There we were last week, innocently partaking in the annual testosterone-fest that is the Super Bowl, when we were treated to an ad featuring a group of supposed auto mechanics lamenting that they never voted for the union they're in. But look closely. One of these "mechanics" is sporting a gold watch, manicured hands, and a brand new shirt. That's because he's not a mechanic, or even an actor.
He's Washington lobbyist Rick Berman.
Berman is a gun-for-hire--nicknamed Dr. Evil--who specializes in creating nonprofit front groups to push corporate interests. His clients have included the likes of Phillip Morris, Coca Cola, and Tyson's Foods. But you wouldn't know it hearing the names of the organizations he starts. The Employment Policies Institute? They fight minimum wage increases. The American Beverage Institute? They go after Mothers Against Drunk Driving. And the gem of an organization linked to the Super Bowl ad is the Center for Union Facts.
So Rick Berman is not quite the salt-of-the-earth mechanic that Super Bowl fans were supposed to find relatable while being fed anti-union propaganda. Indeed, he appears to be a master of the bait and switch: He creates fake nonprofits to lure Americans to corporate propaganda, and occasionally he shows up posing as an ordinary American in those groups' ads.
Americans who want the real facts on unions--fakery-free--will have to go somewhere other than the Center for Union Facts to find them.
