More Problems for Agriprocessors

Good public relations is crucial for companies in crisis. And many PR firms will go pretty far to make their clients look good.

But how far is too far?
When you get busted for impersonating the opposition and defaming them:

An online commenter purporting to be Rabbi Morris Allen, the head of the Conservative movement’s ethical kashrut initiative Hekhsher Tzedek, posted two comments to the blog FailedMessiah, which is operated by Shmarya Rosenberg. Allen and Rosenberg are frequent critics of Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat producer in the United States, which was the target of a massive federal immigration raid May 12.

Rosenberg reported that the two fake comments were posted Tuesday from an Internet address linked to 5WPR, the public relations firm representing Agriprocessors. On the same day, a third comment by someone claiming to be Allen was left on a JTA article about Agriprocessors.

All three comments portrayed Allen as being motivated by a desire to promote the interests of Hekhsher Tzedek and the Conservative movement rather than finding out the truth about Agriprocessors and seeing the company make improvements.

Allen told JTA that he did not leave any of the comments and may pursue legal action against the firm. (MORE)