On the last night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, rumors were swirling that a “special guest” would make an appearance. Speculation on social media was rampant. Guesses included singers Taylor Swift and Dolly Parton and politicians Mitt Romney and George W. Bush. However, after the celebrity gossip site TMZ “confirmed” that Beyonce would be appearing, the rumor hit a fever pitch. DNC Executive Producer Ricky Kirshner told the Hollywood Reporter that even his own staff didn’t believe him that Beyoncé was not coming.
After Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination, the DNC quickly drew to a close without Beyoncé or any other surprise guest making an appearance. TMZ later apologized for their role in the debacle. “We got this one wrong,” they said.
The biggest fallout from the DNC rumor was disappointed fans, but rumors can have major consequences for companies and individuals if not addressed appropriately.
How Rumors Can Hurt Your Company
If a rumor gets started about your company, the consequences could be severe. “Companies that are targeted by false rumors can suffer irreparable reputational and business harm,” says Irina Tsukerman, a lawyer and president of Scarab Rising, Inc., a reputation management and security strategy company.
Investors may decide to withdraw, clients might do business elsewhere and the general public may decide to boycott the company, she says.
All of this can happen without any proof that a company or individual engaged in any wrongdoing. Thanks to clickbait sites and social media apps that allow rumors to go viral quickly, damage can be done much faster and amplified more widely than in the past, she says. “Reputations are difficult to restore once damaged,” she says, and it may be hard to undo the damage once it’s done, even if corrections are issued later
How Rumors Get Started
“It only takes one popular, if not even completely credible, source to report a rumor or a possibility,” Tsukerman says. “If it’s compelling, entertaining, feeds into a niche demand or provides some apparent value—even if not truthful—it can still attract significant audiences,” she adds.
There are three main ways rumors spread, according to Labunski. First, with intentional lies to throw a narrative into the public sphere, he says. Second, with satire that some people “perceive as real,” because it looks genuine or because memes or headlines don’t disclose that they contain satire, Labunski explains. Finally, rumors can get started by leaks that may be intentional or unintentional, he says.
One of the biggest threats comes from competitors who “plant false stories in publications or on social media or use influencers to spread rumors,” Tsukerman explains. However, some companies, politicians or celebrities may start rumors about themselves if they believe doing so will benefit them. For example, Labunski explains that some political strategists believe that someone connected with the DNC intentionally started the rumor about a surprise guest to keep the audience engaged through the last night of the convention. Or, it’s possible that Beyoncé or Taylor Swift’s publicists thought they could secure an invitation to the DNC by starting a rumor that they would be at the event, Tsukerman says.
How To Address Rumors At Work
No matter how or why rumors get started, it’s important to address them quickly. According to Tsukerman, the standard public relations approach to combating rumors involves three steps: Releasing an explanatory press release, issuing an apology if needed and making a good social gesture to restore public trust.
If a company’s reputation has been significantly damaged, these three steps may not be enough, she warns. “Winning the battle is all about controlling the narrative,” she says. “If a company has already lost points to a reputational attack, it should aim to turn the tables on the source quickly, divert public opinion from the criticism, refocus on the positive attributes of the company, and quickly create a new, positive narrative about the company’s latest accomplishments, while continuing to actively discredit the source,” she says.
If the rumors are coming from a credible source, engaging with those sources to correct the record is the route to take, according to Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary to Senator Charles Schumer and CEO of public affairs and crisis communications management company Beltway Advisors. “Depending on the circumstances, it also may make sense for a company to communicate directly with its important stakeholders, such as employees, customers and investors to set the record straight,” he recommends.
When Not To Respond
Occasionally, “the best course of action may be to do nothing,” Koneschusky says. This can usually arise in two situations:
First, Koneschusky does not recommend engaging with “sources that aren’t credible and aren’t getting much attention. Doing so could inadvertently backfire, giving the rumor more prominence and visibly than it would otherwise receive,” he explains.
Second, if a rumor is “innocuous or helpful,” it may be better not to respond at all, Koneschusky says.
The latter is what he suspects the DNC organizers chose to do when it came to the DNC rumors. The rumors “contributed to a sense of excitement and energy,” Koneschusky says, and dispelling those rumors may have deflated the energy in the room, leading to disappointment before Harris’s speech rather than after.
How To Separate Fact From Fiction
It can be difficult to separate rumors from facts, especially when a rumor goes viral and is reposted widely.
Nevertheless, “in most circumstances, people can separate fact from fiction by critically evaluating a rumor,” Koneschusky says. If you spot a piece of information you aren’t sure is a rumor or fact, “consider the source and whether the source is credible,” he says.
Labunski says that, many times, details in the story beyond a headline are so outrageous that it is obviously untrue. He also cautions that a “lack of attribution for statements claimed as fact is a clue the information is false.”
However, if it’s still not clear whether or not something is true even after a little digging, Koneschusky recommends asking the person spreading the rumor where he or she got their information or going straight to the source. For example, on the night Mitt Romney was rumored to appear at the DNC, the Republican politician posted on X that “Contrary to fake news posts, I am not the surprise guest at the DNC tonight.” Checking Romney’s social media feed was an easy way to lay to rest one rumor that was swirling that night.
Another way to verify information is to check the rumor against objective media outlets or other objective sources, Koneschusky says. “If the source is dubious and there’s no credible reporting, proceed with a healthy dose of skepticism,” he advises.
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