Face to face with Dr Evil
You meet some larger than life characters in Washington.
Rick Berman runs the Center for Consumer Freedom, a Washington-based campaign whose slogan is 'Promoting individual responsibility and defending the freedom to choose'.
I 'discovered' the CCF a decade ago. I loved the swagger, the controlled aggression and cutting humour directed at opponents.
According to Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, "They're quite clever and they're funny, so they're very dangerous."
Berman has won numerous awards from his peers in advertising and public affairs but opponents have a name for him - Dr Evil.
His principal strategy appears to be, destroy your opponent's credibility before they destroy yours.
Seven years ago I wanted to launch a UK version of the Center for Consumer Freedom. I played with the idea of calling it the Centre for Consumer Choice but shortened it to Consumer Choice to avoid accusations of plagiarism.
For a variety of reasons it didn't happen. Now, finally, we're giving the project another chance. Renamed Action on Consumer Choice, it will launch next month.
There's no grand plan but Rick Berman didn't have one either. He simply went with the flow. Likewise I expect Action on Consumer Choice to evolve according to events.
Rest assured it won't have any impact on Forest. Defending the interests of those who choose to smoke remains our number one priority but it's time to broaden our horizons and embrace other products.
Consumers who believe in choice and personal responsibility must have a voice. With a few tweaks for a UK audience, I can't think of a better model than Rick Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom.
Below: My favourite CCF advertisement
Eric Dezenhall is a crisis management consultant whose clients included Michael Jackson.
Yesterday, at a lunch to promote his new book, Glass Jaw: a manifesto for defending fragile reputations in an age of instant scandal, he delivered several good one-liners.
For example:
"My job is to bore things out of the news."
"Billionaires? Deadbeats. Don't pay."
But the comment that struck the loudest chord came in response to the question, "Why do corporations rarely defend themselves on national television?"
Answer: "Whoever goes on TV loses his job."
He wasn't joking.