DCI: Tobacco PR firm creates fake health care group

By Richard Littlemore

onAug 18, 2009 @ 18:21 PDT

DCI Group, a PR firm that got its start by creating phony grassroots organizations on behalf of big tobacco, has been outed by ThinkProgress as the firm behind the new anti-health care Astroturf group, the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights (Infamous Astroturf Lobbying Firm Behind New Anti-Health Reform Group).

DeSmog readers might remember DCI from a sleazy set-up job in 2006, when the firm created a YouTube video attacking Al Gore and then posted it claiming that it was the work of an independent 29-year-old. ThinkProgress also itemizes some of DCI’s other adventures, many of which also involve setting up fake “grassroots” organizations that do the bidding of DCI’s big-budget clients.

By Richard Littlemore

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