Seventy percent of respondents want brands to help curb the spread of fake news and 68 percent want brands to protect them from offensive content.
CEO Richard Edelman calls brands the new hope for consumers battered by populism, rapid change and societal discontent.
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On his 6 A.M. blog, he wrote: “Brands are an alternative democracy because consumers feel they can vote with their wallet or cellphone and can control their relationship with a brand more easily than dealing with a polarized, paralyzed government.”
The firm’s poll is a Special Edelman Trust Barometer prepared for the Cannes Lions International Festivity of Creativity.
It found a serious lack of confidence in social media throughout the world. “This is a cry from the heart; people are scared,” Edelman blogged. “They are outraged about the violation of their privacy, and uncertain about the truth because of the plague of fake news.
The Special Report shows trust in social media has been specifically damaged by identity theft (71 percent), fake news (69 percent) cyberbullying and hate speech (69 percent).
Edelman believes consumers don’t want to give up on social media because the platforms have become a big part of their lives.
He wrote: “But they want a New Deal with the platforms. Be transparent with me about what you are doing, including clear identification of sponsorship. Give me control over my purchase data and my demographics, with explicit privacy options at each step. Offer me information that I can believe and protect me from noxious content. Give me a public place to talk back to you, and I will then hold you accountable for substantive change.”
People expect brands to have values, and not just a value proposition, according to Edelman. "That’s why consumers are counting on brands to preserve social media and to protect them from exploitation," he wrote. "Brands and social media platforms must treat consumers as an equal partner in solving the problem."
The number of stakeholders and issues that affect almost every business decision is turning CEOs into “corporate diplomats," according to a report from Edelman.
Almost two-thirds of the chief communications officers (65.9 percent) surveyed in a new study from Page say that the scope of their job has expanded over the past two years.
Ask any practitioner or academic, and they’ll tell you that not only is public relations one of the least understood professions in the world, but it also has a lingering odor about it, a stigma, a bad reputation. This has, and will continue to be, a problem for the field. But have you ever asked yourself why, and when, these anxieties about PR became widespread, and if, or how, they may be justified?
Zara is the most recommended brand in the U.S., according to a new survey conducted by research data and analytics group YouGov.
In a healthcare environment suffering from what often seems like too much information, doctors have become just one item on a menu of patient choices—and not always the most significant one, according to a new study from Edelman and the Yale School of Public Health.
