This is the 25th year in a row that global PR powerhouse Edelman issued its "Trust Barometer." This year's survey found that:
Fewer than half of Americans trust business, government, media and NGOs (on par with 2024). No surprise!
59% of Americans hold grievances against business, government and the rich. And those with the highest levels of grievance show the lowest levels of trust.
Globally, business was the only major institution viewed as ethical and competent — except for the highly aggrieved, who didn't rate any institutions as ethical and competent.
So, what to do? The report advises that to restore trust, you have to start with addressing grievances. An example of how to do that was the recent Grammy Awards. The president of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., took the stage and shared the grievances aired by superstar The Weeknd in 2021 —showing the headlines after The Weeknd called the Grammy's corrupt when his album wasn't up for Album of the Year. Talk about leaning in!
Mason said that he had listened to these complaints and that the Recording Academy had taken action. He shared initiatives to diversify the Recording Academy's ranks and touted 3,000 new female voting members added to the Recording Academy. Of course, moments later, he also introduced The Weeknd, who had ended his boycott of the event and returned.
It was a great example of acknowledging the grievances upfront and not trying to sidestep them, proving that this approach is possible when authentically executed.
Learn more at
edelman.com/trust/trust-baro….
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