Today is election day in the U.S., a day that has created so much anxiety for all of us…even if you don’t live here. I know everyone around the world is watching this with bated breath. While I don’t expect we’ll have a clear Presidential winner tonight, we’ll begin to understand what the next four years will entail.
This has been tough, like eight years ago and again four years ago. Because of what we do for a living, our beliefs are on the side of truth, transparency, inclusivity, professional ethics, and civil discourse. But our jobs have been complicated by the fact that we live in a world where there is an entire Wikipedia page that details all of the lies a certain candidate made (an average of six per day!) during his years as president, and one where traditionally trusted organizations like FEMA have to create entire websites dedicated to dispelling rumors.
It’s made our professional lives much more complicated. Scholars and journalists have called it “Post-Truth America,” which is what we’re dealing with as we traverse the mis-, dis-, and malinformation that affects our organizations.
How Clorox Handled Distorted Truth
We live in an era that fundamentally challenges everything we know about professional communications. When the Oxford Dictionary defined “post-truth” as circumstances where “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief,” they weren’t just naming a phenomenon—they were describing our daily reality.
Objective facts are less influential. I just cannot.
The Clorox Company’s experience during the early pandemic offers one of the best examples of how quickly truth can become distorted in our modern information environment.
In early 2020, they were at the center of an unprecedented crisis. First, Trump’s televised speculation about injecting disinfectants led to a surge of dangerous misinformation about household cleaning products. Within hours, Clorox and other cleaning product manufacturers had to respond rapidly to prevent potential harm to consumers.
But this was just the beginning of their challenges. Demand for disinfectant products skyrocketed because, you know, we wiped down everything before it came into our homes, including boxes and grocery bags. Their sales jumped 500% year-over-year, which created a multi-faceted crisis.
Their response became a masterclass in modern crisis communication. They:
- Launched a rapid-response digital campaign focusing on proper product use and safety.
- Created clear, shareable infographics that combined scientific information with simple safety messages.
- Established a dedicated COVID-19 portal with regularly updated information about product availability.
- Partnered with public health officials to amplify correct usage guidelines.
- Implemented real-time social media monitoring to identify and counter misinformation quickly.
- Maintained transparent communication about supply chain challenges and production capabilities.
What made their response particularly effective was their understanding that they weren’t just fighting misinformation—they were racing against time to prevent potential harm to public health. They combined authoritative scientific information with emotional resonance, acknowledging public fears while providing clear, actionable guidance.
Their communication team worked closely with their scientific experts to translate complex chemical safety information into accessible content. They used multiple channels to reach different audiences.
The company also took the unusual step of publicly announcing that it would not be able to meet demand until 2021, choosing radical transparency over optimistic messaging. This decision, while potentially risky from a business perspective, helped build long-term trust with consumers and partners.
It’s Important to Be More than Right
This isn’t an isolated incident. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 63% of respondents believe business leaders purposefully mislead people by saying things they know are false. This erosion of trust fundamentally changes every aspect of our work.
Again. I just cannot.
To navigate this landscape effectively, we have to fully understand what we’re dealing with. Information disorders come in three distinct forms—what I like to call the three-headed monster of modern communication.
First, there’s misinformation. This is false information shared without harmful intent, like when an employee shares an outdated company policy on social media. Then there’s disinformation. This is deliberately created fake news meant to cause harm, such as competitors spreading rumors about a company’s financial stability. Finally, there’s malinformation. This is true information shared out of context to cause harm, like internal emails leaked without proper context.
When dealing with this environment, it’s not enough to simply be right—you need to be right in a way that resonates and spreads.
The cost of getting this wrong is staggering. A study by the Harris Poll found that 52% of companies reported losing revenue due to misinformation, with an average cost of $1.2 million per incident. But this goes far beyond financial losses. Organizations also see decreased employee morale, lost partnerships, reduced customer trust, and increased security risks.
Modern Truth-Based Communications
So, how do we build a modern truth-based communications strategy?
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this during this election cycle. Even when presented with facts, human beings don’t always care or believe them to be true. We all have biases and opinions, and we seek information supporting those beliefs. So when we are presented with something that goes against our beliefs, even if it is fact-based and true, we don’t always believe it.
This human nature makes our jobs even more challenging, doesn’t it?
It starts with the understanding that we need both proactive and reactive capabilities. It’s up to us to do regular truth audits of all communication channels, establish consistent fact-checking protocols, build strong relationships with authoritative sources, and maintain clear brand positioning on truth and transparency.
At the same time, we need rapid response teams, pre-approved message templates, established verification processes, and sophisticated media monitoring systems.
How to Prevent Fires Before They Start
So, a truth audit. I know many of you are thinking, “Ug. Really, Gini? One more thing?”
The answer is yes, but they’re not as horrible as they sound. Think of it as spring cleaning for your content, except you’re doing it quarterly because, well, things move fast these days. You need to check everything: that website content you haven’t updated since 2019 (don’t pretend you don’t have any), those social media profiles where your intern got creative with the company description, the images the intern used from the internet without realizing you could get sued for that, and yes, even that media kit you’ve been meaning to update.
Here’s how to make it manageable:
- Make a checklist. Yes, an actual checklist. Not a mental note, not a “we should probably…” list. A real, written-down checklist of every single piece of content your organization owns. It’s painful at first, but trust me, future you will be grateful.
- Assign owners. Make sure everyone knows exactly what they’re responsible for and when it needs to be done. Give them deadlines.
- Document everything. When a reporter calls asking about that thing someone said three months ago, you’ll want to know exactly what was checked, when, and by whom. It doesn’t have to be fancy—a simple spreadsheet will do (though if you want to get fancy with project management software, knock yourself out).
The Fact-Checking Protocol
You know how someone higher up has wanted to post something RIGHT NOW because it’s “timely,” and suddenly you’re supposed to verify three years’ worth of data in three minutes? I know it’s not just me! This is why you need a system that’s both thorough and fast.
Create a verification flowchart:
- Initial gut check—does this pass the “does this sound totally bonkers?” test?
- Source check
- Expert check
- Legal check
- Final approval
Building Your Source Network
Here’s a fun fact: experts love it when you build relationships with them BEFORE you need them at 11 p.m. on a Friday.
Start building your network of:
- Industry experts
- Academic types
- Research organizations
- Government contacts
- Trade associations
- Fact-checkers
The Reactive Stuff
Now it’s time to build your rapid response team. It should consist of:
- A leader who can keep their cool when everything’s on fire
- A legal eagle who doesn’t always say no
- Someone who understands what your company does
- A social media guru who knows the difference between a real crisis and a Twitter tantrum
- Someone who can write faster than a caffeinated cheetah
- A media person who actually returns phone calls
And yes, you need backups for all of these people because crises don’t care about vacation schedules.
Create Templates
I know templates can feel like cheating. They’re not. They’re sanity-savers. You should have templates for:
- The “yes, we know something’s happening” post
- The “we messed up, we’re fixing it” statement
- The “here’s what we know so far” update
- The “no, that viral post about our CEO and the flamingo isn’t true” clarification
Just remember to actually customize them when you use them. Nothing says “we don’t really care” quite like forgetting to fill in the [INCIDENT DETAILS HERE] placeholder.
Media Monitoring
If you don’t already, set up alerts for:
- Your company name (and common misspellings because people are creative)
- Your executives
- Your products
- Your industry
- Your competitors
- Phrases such as “I hate <insert product name>” or “I hate <insert company name>”
Set Aside Some Budget
Yes, you do need to have budget. It drives me crazy when execs think our job can be done on completely free tools. Just like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. You should budget for:
- Monitoring tools: I personally like a combination of Brand24 and Truescope for social and media monitoring.
- Training: In many cases, crisis training can straddle the truth and transparency work. Check out the Crisis Ready Institute.
- Agency backup: It’s always nice to have an expert or agency on speed dial who will charge you only when something is brewing or for training. At the very least, make friends with someone with this kind of experience (cough, cough…you know where to find me).
- Tech stuff: Some of the tech I like for this type of stuff includes:
- Buffer for social media management
- Airtable or Notion for digital asset management
- In Case of Crisis for crisis preparedness
- Muck Rack or Prowly for media database
- CoverageBook for tracking media coverage
- Tableau, PowerBI, or Looker Studio for analytics
- ClickUp for project management
- Slack or Teams for team collaboration
Keeping It All Running
With all of that set up and audited, you need to keep things running.
Every month, check your systems, update your templates, make sure your contact list is current, and have a team meeting to focus solely on correcting mis-, dis-, and malinformation about your company.
Every quarter, do your truth audit, run a crisis drill, and review what’s working and what isn’t.
And once a year, review everything. Figure out what you need to change, justify your budget, and celebrate that you made it another year without a major crisis (or survived the ones you had).
The role of emotional intelligence in truth-based communication cannot be overstated. We’re not just fighting false information—we’re dealing with why people believe and share it.
And, if you haven’t already, make sure you vote today!
