Chevron has fired Ogilvy Government Relations over what the now former client calls a conflict of interest. The company was Ogilvy’s third largest lobbying client, with the firm making $600,000 in 2011 for its work. According to reports from Ad Age and Bloomberg, Felipe Benitez from the company’s PR arm, spoke to Amazon Watch, an organization that works on behalf of indigenous people. Chevron is involved in a legal battle over alleged toxic dumping in Ecuador. Ad Age is also reporting that Ogilvy PR’s relationship with Yasuni National Rainforest has been put on hold. Ogilvy Government Relations made $20 million from 70 clients in 2011.

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2011 Cadillac CTS-V

General Motors has chosen The Vox Collective as its 2012 U.S. Hispanic agency after a competitive search. The firm will focus on the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands. [via]

Caribou Coffee has chosen Ruder Finn as its AOR after a competitive search that included Padilla Speer Beardsley and Ogilvy. The coffee company’s previous AOR, Exponent PR, didn’t participate in the search. [via PRWeek]

The first Harlem Arts Festival has chosen House of Success for media and influencer outreach, and partnership development with the Harlem business community. According to a statement from House of Success founder Sakita Holley, the festival will “shift the spotlight” back to Harlem from Brooklyn, which has gotten a lot of arts attention in recent years. [via]

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Kellogg has once again chosen an AOR. This time, it’s Edelman, according to Ad Age, which is launching a new agency called K Group Public Relations to avoid any further conflicts. Weber Shandwick was Kellogg’s AOR for a few weeks before the two had to part ways. Current Lifestyle Marketing, another IPG firm, was meant to work with the company as well. Ketchum and MSLGroup will continue their work with the company.

The March of Dimes has chosen House of Success to promote the Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait program in Newark, NJ. March of Dimes works to prevent birth defects, infant mortality, and premature births. [via]

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PRWeek‘s editor-in-chief Steve Barrett has published a column on the publication’s website in response to “a number of comments” they’ve gotten about the lack of diversity on this year’s Power List, specifically, the lack of African Americans.

“This can either be attributed to the careless omission or oversight by PRWeek‘s selection committee or that African American power players are hiding in plain sight. Either way, the list makes it seem as if there are NO African Americans making moves in the PR industry and that is simply not true,” Sakita Holley, CEO of the firm House of Success told us in an email.

The list, which features 50 publicists this year rather than 25 like prior years, was printed in this month’s hard copy of the magazine and online. According to Barrett’s column, “In this year’s Power List, Oscar Suris, Mike Fernandez, Jon Iwata, and Selim Bingol were not chosen because of their ethnicity or the color of their skin – they were chosen because of their ability and the senior levels to which they have risen in the communications industry in their respective roles.”

Before we even get into the issues with the list, let’s start with the condescending tone of this column.

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This edition of Spin the Agencies has cars, shoes, wine, media, and fame. Nice.

Pep Boys, the auto service and retail chain, has selected JMPR as its AOR, the first in more than five years. The firm will handle the 90th anniversary celebration, raise the company’s profile in national and regional markets, and promote its maintenance and repair services.

Weber Shandwick has been chosen to promote the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America 68th Annual Convention and Expo. Work will be handled out of the Dallas, New York, and Washington D.C. offices. The event is taking place in Orlando, FL from April 10 through 13.

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