The Playbook

The Playbook - Jennifer Jacquet

Knowledge is power. Which is why the rich and powerful don't want you to have it. The Playbook is an exposé of the extraordinary lengths that corporations will go to in order to deny the scientific facts - whether on climate change, public health risks, worker safety, or anything else - when they don't suit their agenda. Written in the form of a corporate handbook for tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical company executives, it outlines obfuscation techniques, denial, delays and outright lies, including: how to recruit an academic 'expert' who is willing to compromise their integrity (or is wants to raise some cash), how to massage the statistics, how to use legal and even physical intimidation against reporters and activists, and how, just as in a casino, to keep the customers comfortable, unquestioning, unthinking and playing along for as long as possible. Part satire, part social history, part guide to resistance, The Playbook is a charge sheet against the powerful. It shows us how, by understanding the methods and motives of disinformation, it may be possible to outwit them.