I came across data from the General Social Survey via Frank Rich's op-ed piece today in the NYT. Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight provides nice commentary on it so I won't repeat it here (and the Comments are worth studying too). For those social marketing and communications people who attempt to figure out who are people's trusted sources of information (or see the chart for where your own organization stands), the trends and absolute values today are pretty sobering.
The Edelman 2009 Trust Barometer provides more validation of the fall of the organization:
- Nearly two-thirds of informed publics (62%) trust corporations less than they did a year ago.
- Only 38% said they trust business to do what is right -- a 20% plunge since last year -- and only 17% said they trust information from a company's CEO.
Other findings from the Trust Barometer find that people want government intervention to
regulate industry or nationalize companies to restore public trust by a 3:1 margin. In
the major Western European economies of the U.K, France, and Germany,
three-quarters say that government should step in to prevent future
financial crises (73%, 75%, and 74%, respectively); in the United
States, not even half (49%) say that the free market should be allowed
to function independently. Globally, the call for government
intervention also extends to issues like energy costs, global warming,
and access to affordable healthcare, as respondents, by at least a 2:1
margin, say government has the primary responsibility for solving these
issues. But business must collaborate: Two-thirds (66%) expect business
to partner with governments and advocacy groups to solve these issues [Ed Note: sounds like a popular endorsement of a Total Market Approach].
And the report also finds that people say they must hear something at least 3-5 times about a company before they believe it (positive or negative). Now that is food for thought!
Comments