There’s one field supposedly immune from public relations spin, and that’s economic markets. Traders make decisions based on underlying fundamentals, and people invest their money on the same basis.
However, the rationality of the markets is wildly overrated. Yesterday, we saw the Dow Jones plummet by 1,000 points (before recovering to a loss of “only” 300) based on a cascading set of fears triggered by a computer error.
Supposedly, when a trader in Chicago transmitted a sell order for a billion instead of a million, computer algorithms set in leading to a broad-based sell off. But humans were complicit as well, causing a panic and much consternation.
In general, financial markets may provide independent evaluation of various companies, currencies and national economic health, but they are not immune from bubbles and busts as we have observed all too clearly during the past few years. Investors are misled by feelings, stoked by unethical public relations campaigns designed to create a false impression.
Does this mean that public relations is bad per se? Of course not. Like any powerful tool, public relations can be used for good or evil. It can spread joy, inform people and create a more prosperous society. When used for more nefarious purposes, it commonly goes by the label “propaganda” instead. One remembers the Nazi line, “if you repeat a lie often enough, people will take it for the truth.”
The key when evaluating public relations campaigns is the execution of due diligence. Try to go beyond the headlines and ascertain the facts of a matter before taking precipitous action, as happened on the stock markets today.
