The rise of fracking has been accompanied by considerable public opposition. Which means it was probably only a matter of time before the PR industry found itself in the spotlight. Sure enough, this morning six anti-fracking campaigners superglued themselves to Bell Pottinger's London HQ. The PR agency works for Cuadrilla, the fracking company that has also had its HQ shut down by protestors. Cuadrilla's fracking plans in Sussex have sparked substantial protests, in keeping with the controversial nature of shale gas drilling. Ironically, the Bell Pottinger building also houses offices for FTI Consulting, where I once attended a seminar on the PR challenges raised by fracking. It's unclear whether the protesters are aware that they may actually be killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. https://twitter.com/andydangerfield/status/369367461860089856 Many oil and gas companies are, to varying degrees, involved in fracking. These protests are likely to remind their PR firms (and there are many) of the risks associated with their work. It's not as if oil and gas PR has ever been a completely inoffensive proposition. Yet, if the fracking industry doesn't want to go the way of GMOs in Europe, it probably needs to do a much better job of explaining the proposed benefits of its work.