An advertising sales account planner at
Google has
apologised for comments on a company blog regarding the new
Michael
Moore film
Sicko.
Lauren Turner used Google's
Health
Advertising Blog to make a pitch to healthcare companies to buy Google
adverts opposite the film to get their message across. The comments caused a
storm.
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"Moore attacks health insurers, health providers and pharmaceutical companies
by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst,
"
wrote
Turner.
"Moore's film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails
to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care."
The entry angered fellow bloggers, who accused Turner of trying to flout
Google's 'Do no evil' mantra.
Turner apologised today and tried to play down the incident, maintaining that
the views expressed were hers alone.
"Some readers thought the opinion I expressed about Sicko was actually
Google's opinion," she wrote.
"It is easy to understand why it might have seemed that way because, after
all, this is a corporate blog. So that was my mistake. I understand why it
caused some confusion."
In the film Moore advocates replacing the current private health care system
in the US with universal healthcare for all.
The filmmaker claims that health companies hide the fact that they are primar
ily motivated by profits by running PR and marketing campaigns.
Do you agree?
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