An examination of the clients served by the Paris-based, global PR giant Publicis Groupe reveals the overt collaboration among the wealthy and powerful who profit from deadly healthcare practices, poisonous agricultural modalities, and the damaging effects of fossil fuel proliferation. The following analysis details a foundational view of a sinister web of profiteers — supported by billions of dollars applied to shaping a false and dangerous reality.
“The art of publicity is a black art, but it has come to stay, and every year adds to its potency.” — Judge Learned Hand
The response by powerful economic forces to the pandemic has revealed insidious relationships that are driving our planet toward self-destruction. The evidence of overt collaboration among those who profit from deadly healthcare practices, poisonous agricultural modalities, and the detrimental effects of fossil fuel proliferation is in plain sight.
The protagonists’ tactics have no ethical foundation, yet those who challenge their twisted logic, manipulative linguistics, or deadly actions are deemed enemies and summarily attacked and dismissed.
It is increasingly apparent that the promoters of corporate and government forces are critical catalysts for continuing disastrous patterns of distraction, deception, and subterfuge — and that experienced agents of the powerful have been assigned this dark and devious task.
Nowhere is deceit and hypocrisy more apparent than when evaluating the mercenary endeavors of the huge public relations, media communications, and advertising conglomerates. Their primary activity is supporting and disguising the damaging policies and programs of their influential clientele.
The essential skill of these expert spin doctors is their ability to fabricate a favorable interpretation of detrimental information or activity or diminish the impact of the truth. Through tried and true psychological ploys, repetition of false information, or casting doubt on factual realities, ad agencies and PR firms target those who need to be influenced on behalf of their clients.
The more powerful the client, the more money is at stake — and the greater intensity of the campaign. An examination of one of the largest entities neck-deep in managing these mass psychological operations reveals the depth of the dysfunction afflicting the planet. The vast activities of the Publicis Groupe demonstrate how the tentacles of greed, profit, and privilege connect the catastrophic agendas of the most powerful enterprises on Earth.
With headquarters in France, divisions in many countries around the world, and decades of global experience in handling people, minimizing crisis, and marketing products — the Publicis Groupe continually upgrades its methodologies.
Using sophisticated social psychology and incorporating cutting-edge artificial intelligence, Publicis PR experts are masters of damage control, the manipulation of words and people, and selling the unsellable. Publicis is organizing influential activities worldwide, overtly revealing its mission and priorities.
“There is no adequate protection against psychic epidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of natural catastrophes.” — Carl Jung
The name Publicis implies the firm has some concern for the public, however, this is a facade — the general public is not a beneficiary. On the contrary, consumers are the target of the company’s efforts. Publicis’ multibillion-dollar sales campaigns and public relations programs claim to be responsible, with positive impact. But its website reveals who actually benefits from the company’s services:
“The entire Publicis Groupe transformation was designed to put clients at the center of all we do. Their needs and objectives drive the solutions we provide in order to help them win and grow.”
Advertising industry profits have always been driven by the marketing of products. The lucrative selling of ideas in support of sales campaigns and political objectives has merged advertising, communications, and public relations.
Upon evaluation of Publicis’ work on behalf of elite patrons, beyond a veneer of polished jargon, it is difficult to find any moral grounding. The company uses the broadest of palettes in meeting the needs of the organizations it represents.
Publicis’ impact reaches through commerce and government, promoting the wealthiest and most dominant groups on the planet, with little discretion for whom they represent and what the company might do for its clients.
The Publicis website summarizes its approach toward this domination:
“Publicis Groupe is organized into 4 Solutions Hubs for easier connectivity and integration: Publicis Communications, Publicis Media, Publicis Sapient, and Publicis Health. In this model, all agency brands still exist and share an operational backbone, which gives them the power and expertise of all the Solution Hubs combined to deliver the scale required to compete and win in a data-led, digital-first world.”
Compete and win is the most relevant phrase, particularly when considering the company’s clients and the results those clients demand.
Publicis has contracts with a multitude of private and government sectors around the globe. Some of the largest, most prominent clients within these “solution hubs” and “partners” include:
The World Economic Forum, proponents of the so-called Great Reset.
The U.S. government, including the General Services Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Institutes of Health.
Phillip Morris International, makers of Marlboro cigarettes.
Newsguard, a media company with intelligence community support, advises news websites on claimed objectivity.
Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a politically driven service consistently attacking anyone who raises questions about vaccine efficacy or safety.
PepsiCo, producer of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay snack foods.
Audi, Mercedes Benz and Toyota, Peugeot, Citroën, and the Stellantis Group of automakers, including Fiat, Chrysler, Opel/Vauxhall, Maserati, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Jeep Dodge.
Saudi Aramco, a government-owned oil company and the most profitable business in the world.
Monsanto, controversial producer and proponent of GMOs and pesticides, and a subsidiary of Bayer.
Walmart, Rite Aid and CVS Health (owners of Target pharmacies), all of which are major sales points for COVID vaccines.
GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Abbott, Allergan, Merck, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Bayer, and other pharmaceutical giants, including Purdue Pharmaceuticals, makers of Oxycontin.
The pragmatic justification for awarding advertising or consulting contracts to Publicis is part of a long-held business practice where humane principles are ignored in favor of increased profits and influence.
By dismissing the activities of other organizations using Publicis’ services, every partner and client of the marketing firm facilitates the degeneration of basic freedoms and democratic principles. The complicity and hypocrisy are apparent in reviewing Publicis’ financing and partnerships, and their track records in the areas of environment, health, and human rights.
For example:
Publicis’ third-largest mutual fund holder is Vanguard, an investment giant that provides capital for a broad range of companies, including those producing military weaponry and having poor environmental records. Vanguard is also the largest investor in Big Media and Big Pharma.
Publicis is the ad agency for a number of auto and truck makers, most of which are reluctant to end their dependence on fossil fuels. Additionally, car advertising sometimes uses controversial techniques. Recently, Citroën, a Publicis client, had to apologize and remove a TV car ad in Egypt, as it overtly promoted sexual harassment.
Publicis’ work for Saudi Aramco ties it directly to one of the largest international oil companies. Aramco has understated its carbon footprint by 50% and continues to be a major source of air pollution.
Publicis, in supporting Phillip Morris, is working for the second-largest cigarette company in the world. Tobacco products annually cause half a million deaths in the U.S., and 8 million around the world — considerably more than any virus.
Publicis promoted and protected Monsanto in its campaign defending Roundup, the herbicide containing glyphosate, responsible for an increasing amount of disease and death worldwide.
Publicis is named in a lawsuit with client Purdue Pharmaceuticals. A judge ruled recently they “played an integral part in developing marketing strategies” to sell the addictive opioid.
Publicis, by running PepsiCo’s ad campaigns, is supporting one of the world’s largest sources of plastic pollution and contributing to the detrimental health effects of sugary drinks.
Publicis, by representing the National Institutes of Health, Big Pharma, and some of the largest pharmacy chains in the U.S., is at the center of vaccine promotion. The pandemic has resulted in a double-digit increase in profits for the PR giant, assuring its commanding lead in white-washing and advocating the drug industry’s most lucrative sales campaign in history.
In what is probably the most ludicrous, though successful advertising campaign in history, the failures of a product — vaccines — have been blamed on those who refuse to use them.
“Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.” — Sinclair Lewis
Publicis is in its most effective mode when selling and promoting ideas. The company’s sinister nature and ethical depravity are revealed in its cutthroat approach to vaccine marketing — and also in its representation of the government of Saudi Arabia.
Publicis subsidiaries satisfy the PR needs of the Saudi Foreign Office and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (and Saudi Aramco). Their central task is ensuring that a country with a horrific human rights record doesn’t suffer any legal or economic consequences of that behavior.
In the wake of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Oct. 2, 2018, most other public relations firms ended their relationships with the Kingdom. Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime, was killed in Turkey by agents of the Saudi government. He entered the Saudi embassy and never came out. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency concluded from multiple sources that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination.
The communications Publicis fabricates for the Saudi government provide excellent cover and distraction from the realities of the Kingdom; ensuring that lashing women for adultery, jailing or beheading dissidents — or murdering journalists — doesn’t get in the way of strategic relationships.
Publicis’ close ties to the U.S. and French governments are critical to their mutual interests in shaping perceptions about Saudi Arabia.
It should be no surprise that French President Emmanuel Macron’s senior advisor for all communication is Clément Léonarduzzi, who left his job as a president of Publicis to work for Macron. Macron overtly supports Publicis clients, including rehabilitating the Saudi image and pressing Big Pharma’s agenda.
“It is in the nature of tyranny to deride the will of the people as the voice of the mob, and to denounce the cry for freedom as the roar of anarchy.” — William Safire
The PR giant’s methodology is transparent. Whether promoting opioids or pushing vaccines, rebranding status quo profiteering as a Great Reset, supporting cigarette sales, disguising the true nature of the fossil fuel industry, increasing soft drink consumption, or covering for assassinations — Publicis has all the skills and facilities to create whatever fabrications are needed to sell products and influence how their wealthy collaborators are viewed.
In considering the range of activities Publicis engages in, the dots are so close there is no need to connect them.
The Publicis Groupe and its allies are at the hub of a worldwide insidious, destructive disinformation campaign, relying on the duplicitous ways of advertising and public relations in the loyal service of clients. This depraved and villainous behavior — prioritizing the needs of the planet’s dominators — is tolerated and normalized as global economic, environmental, and health crises rage on unabated.
This strategy has never been utilized so effectively and unabashedly as during the pandemic. Publicis bookends services to Big Pharma and sales points with its key backing of campaigns that breed hostility and attempt to marginalize those who raise questions about vaccine efficacy and risks.
So-called “fact-checkers” attack anyone who questions the motives and agendas of Publicis’ pharmaceutical clientele — revealing the misleading and underhanded core methods of a destructive operation.
“Advertising is legalized lying.” — H.G. Wells
In a pre-digital era, Wells recognized the dangers of promoting products without any concern for the veracity or moral foundation. In the contemporary world, the work of Publicis presents prima facie evidence of the risks of allowing the agents of the powerful and wealthy to define reality.
Corporations and governments compensate dynamic PR agencies for feeding and manipulating the media. They task these agencies with disseminating information that supports products and policies with a primary goal of dominating minds and markets — with little regard for accuracy or moral concerns.
Without honorable oversight, there is no arbiter of what is equitable and impartial in disseminating information. In this realm, leadership seems incapable of altruistic guidance, often relying on the same devious public relations techniques and firms to push their pernicious agendas.
Clients of advertising and PR entities benefit as the planet suffers within a distorted reality designed to maximize obedience and minimize dissent. Morality is eclipsed as organizations remain in the grip of agencies that use whatever approach is effective, regardless of detrimental impact.
“The truth is a lie, yet to be found out.” — Alan Sharp
In evaluating the causes of our current planetary crisis, it is important to recognize that the signs and symptoms of dysfunction have been overtly developing for decades — if not longer.
With the advent of digital communications, the human instinct to trust authority and media has allowed increased psychic destabilization of entire populations. Children are particularly susceptible to these powerful techniques and are preyed upon to gain early conformity.
Intervention is still possible to change the course of human devolution. However, the challenge of diminishing all diseases, reversing environmental abuse, and ending perpetual violent behavior starts with a recognition of obstacles. Selfish actions, immoral corporate exploitation, and illegal government decrees present interconnected symptomatology with a common root causality.
The engineers of this scheme are focused on maximizing economic benefits and control. They are attempting to manipulate the future for their own benefit — and it is destroying life on Earth. Identifying these culprits is the first step in diminishing their influence.
Public relations giants like Publicis must be recognized as key enablers that shroud ruinous behavior and allow continuing planetary degradation.
They must be held accountable.
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A version of this article was previously published by the Defender in 2022.
It all starts with the legitimacy of lying in advertising. Here's my personal account of that realization.
https://anthonyjhall.substack.com/p/learning-from-advertising-how-to
Great article thank you. I did not know about Publicis Groupe and did not spend much time at their website. My first thought was must be part of the World Economic Forum. These all couch themselves in the guise of doing good while being anything but. As a student of fascism and the international rise of totalitarianism I am glad to be informed about one more architect of our doom. They do so well at genocide and subterfuge. Those 15 minute smart cities are concentration camps in disguise.