SPIN DOCTORS
Disgraced Bell Pottinger booted out of industry guild
The UK public relations firm hit with the Public Relations and Communications Association’s ‘most serious sanction’
UK firm Bell Pottinger’s membership of the Public Relations and Communications Association has been terminated for bringing the industry into disrepute following an investigation into the work it did for Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments. The trade association for the UK public relations sector said this was its "most serious sanction" and meant Bell Pottinger would not be eligible to reapply for membership of the regulator for five years. This comes a day after the findings of a review of Bell Pottinger’s work for Oakbay, done by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, that material created for an economic-emancipation campaign was "potentially racially divisive and/or potentially offensive". The findings were released on Monday, a day after Bell Pottinger CEO James Henderson resigned. Bell Pottinger has been accused of fuelling racial tension in SA to promote a campaign of economic emancipation in the country, known as "white monopoly capital", which has been seen as an attempt to divert a...
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