Professional information attacks

Let us examine each of these types of attacks consistently. At first lets look how to protect against professional attacks. Of course, the professional attack is very destructive, and people who are not having a special training can not fight back. Many people think: «I have everything under control. The authorities are my friends. The press, too. No one else will want to fight with me. However, this is an overconfidence. Even in a completely totalitarian state, with the thoroughly controlled press, you can successfully make black PR against the people of authority. And it is not always necessary to use the press, because there is an alternative information media as well. Sometimes it is enough to write something on the fence or drop a letter in a single inbox. As long as people do not sit in separate cells and interact with each other – always possible to come up with a new way to share information. There is an interesting case. The large number of political prisoners were put in, but in different cells. One of them had a red shirt, he was pulling out the threads from it, and then catching the flies and putting that threads to them. Very soon the flies were flying with red threads, and the whole prison sang song «International» (a Russian national songof communist parties). Even in cells it was possible for human to disseminate the information.

Even the most advanced systems of organization of human society have a lot of holes that can be used for almost anything.

You have to identify the professional attack at an early stage.That is why, first of all you need to determine whether it is a professional attack, or it is something else. To identify the professional attack, use the following initial signs of attack:

• If you see that the enemy is trying to spread any doubts about you, but does not using direct incriminating evidence, then there may be a professional attack.

· If in what he is trying to doubt about, it is really one of the key features of your product, it may also indicate a professional approach.

· If you’ve found that the source of attack is a PR-agency or PR-specialists, it also indirectly confirms that it is the professional attack.

· Try to understand how long is the term of an attack. If you understand that this is the beginning of a large process, it’s likely that this is a professional attack.

• If the attack based on three basic components, which is a competitor, a professional PR-specialists and organizations, this attack can be professional.

Of course, there are no unique identifiers for such attacks. But with the above grounds you can understand which kind of attack you’re dealing with.

Now let’s look at how to counterattack the professional black PR. You must learn the techniques of attack and source of the attack and find out as much information about the attacker. To study the attacking side, you can refer to the detective agency. Usually it is much easier to win with having sufficient information about your enemy. With the analysis of information, you will be able to see what information about you will be used by the opponents.

Never begin to refute directly distributed information about you immediately. Very often, a direct refutation of the attack, can simply increase the efficiency of the actions of black PR, which are directed against you. No matter how obvious is your denials, there might not be enough to eliminate the doubts arising from the target audience. Rising of doubts is often the goal of PR-campaign.The information used for black PR is usually very hard to verify, and the more its verification is not available. Your arguments are not absolutely conclusive, if the audience itself will undertake to verify the information, and, as a rule, it wont be able to do so due the hidden inomation by professionals of black PR. This is a fundamental difference between mass communication and private spheres. If in-person exposed face arguments can persuade people of something, it is not always in the same way with a large group of people reading the newspaper or watching TV.

Method disorganization attacks

There are lots of methods of fighting off the information attacks. One of the methods is based on your participation in the attack of your enemy. We call this method – the method of false target. While the enemy looking for some compromate, you start attack rough. You throw off the information about youself in the source of your opponent. For example, information that youremployees are porn stash of drug dealers, and the CEO is a prostitute. It doesn’t look truthfull and In this mass of sensational accusations your enemy will look absurd. When you do so, the target group will develop immunity, and you kinda getting vaccinated against an attack.

A few years ago, the company LEGO got an information attack from the competitors. In response parents of children using LEGO toys, went to the association of parents of one of the European countries. And the parents said in court thet LEGO accusing them of using the characters in advertising agitating children to become racing drivers and drug dealers. Shortly before, there was an advertisement, where a character in the style of LEGO drives dashing among the toys at a very high speed. According to the parents, children are campaigning to race and be at risk.

Many try to buy a certain individuals to achieve positive results. However, we must realize that this is not always possible. In any case, it is impossible in professional black PR-campaign. Such an attempt of bribing instantly turns against you.

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Example. Good Idea trashes poor Ikea.

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The IKEA in Moscow was in a such situation. The city administration did not like something about IKEA, and against IKEA a Black PR-campaign was done for few times. Once the guards beat IKEA customer who was trying to leave through the front door. The fact is that in IKEA the entrance is in one place, and the exit is in the other, and in order to reach the exit you hwill ave to go across the hall and get acquainted with all the goods. So, basically, no one can get out of there without shopping. But this same method of merchandising affects mood of a buyer in some negative way as well, that is why that customer crossed the entrance and felt bad. He ran back to the entrance. However, he could not exit. Then he began to try strength, and as the result he was caught and beaten by the guards. The buyer inspected beatings and wrote down a report to the police. A well-known broadcaster noticed this case and devoted a few TV shows on the central TV. TV presenter mentioned that «the Russian person was beaten in the Swedish store» and in one of the shows he called the Department of Public Relations and IKEA began to talk about it. 40 minutes PR manager was trying to justify the situation in various ways, but in the end of the conversation offered to meet up with management and try to negotiate. This, of course, was immediately turned against IKEA.

The activity of Moscow IKEA itself is a whole collection of PR-errors. Perhaps it is due to a weak PR-staff, or possible unavailability of Swedish firm to the Russian mentality. If the Swede is clear that when the red light it is red, then to the Russian red light is not always red. Only when the decision was made on the construction of IKEA, the group organized a series of meetings of pensioners against the construction of Swedish store next to a memorial of the Great Patriotic War. Manual IKEA wrote about it, it’s just a black PR against IKEA. As a result of publication of this fact was five times greater, and retirees who hate IKEA, a hundred times more.

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One of the famous guards of President Yeltsin was charged in connection with a prostitute in the sauna. The video was shown by several TV channels. And it seriously damaged his image. However, the method of false targets can be used to neutralize the information. This man had to find a twin or someone uwho can look like him by using a make up. Then he needed to take a picture of him naked and put this picture in Playboy or similar magazine with some famous porn star. Then say, «Yes, I do have a twin. It is necessary for my safety, exactly when I am in public. Moreover, I have even a few twins, not one. "But it is difficult to keep track of them, and so some of them deal with this. Given the fact that twins of the chief of the secret person they can not even be shown.

Professional information attack directed, usually, to the key properties of your product. However, if you can achieve what his main force it would avoid most of the impacts of black PR.

Flash method

Another method of neutralization the black PR is the method of Flash. Creates an event that is directly related to your company, but completely overbrightness the information attack directed against you. How to implement this method is shown in the movie «Wag the Dog.» To overshadow the negative information that the enemy wanted to spread against the U.S. president, the president created this PR war with Albania. They start a real war, but merely mimic warfare. A similar method is tried to apply by PR of President Clinton. When the conflict began with Monica Lewicki, suddenly the conflkit with Yugoslavia was formed. Clinton also suddenly broke his leg and was going to an international meetings in a wheelchair.

The method allows you to translate the flash of publicity in a completely different plane, and is equally well applicable to both of big business and politics, and for a small shops as well. To implement the method of the flash it is necessary to consider two things:

• Create event should be much brighter than the bizarre and the one that created by your opponent. It must literally dazzle your audience.

• Create an event must lie in the other sphere of an information.

· It must be non-negative.

It may seem that these techniques do not apply to small businesses, but they do. Imagine that in a small little village there is a cobbler Vasya and the whole village is mending his boots. But Fedor argued with Vasya, because of women Nura and started spreading the news that the Vasya is not properly repairing the boots. He did not to say anything, but he was just walking around with a torn boot and when he was asked why is he going around in torn boots, he was replying, that Vasya repaired his boots, but something quickly fell off. If he did the right thing, the people would start doubt the cobbler Vasya and will mend shoes somewhere else. What significant events can Vasya make:

· Create a large boot. So big that it was rumored he was placed in the Guinness Book of Records Russia or Guinness.

· Make elegant shoes allegedly commissioned by the famous artist. And in fact, it should be amazing shoes. If she comes to the village, the reputation of Vasya will be guarantly fixed.

· Marry Nura.

· Find his brother who has been lost many years ago.

Very often, the firm’s lawyers are asking the leadership to speak in a court against the press on the immediate offenders. If the information has not been published – it is a really a good method. But when you act like this against a professional, well-trained black PR practitioner, it is practically useless and dangerous measure. Since almost always in black PR it is used only truthful information, or one that could be true fand or no possibility of verification, to prove something in court becomes almost impossible. Moreover, even proving the case in court, you can not get rid of the doubts by target audience. At one time, in the cans of Pepsi-Cola people startedto find the needles. Through the courts, they have proved something, but sales still fell in a few months. They certainly managed to stop the process of finding needles, but it was unable to neutralize the harmful effects of the company’s image.