PR firm in Facebook controversy promotes real estate for Spanish government
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 @ 12:02 PM
Burson-Marsteller (BM), headquartered in the United States and with offices in 67 countries worldwide, was employed by Spain's secretary of state for housing, Beatriz Corredor, to assist with the launch of Spain's international property roadshow that kicked off in London last week.
Since then it has emerged that BM, on behalf of Facebook, approached well-known blogger, Christopher Soghoian, urging him to investigate Google’s privacy policy in exchange for getting the piece published on influential sites such as The Huffington Post and The Washington Post.
BM has terminated its contract with Facebook but continues to work on behalf of the Spanish government, as its ministers attempt to pitch the sale of the country's 700,000 unsold holiday homes to European and Russian investors in a bid to kickstart a flailing economy.
BM's PR consultants were in attendance at the first roadshow event, held in London last week, and were responsible for identifying and contacting local media and raising publicity for the event entitled:"Look. Think. Invest. The Spanish Real Estate Market in your hands."
Read more at Telegraph.co.uk