PR isn’t generally associated with truth-telling, and I’ll confess to having previously engaged in my fair share of spin. But as misinformation runs rampant across the internet, leaks into mainstream media, and helps shape who people vote for and what medicines they take, PR teams can and must become champions of truth. We need to build the skills to tackle misinformation, whether it’s to protect people’s health, or simply to defend a client’s hard-won reputation.

Over the past few years, I’ve seen first-hand how powerful bad-faith actors can use disinformation to stifle a young industry – and how it’s possible to challenge them through PR.

At the Good Food Institute Europe, we’re working to build a more sustainable, secure and just food system by advancing plant-based and cultivated meat. Current meat production is driving climate change, environmental destruction, public health challenges and food insecurity. But people love meat – so, instead of asking people to give up their favourite foods, we’re supporting research and policy change so meat can be produced in more sustainable ways.

To say people love meat is an understatement. What we eat is deeply personal, connecting us with our heritage and helping to define our cultures and our landscapes. And behind it stands one of Europe’s most powerful industries. So the mere suggestion that there might be a better way of making sausages and steaks can trigger serious backlash.

In recent years, plant-based and cultivated meat have been name-called, misrepresented, subject to bizarre speculation and lies about production methods, falsely connected with cancer, and wrapped up in conspiracy theories like ‘The Great Reset’. In Italy, a disinformation-driven campaign by a powerful farmers’ group led to a government ban on cultivated meat before a single company had applied to sell it anywhere in Europe. Such attacks threaten to hold back Europe’s progress in reducing climate emissions, restoring our environment and protecting public health.

Injecting balance

As a small nonprofit, we haven’t been able to stop falsehoods from circulating, but we have been able to inject balance into the public conversation, and we’ve learned a lot about how to apply PR skills to combat misinformation.

As with any communications crisis, knowing when to engage and when to let a story fizzle out has been essential. When influential organisations like farmers’ unions and seemingly credible people like doctors have shared misinformation, we have taken action. But when a false claim has come from an unreputable source, like far-right conspiracists, we’ve found it best to ignore them.

Monitoring these sources has been important, however, as more respected groups have sometimes gone on to use watered-down versions of their messages. In fact, there have been times when it’s been helpful to mention that misinformation shared from a seemingly credible source has also been referenced as part of discredited conspiracy theories.

While silence can sometimes be the best response, it is crucial to avoid information vacuums. If major questions about a topic go unanswered (such as “how is cultivated meat made?”), misinformation can easily fill the void. We’re fortunate in that plant-based and cultivated meat are relatively new concepts to most people – so we’ve often been the first to share information about them in a given language. But even if your subject is common knowledge, it can’t hurt to be transparent and make answers to obvious questions easily available.

A discreet approach

If misinformation does take root, it can be tempting to shout the truth as loudly as others shout the lie – but we’ve found a more discreet approach can be effective. Using our relationships with journalists, influencers and policymakers, it can be possible to reduce the spread of the misinformation on mainstream channels and to ensure those in thought leadership roles share accurate content instead.

Regardless of the audience, carefully framing those facts is essential for making the truth stick. It’s well known now that myth-busters are often ineffective, so we place the emphasis on what is accurate and frame this in a way that fits with people’s existing worldviews. Rather than saying “plant-based meat is not bad for the climate”, for example, we’ll say “plant-based meat could reduce climate emissions by up to 94%”. And we’ll design our messaging to tap into the relevant audience’s values – which for some might mean talking about the need to protect the environment, while for others it might be about supporting green economic growth. We’ve found tailoring content like this makes facts far more likely to resonate.

Often, misinformation is stated in simple and certain terms, like “cultivated meat is bad for the environment”. The truth is often messier: large-scale cultivated meat production doesn’t yet exist, so we can’t be certain what its environmental impacts will be – but most of the literature points towards significant reductions in emissions and resource use compared with today’s meat production.

It can be tempting to brush over this nuance and fight misinformation with spin – whether by hitting back with exaggerated claims about the other side, or refusing to acknowledge any grain of truth in the lie. But to maintain trusted relationships with the thought leaders who can help us disseminate the facts, it’s important to build a reputation for honesty.

Nuanced truth can be effective

It’s true that oversimplification is part of what gives misinformation its power: it makes it easy for people to remember and build into their worldviews. But we’ve found that responding to the simple lie with nuanced truth can be very effective, and helps to reduce polarisation. Refraining from saying we’re right and they’re wrong, and instead saying it’s complicated but we’re optimistic, can help to disarm the misinformation and create space for more open-minded discussion.

Research shows that correcting misinformation is incredibly difficult, and that it’s far better to prevent people from hearing it in the first place, or to pre-warn people to be sceptical about what they’re about to read. But in the real world, that’s almost impossible. PR teams have the skills to know when to respond to misinformation, how to make the truth appealing, and how to ensure facts attract attention. We should be champions of truth.