Navigating the Activist Playbook

Risk Perception Management bvba

Navigating the Activist Playbook

SKW

26 April 2018

David Zaruk

David Zaruk - Risk Perception Management bvba - Groenstraat 17, 1930 Zaventem, Belgium - [email protected]

Kick Koffee Kampaign

A cup of coffee contains over 1000 chemicals!

Many are known carcinogens to rats:

benzo(a)pyrene,

benzaldehyde,

benzene,

benzofuran,

caffeic acid,

catechol,

1,2,5,6-dibenz(a)anthracene,

ethyl benzene,

furan,

furfural,

hydroquinone,

d-limonene,

4-methylcatechol



There are more toxins in a single cup of coffee than in a full year of fruit and vegetable pesticide MRLs

… and coffee beans also have pesticide residues!!!



Coffee may lead to:

Cancer, liver, kidney and heart disease; depression

Higher stress and anxiety

Reproduction disorders

Caffeine addiction

Insomnia

Obesity

Smoking

Coffee can kill you! http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-

caffeine

http://www.deadprogrammer.com/?PHPSESSID=a4368ed987871644914227d98d1d20fb



Decaf is no better!!!

The chemical used to decaffeinate is the same one used in the dry cleaning process!



Coffee may lead to:

Sterility!!! University of Surrey study

(2006) claims consuming more than three cups of coffee per day over a sustained period increased risk of sterility by 50%.



Coffee destroys:

Future Generations!!!

Women are advised not to drink coffee when pregnant – greatly increased risk of miscarriage in first trimester.



Coffee destroys: Developing countries’ economies

Tropical rainforests

Essential water tables

Indigenous ways of life

Fair trade is impossible in our globalised exploitation system

Stop the Coffee SLAVE TRADE!!!!



Conspiracy of big business

Lies, environmental destruction

Children are being fed coffee-flavoured snacks

But despite rich corporate lobbyists’ attempts to hide the facts, KKK can now reveal to you the SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

http://convertisseurs.euro.free.fr/Originaux/NESCAFE (V).jpg

http://www.deadprogrammer.com/photos/starbucks_logo_new.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wjye.com/Images/Contests/MAXWELL HOUSE.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wjye.com/&h=182&w=183&sz=29&tbnid=Zpv0Yi26OP6EvM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=96&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images?q=maxwell+house&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1970-01,GGLC:en&sa=N

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geocities.com/rraattbbooyy/images/folgers.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.com/rraattbbooyy/docs/newfaq.html&h=450&w=450&sz=36&tbnid=KIqCyB8-1JZi6M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=124&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images?q=folgers&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLC,GGLC:1970-01,GGLC:en&sa=N



Blood-test results: 4-methylcatechol : 5 ng/g lipid

benzofuran: 0.2 ng/g

caffeic acid: 50 ppt

Results certified by the labs at a famous UK University

Coffee toxins are in our blood! Inside our body!!!

These toxic chemicals are killing us all !!!



The facts are out there

The science is certain

We all agree – it’s time to act



Please contribute to help stop this chemical-laden drug from killing us.

Help us to:

BAN COFFEE NOW !!!

Support KKK – for the price of a cup of coffee a day, you will be saving more than just your own life. Contribute at www.coffeekills.org



Please visit our sites: www.coffeekills.org www.facebook.com/coffeekills www.twitter.com/coffeekills www.youtube.com/coffeeaddictscryforhelp www.coffeeinthenews.org For media enquiries:

[email protected]


Time for a coffee?


Now it’s your turn!

Should you react?

How do you react?

Why is there no Kick Koffee Kampaign?

European Coffee Growers Association Bringing Pleasure to Europe


Not so strange perhaps

Microbeads, microplastics

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Endocrine disrupting chemicals

Using household cleaning products = smoking a pack of cigarettes every day?

Parabens

I think I’ve heard these things before


Who is trusted today?

NGOs (watch-dogs)?

Scientists ...?

Policy-makers ...?

Public celebrities (eg, Bono, Leo, Jenny)?

Is industry trusted?

What happens when scientists disagree?

What happens when industry funds research?


Elements of trust

Familiarity (history)

Predictability

Meets credibility sniff (authenticity)

Identification (personal, iconic, lifestyle) kinship

Agency (root of participatory thinking)

Perception of quality (reputation)

Low perceived risk

Vulnerability

Good intentions, perception of care


Blockchain Trust

Lessons from glyphosate

We don’t trust the expert, regulator or scientist

We don’t trust industry, government or farmers

But we need trust in order to make decisions

We trust our tribe (within social media networks)

We are all watching everyone (blockchain: Uber, Airbnb, cryptocurrencies…). Transparency rules.

Risk assessment process to rely on citizen science?


Campaigning in a Social Media World


Has lobbying changed?

Social media transforms the world into communities

People need to identify with both the message and the messenger – part of an Internet tribe

Rise of the Mommy bloggers/gurus selling “chemical-free” natural products … building trust, creating fear and getting rich!


This changes everything

Individuals, not organisations, are driving policy

Lobbying has become ubiquitous – I retweet

Companies are slow to react (with few tweets)

Social media is an emotional place (no room for scientific evidence in 280 characters)

A story-telling tool: anecdote replaces evidence

New generation of bloggers (trust-laden, fear-motivated, business-driven, marketing savvy)


Welcome to the Age of Stupid!


Take a step back

Is the consumer saying “No to chemical X!”

Who is telling the consumer to fear this?

Who is feeding this information to the media?

What is their motivation? Who funds them?

How did some debates get out of control?

Who is the consumer? Who decided this?

What exactly does the consumer want?


Citizen Science

Expertise / authority seen aligned with industry

Post-modern view that facts can’t be known

“Alternative facts”, “post-truth”, “post-normal”

Google University – I tell my doctor what to do!

Shift in citizen science to the independent hero

Less scrutiny, less demand for methodology

Clever cover for NGOs to insert their activist scientists into a void of distrust (Portier Papers)


Uncomfortable Thoughts

Dialogue process has died – industry is ostracised

Risk ≠ hazard X exposure (risk = hazard)

Precautionary principle is now risk management

Activists undermining supply chain coordination

La Jolla Playbook – Law firms working with NGOs

Activist science (post-normal) is now mainstream

US NGO carpetbaggers flooding EU policy debates


A Comfortable Thought

Shouldn’t there be an Industry Playbook to navigate the activist campaign strategies?


The Industry Playbook

How to deal with activist campaigns:

Benefits communications campaigning

Precaution trap is normative (benefits matter)

Coffee, cars, mobile phones, Botox have high perceived benefits – no threat of precaution

But so do cosmetics, detergents, disinfectants

Avoid risk-response reflex and focus on benefits




Chemical contextualisation (toxic equivalents)

Communicate on toxic equivalents

Toxicity / dose for most chemicals are insignificant

Natural EDs higher than synthetic (soy, coffee)

Put scientific language into common public understanding (vulgarisation)

Need to break the natural – synthetic prejudice




Play the emotional card

Cannot battle emotion (fear) with reason. Base emotions always win

Try moral arguments via 3rd parties

Try benefit communications

Try outrage when NGOs cross the line – focus on hypocrisy/deaths




Use the Overwhelming Argument

Dogmatists need purity

If you make 20 arguments at once, they will have to concede a few

Play middle ground. They will see the foolishness of NGO puritanism

Most want reassurance they’re OK




Try to tactfully ignore when activists set traps

Social media silos (tribes) stay largely isolated

Reacting to campaigns adds legitimacy

One million signatures = 0.2% of EU population

Many campaigns run into attention fatigue – don’t extend their shelf-life




Use ridicule

Nobody likes to be called stupid

Best done via 3rd parties, bloggers

Aim at middle ground to generate fear of dogmatists, anti-science

Can involve fear-raising of loss of benefits (against chemophobes)




Adjust to social media realities – activise staff

Social media is viral by nature – industry needs to get away from the cascade communications model

An industry with millions of voices should not have dozens of social media actors - communities

Create a handbook with rules for all industry employees to engage on social media, blogs …




Provide clear policy reform alternatives (vision)

Promote a strategic plan (10 steps) for innovation

Provide a clear place for precaution within the EU policy process, if and only after ALARA has failed

Create a structure to ensure equal engagement in policy process – stop the industry witch-hunt


A lasting memory

Industry does not frequently work in harmony, within each industry or along supply chain

Industry though shares many common concepts

ALARA as the main risk management tool

Product Stewardship / continuous improvement

Use of best available techniques / science

These share one common feature: Reasonableness

Many NGO campaigns are quite unreasonable


#LetsBeReasonable

Proposed campaign to refocus discussions on benefits and a trust in humans to be reasonable

Implication: Activist campaigns are not reasonable

Reasonableness is common sense – a plea for sanity

Aims at middle ground


#LetsBeReasonable

Some parting advice

Create a campaign to root out irrational arguments

Extend across industries (chemical, fossil fuels, biotech, pharma, cosmetics, plastics)

Engage academe to participate, science bloggers


Thank You and Good Luck

David Zaruk

twitter: @zaruk

The Risk-Monger

www.risk-monger.com

Navigating the Activist Playbook

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