, at least to a naive person, a legitimate organization. The National Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition.

[Phil Elwood]

Exactly. That's what they do. They put together names that sound completely benign, Just astonishing.

[Lynne Thoman]

You describe what you do as, quote, unobservable forces that produce effects by insensible or invisible means. Can you explain?

[Phil Elwood]

Sure. I mean, it's like I was talking about before. I have to remain kind of the invisible hand behind what's going on in the story. And so it's a little like a Rube Goldberg machine sometimes. So you get a ball moving that runs into something else, that causes something else to happen, that causes a fire to light, that causes the end result. So that's a little bit of what I do, is plan these things out and think about how to use news coverage to influence outcomes in the real world.

[Lynne Thoman]

Let's talk about some of your strategies. One of your strategies that you tell your clients is don't be a hero. Always find a better villain. Can you tell us about that and give some examples?

[Phil Elwood]

Every news story has three elements. A villain, a victim, and a Vindicator. The idea isn't to turn your client into the hero most of the time, it's to find a better villain. So if you can switch your client from being the villain to the Vindicator or the victim rather than the villain, you're in a very good position. One of the things we talk about is don't be the slowest gazelle. If the media is the lion in this analogy, you want to be the second slowest gazelle, because the slowest gets eaten by the media. The lead one gets mentioned in the story. But if you're right there in the middle of the pack, no one notices you. So say you're a company involved in an oil spill and you make a part that malfunctions. You want to point to the owner of the oil company rather than your part that malfunctioned. This is a hypothetical example. You want to point to the bigger bad guy and, say, write the story about them, not us, and just push the media towards a bigger villain. Every industry has multiple competitors. So if your company is being targeted by a reporter and there's a bigger villain, point the reporter out to the bigger villain. Or if your company, say, makes a product that's defective, you know, say it's a lack of government oversight. Blame the government. They're generally a good villain.

[Lynne Thoman]

One of your other strategies is paying people to say nice things. Can you tell us about that and give some examples?

[Phil Elwood]

Yes. It happens sometimes where you provide someone with a fee for writing an op ed that supports your client. That happens from time to time. Other firms have done this to great success. There are a Lot of former government officials who say used to work at the SEC or used to work at the FCC even. And if your client is in trouble with that agency, you can often go to them, engage them as a consultant to your client and get them to sign an op ed that supports what your client is doing or trying to do or why somebody else is a bigger villain. So yes, they're often referred to as coin operated advocates. It's a really terrible practice that I don't engage in anymore.

[Lynne Thoman]

Another strategy you talk about is what you're calling the Astroturf strategy. How common is that?

[Phil Elwood]

Incredibly common. It's used far too often. There is absolutely no regulation of it. It's not good, it's very devious. It's another one that I don't engage in. One strategy that is used is called detonate the bomb in a safe location. So what this is, this is a very dangerous strategy. By the way, if a negative story is going to come out about your client in a major publication, one thing you can do is take that negative information, give it to a reporter from a less well known publication or a Tier 2 publication and let them write the story. So the New York Times say they were pursuing your client. If they see it in another publication, their editor will spike the story. Would you rather get hit by Mike Tyson being the tier one media, or would you rather get hit by somebody named Mike from accounting? I take my odds with a guy who's good with spreadsheets.

[Lynne Thoman]

Phil, what are some other strategies that you've used and that you see?

[Phil Elwood]

Well, one of the key strategies that I tell people in media training, that we all tell people in media training is don't repeat the negative. Can you give me a quote from Richard Nixon? Like the one thing anybody remembers? Richard Nixon said, I'm not a crook. You got it? Now why do you remember that? Because he repeated the negative. If he had just said I am an honest man, no one would have remembered it. But instead he repeated the negative. So that is a main strategy that we teach people in public relations media training is don't repeat the negative. If somebody asks you if you're a thief, don't say, I'm not a thief, say I'm an honest man or an honest person. You know, go with the positive or obfuscate or you know, do something. Don't repeat the charge that has been leveled against you.

[Lynne Thoman]

Your media training must be fascinating. What impact has all of this had on you?

[Phil Elwood]

Well, if you ask my psychologist, my mental health diagnosis is about a page Long. But the highlights include. I have what is called bipolar 2. That's a naturally occurring thing. That's not the fault of my job. But I have a mild case of PTSD and extreme depression and chronic anxiety. So those are kind of the highlights of my psychological diagnosis. A lot of that was exacerbated by my job. It also helps explain a lot of the things that I did. Someone with my condition has a tendency to engage in risk taking behaviors like we've been talking about in this conversation. And this was untreated. I was undiagnosed until I was about 35. Once I received a diagnosis and went on a plan to treat it, things got better for me. I mean, it's not resolved like you don't get cured from being bipolar, but you can treat it and you no.

[Lynne Thoman]

Longer do the types of public relations that you used to.

[Phil Elwood]

I've set what I call a deadline for myself. I set this deadline for myself. That said, I wouldn't work against democracy, I wouldn't work for a dictator, and I wouldn't break the law. Now, those seem like very basic ideas, but you would be surprised the number of clients that rules out. I take everything on a case by case basis. On occasion, I'm asked to do things that are questionable, but I just don't anymore. I don't engage in those behaviors anymore. What I like to say is that I apply all of the things that I learned working for evil people and I apply them to better causes.

[Lynne Thoman]

Phil, would you mind reading a quote from your book?

[Phil Elwood]

Sure. Once you have ink, your story becomes real. A conversation that didn't exist moments before. A conversation nobody would think to have if you hadn't started it. The public begins to accept something you created out of nothing.

[Lynne Thoman]

Phil, what are the three takeaways you'd like to leave the audience with today?

[Phil Elwood]

The first takeaway is do not let your job destroy your mental health. The second takeaway is ask the question, should I do something? Not just can I do something. And the third takeaway is that when talking to the media, do not repeat the negative.

[Lynne Thoman]

Thank you. Your book is certainly eye opening. It will help us all to see what we read and hear on the news in a different way way.

[Phil Elwood]

So glad you enjoyed it.

[Lynne Thoman]

If you're enjoying the podcast, and I really hope you are, please review us on Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps get the word out. If you're interested, you can also sign up for the Three Takeaways newsletter at 3takeaways com, where you can also listen to previous episodes. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, X Instagram and Facebook. I'm Lynn Thoman, and this is three Takeaways. Thanks for listening.