Prebunking, a proactive practice
The greatest asset of any company or organization is public confidence and one of its greatest threats is disinformation. That’s why I encourage communications teams to invest in the practice of prebunking.
While it sounds like something you do when booking a cruise, prebunking is a proactive communication practice where an organization anticipates and pre-emptively responds to misleading information and narratives. The goal is to help the public identify misinformation when they eventually see it. When used effectively, prebunking eliminates the need to debunk false claims and information.
Prebunking does not require a crystal ball. Companies and organizations are usually aware of common misunderstandings about their values, work and activities. Their communications teams will already be on the outlook for emerging threats online. When those employees spot a falsehood they will:
assess its spread and reach,
research the source of the misinformation and,
analyze its potential impact.
The team would make its recommendations to senior leadership, which may include taking no action at all.
Prebunking emerged out of inoculation theory. First explored in the early 1960s, inoculation theory found that people can be psychologically prepared to resist persuasion. The theory exploded in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high volume of online medical quackery about the virus and vaccines. The first use of the word ‘prebunking’ that I could find was in the January 2020 journal article, Prebunking interventions based on ‘inoculation’ theory can reduce susceptibility to misinformation across cultures.
“The main premise of our approach is that fake news stories themselves constantly change and evolve so building immunity against the underlying tactics of misinformation is a more durable strategy,” wrote authors Jon Roozenbeek, Sander van der Linden and Thomas Nygren.
It’s time to illustrate this with a scenario, where the communication and senior leadership teams at a cookie factory brainstorm issues worth prebunking. Among them are the hot topics of shrinkflation and skimpflation. Shrinkflation is the practice of selling less food in the same packaging for the same price. Examples of skimpflation include a food manufacturer using fewer raisins in an oatmeal cookie or swapping some ingredients for cheaper alternatives. Both practices leave consumers feeling cheated.
Let’s say one member of the communications team has spotted a fresh post on Instagram from a “Dadfluencer” who bought the company’s oatmeal cookies. He claims his kid, who is allergic to soy protein, got violently ill after eating an entire package of 24 cookies. The man claims his son is a victim of skimpflation because the company recently started using soybean oil instead of canola oil.
Senior leaders agree this topic is worth prebunking because the company did recently start using soybean oil. The communications team returns with social media messaging for all platforms and the landing page of the company website. The posts express pride in using 100% Canadian soybean oil, which is safe for people allergic to soy because it is highly refined[i]. And yes, I would include the footnote to third-party research.
Transparency is always a wise investment. In this case, prebunking would equip customers with knowledge that inoculates them against misinformation and false claims about allergens and soybean oil. If you would like to read more about inoculation theory, I recommend checking out Psychological Inoculation against Misinformation: Current Evidence and Future Directions.[ii] It provides an excellent overview of all research to date.
[i] https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(03)03157-9/fulltext
[ii] Traberg, C. S., Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2022). Psychological Inoculation against Misinformation: Current Evidence and Future Directions. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 700(1), 136-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221087936
