Golden CEO Tickets

In today’s competitive society, where anyone can get their fifteen minutes of fame, everyone has their price.  Large bags of cash to buy opinion are likely to turn “gamekeepers into poachers” as we see today in the case of Alan Milburn. Of course PepsiCo UK would want to get Alan Milburn, the former health secretary, to sit on its newly created nutritional advisory committee. As Milburn has previously called for tough Government action against Junk Food marketing, PepsiCo may feel it’s a score to get him on board.  But isn’t this just a junk food company using Milburn as a great marketing tool?  Milburn will get a tidy sum (£25,000) to attend four meetings a year.  The mutual benefits are obvious but seemingly a lot of people have fallen for this PR gimmick, just like they did with the tobacco giant BAT and former health minister Ken Clarke and Walt Disney and ex culture secretary Chris Smith. I hesitate to be cynical but the golden CEO ticket is what so many people strive for.