The Culture of Comp

What is the Culture of Comp? Is there a standard of etiquette for comps? Where is the line between freebies and freeloading? What are the expectations between those who comp and those who get comped? Let me share some thoughts with you from a PR perspective.

Mmm… all-natural, laboratory-raised, petri-grown pork. Delicious.

In the storied culinary history of Europe, from French haute cuisine, to rustic Italian cooking, to the cutting-edge molecular gastronomy of the Spanish, 2009 may go down in textbooks to mark the rise of Dutch meat. Or more specifically, “meat.” Scientists in the Netherlands recently claimed to have produced artificial meat in a laboratory setting, using cells extracted from a live pig and grown in a petri dish.

Thank You for High Fructose Corn Syrup

A recent health headline in the Chicago Tribune read: Natural sugar versus high-fructose corn syrup: Scientists see little dietary benefit in food companies’ scramble to swap out processed sweeteners for natural ones. As a PR professional, I know a well-pitched story when I see one. This one is so cookie-cutter textbook perfect that communications professors will have it up on their PowerPoint any day now.

A quick plug for Food Inc.

Though I am resigned to believing that I am preaching to choir here, I want to highly recommend that you see the recently released documentary Food Inc., a veritable food horror story of America’s industrialized food system and its numerous effects on our health, environment, economy and more.