Regaining Public Trust

The public’s trust in corporations is low and we all want to do something about it. I would like to suggest two connected issues that are worth attention. Truthfulness in communications and how we resolve some of our differences.

Truthfulness in our communications; don’t confuse the telling of true facts with truthfulness.

The December 4^th edition of Politico carried an advocacy ad from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity addressing the importance of coal to power, jobs and a healthy economy. But power, jobs and a healthy economy are not the primary issues in question. The primary issue in question is climate change. An ad from a coal industry coalition with facts about power, jobs and a healthy economy, but no comment on climate change isn’t portraying a truthful position. A truthful ad would state clearly the ACCCE’s perspective on climate change before commenting on the other impacts of the sector.

The previous example originates in politics and advocacy, but the approach extends into the commercial world too. On December 20 ‘09 the major papers carried dueling ads. One encouraged the public to sign up to demonstrate support for Time Warner’s position; “some TV networks want massive price increases or they’ll pull the plug on their programs. We think that’s unfair….” The dueling ad encouraged people to go to www.keepFOXon.com to demonstrate their support that Time Warner shouldn’t increase their rates. “Time Warner Cable is using programming costs as an excuse to raise your bill while they continue to rake in billions in profits”

The ads tell truths, but in telling only part of the story, neither is a truthful portrayal of the situation. Moreover as the ads do not address the same issues (Fox didn’t actually comment on whether it was trying to increase its rates, Time Warner made no mention of profitability) a consumer reading each can make no reasoned determination. These ads can serve only to reinforce preconceptions.

Which gets me to my second issue. I wrote a post early last year “Legal Is Not Sustainable” that explored the adversarial approach we take to dispute resolution.

A headline in the NYT a few weeks back “Are Advertisements True” referred to advertising disputes from AT&T and Verizon, Campbell Soup and Progresso, Pantene and Dove, UPS and FedEx, GE and Bracco.

I see an underlying theme through many of the disputes. The facts in the positions are true, but the facts chosen tell only part of the story.

When companies duke it out in public like this, they demonstrate a lack of trust in each other. If companies don’t trust each other, why should Joe public trust companies?

Issue Advertising and the Role of the Sustainability Officer

In the DC Metro earlier this week , I saw the adverts that Marc Gunther refers to in his excellent blog post, Washington’s Coal Wars. Marc describes the advertising wars between the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) and the ‘This is Reality’ coalition. These adverts add another category to the intersection between corporate sustainability and advertising. In this case ‘issue advertising’.

In these issue-based situations, the company or trade association wants to articulate the best possible sustainability perspective on its commercial position. The activist organization, ‘This is Reality’ coalition, wants to present the strongest possible sustainability counter arguments. And hopefully government is the honest arbiter, making decisions based on the best overall interests of the country.

What is the role of the corporate sustainability officer in these issue-based debates and within the context of our adversarial-based decision making system?

Some sustainability professionals are drawn to the social justice component of the role –while others perhaps want to be honest brokers and take an arbitration position. Many other sustainability departments sit within marketing or government affairs, suggesting more of a role of acting as a checkpoint and helping articulate the best sustainability position possible. In practice, I am sure that most of us have some of each in our role. Going further in defining the answer to this question will contribute significantly to external recognition of what it means to be a sustainability professional.