Chinese Whispers

Ever play chinese whispers when you were a child? You whisper one thing into someone’s ear and they hear it as something else and transfer it on to the next person. It was fun then, but now that we’re all grown up, most of us have seen for ourselves what the wrong piece of information can do in the business world.

A rumor is like a virus; it spreads as fast and can be as devastating. It happens to celebrities every day, especially in the tabloids. It can greatly affect popularity when someone’s favorite celeb is depicted negatively, even if it later turns out to be untrue.

On a larger scale, a simple rumor can put the reputation of a company at stake. In 1994 an email was circulated which stated that an executive at Procter & Gamble appeared on TV and said that he was a Satanist, and that the profit from the company went to Satanism! After the company’s image had been distorted in the eyes of the public, it turned out that the rumor was false and that no executive had been on TV at all.

So why is it that people take whatever they hear for granted as truth, without double checking the facts? The answer is easy, it just requires less mental and physical energy. Psychological studies have suggested that people choose to believe what they hear, not because they are gullible, but because it’s easier and doesn’t require much energy. It’s easier to believe something because everyone’s saying it rather than going through the hassle of researching it to make sure it’s fact and not fiction. So the question here is what would prevent the actual rumor from spreading like the plague?

In PR we handle the problem as soon as it starts, and even prepare for it beforehand, because speed is the name of the game. Involving online media as much as possible is essential and this includes posting videos on YouTube and comments on blogs. Being transparent with traditional media, maintaining good relationships with them and giving them a firsthand look in on events is a reliable way to help discredit rumors at an early stage - before they do damage that sometimes cannot be undone.