Active Measures and Scandal
Do MNCs use Soviet propaganda techniques to improve damage control?
When MNCs find themselves in hot water, it does not seem to be an unfair assumption that preservation of their profits is a high priority. Damage control is thereby also a high priority. Damage control involves the spreading of a message, that counters or otherwise softens the repercussions of the truth. In terms of expertise for spreading counter-information, few have the prowess and experience that could even begin to match Russia/The Soviet Union (except maybe the USA). The KGB and its successor, the FSB have maintained efforts to spread misinformation since their inception through a program called “Active Measures” and its successor programs (US Information Agency 1992). Currently one of the most effective “Active Measures” is the international TV network Russia Today (RT). This widely available TV channel, (not) so secretly funded (Pisnia 2017) by the FSB is a pristine example of how to effectively spread misinformation, through the use of some of the key tenants for doing this as developed through the “Active Measures” program. RT very effectively showcases one of the key tenants for creating plausible misinformation, through wrapping the misinformation around a “kernel of truth”. The kernel of truth in RT’s case is the accurate, high quality reporting they tend to do on a daily basis. The misinformation is mixed in between this high quality reporting so as to create an air of truth. Denial is another key facet of “Active Measures” as exemplified by Vladimir Putin’s consistent and unforgiving denial of things that would otherwise seem trivially obvious such as the “Little Green Men” invasion of Crimea and even denied that flight MH-17 was shot down by a surface to air missile system supplied to pro-Russian separatists by Russia but instead claimed it was shot down by Ukrainian fighter jets. To many of us in the west, such denial seems pointless but it creates enough doubt for plausible deniability to exist.
We move then from Soviet/Russian propaganda to scandalous MNCs and specifically Nestle and its baby formula scandal. Did Nestle, inadvertently or otherwise, use at least some of the core tenants of “Active Measures” in an attempt to subvert the truth and protect profits? Anecdotally, it seems plausible. Beginning with the mixing of misinformation around a kernel of truth. Nestle payed nurses or actors pretending to be them, to be go into hospitals and spread the notion that formula was better for infants than their mother’s milk. So wrapped around a kernel of truth, namely, the medical authority and bearer of truth that the title of nurse can bestow upon someone (especially in LDC’s where common medical knowledge is unlikely to be strong). Through this technique of sewing truth and lies into the same narrative, and then using denial to create enough doubt, Nestle can be seen to have carried out a very effective Soviet style campaign.
We see then that MNC’s are able to, inadvertently or otherwise create truthful narratives with misinformation woven in combined with the outward denial from the MNC itself that anything is going on, in essence recreates a soviet style misinformation campaign that can be remarkably effective. In the case of Nestle, we see the effectiveness through the lens that not only do they still operate as the same corporate entity, but their profits grow on a year to year basis. In concluding, we see that propaganda, like many other things, is no longer and has not been for some time, a proprietary function of the nation state, but rather a tool for any organization to use to advance their interests.
Bibliography
Pisnia, N. (2017, November 15). Why has RT registered as a foreign agent with the US? Retrieved April 3, 2019, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41991683
US Information Agency. (1992, June). Soviet Active Measures in the “Post-Cold War” Era 1988-1991. Retrieved April 3, 2019, from http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/pcw_era/index.htm#Contents