Kidnap insurers offer cancel culture safety net in a social media storm

It has become a familiar reaction. Discuss the fall from grace of a celebrity or sports star or a well-known business figure and often, there will be a shake of the head. They know someone who suffered the same.

In my case, I can think of a senior banker who said something untoward at an office party. Out. Career over. Or the TV executive friend who asked a colleague out on a date. She gave what he thought was an ambiguous answer so he tried again. Gone. Ruined.

Now, from a leading PR agency working with an insurance firm that normally specialises in kidnap and ransom and personal security and accident cover is the offer of an antidote. Yes, you can buy a policy that offers 60-day crisis and reputation management work to manage the negative media and social media coverage.

It’s a new way of addressing a personal or professional sideswipe that can happen to anyone at any time. After all, the collapse when it comes is usually too calamitous for those at the eye of the storm. Their world crashes in; they are drowning.

If they are high profile, and that does not mean famous but well-known in their field, such as a chief executive, the media will come knocking and knocking. Not only for them but for their relatives, friends, work colleagues, customers and investors. Social media will go crazy. They will be caught in a tidal wave, one which they will be wholly unprepared and unequipped to deal with – at what may well be the worst moment in their life.

Professional disasters averted

It's hard to remain calm and focused. The tendency is to panic, to say the wrong thing, to make a bad situation worse and possibly unrecoverable. Look at Gregg Wallace. Accused of behaving badly off camera by former contestants, the MasterChef co-presenter compounded his misfortune. On his own or at least ignoring any PR assistance that was offered, the former vegetable stall trader published a statement, saying his accusers were “middle-class women of a certain age”. The result was a personal disaster. Those who were prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt recanted. It is unlikely he will front a TV programme again.

Imagine if Wallace had been trained. He may have curbed his antics. He could have been prepared. Once the complaints were made, he would have received considered, professional advice from experienced professionals. The outcome might have been different. Wallace is but one example. With the advent and hardening of “cancel culture” and “culture wars” there are thousands like him in all manner of scenarios worldwide.

It's not going away. Donald Trump may have become US president and he may be signalling a more relaxed approach on high, but folk continue to be “cancelled”. This week, in the UK, the newspaper and social media are awash with an opera star facing calls for his TV series, which is currently airing, to be postponed because of something he is once supposed to have said.

If anything, the threats are going to worsen and become scarier. “Bot farms” have sprung up, rapidly spreading false information about a person to damage them deliberately or to divert attention away from someone else.

There has been precious little that could be done to mitigate it, until now. A leading London comms agency has launched the world’s first insurance policy to cover the costs of PR in a personal reputational crisis. Borkowski, headed by Mark Borkowski, will protect against the fallout. Called Preempt, his offer has been developed with the Lloyd’s of London-backed insurer, Samphire Risk. Under the scheme, a client will receive 60 days of work from Borkowski’s crisis and reputational management team to manage the negative media and social media coverage.

They will be covered too for dealing with misinformation, deepfakes, attempts at extortion and blackmail, and family issues. The policyholder will also receive research, monitoring and training designed to prevent a shock in advance. As soon as they detect trouble before it has gone public, they can call a “crisis hotline” to receive guidance.

Social media lifebelt

It’s not designed for those who have broken the law or have committed wrongdoing. It’s aimed at people who are worried about their words being taken out of context or subjected to “spin”.

Previously, the only solution was to pay a retainer to a specialist PR adviser. But they might not be called upon and it can prove expensive. Or to appoint an adviser when the tsunami hits. But that can absorb urgent, valuable time.

The tendency, as well, is to reach for the lawyer. But smart as they may be, lawyers only know about the law – they are not versed in coping with raging media and social media. They do not know how journalists and commentators behave; they’ve not been required to handle an ill-judged social media post or WhatsApp message that’s gone viral.

Preempt is also a partnership with Merrill Herzog, the crisis management firm, and RepuTitan, the risk management company; both will provide support. As with standard insurance products, a would-be client will be assessed to decide the level of cover and the cost.

Borkowski said: “One negative media story or social media pile-on can, overnight, destroy a reputation that’s taken decades to build. The professional, financial, personal and psychological fallout from these incidents can be catastrophic. Being in the public eye has never been so precarious, but many are totally unprepared and act too late to save their reputation. Preempt is a service unlike anything else in terms of offering those concerned about their reputation or legacy peace of mind in an increasingly challenging world.”

There is undoubtedly a sad aspect to this. As Borkowski said: “Social media turbocharges any reaction and spreads it around the world in seconds.” It’s also filling a need. We live “in an age where a single tweet can destroy a lifetime of credibility – think of Chrissy Teigen’s cancellation over resurfaced messages – this is the insurance against digital volatility.”

Sad but at least here is a lifebelt.

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