The Playbook

How to Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make a Killing in the Corporate World

De: Jennifer Jacquet

Narrado por: Jennifer Jacquet, Mirron Willis

From an astute observer of business behavior and expert in climate denial comes a thought-provoking explanation of how corporations delay, distract, and deflect blame and spread disinformation surrounding health issues, pollution, and climate change.

“Brilliantly subversive and witty. If you want to be a vile, greedy capitalist, this how-to book will be a great help. And if you want to identify vile, greedy capitalists, it will show you how to recognize them. A landmark book.” —Brian Eno

Are you a corporation out to make your fortune at any cost? Are you worried about “facts” and “experts” getting in the way of your profits? Do you wish you could make scientists, journalists, and anyone who asks questions about your suspect business practices disappear? Now you can.

Whether you are selling tobacco, dealing in oil, or pushing pharmaceuticals, denying climate change or exploiting workers, The Playbook is here to help you obfuscate your way to what you want.

Including how to:

Massage the statistics to suit your needs. Or, even better, fund studies to make up some new ones

Attract and cultivate university professors who have an axe to grind and are short of cash

Make your problem somebody else’s problem—ideally the government’s

Remember: Tame journalists, PR firms, think tanks, lawyers, and threats of physical violence are your friends!

Follow these rules and you are guaranteed to make a killing. It’s economic sense, after all.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Brilliantly effective . . . gleefully amoral . . . a machiavellian secret guide for executives worried about what the latest science might mean for their business.”
—The Guardian

“If you feel exhausted from constantly taking the high road, The Playbook offers an enticing alternative . . . [with] Jacquet’s dry humor suffusing each chapter, . . . the book's tongue-in-cheek format is a chilling realization that the villains in The Playbook are extraordinarily banal. The tactics that enable their misconduct have been recycled across decades.”
—Scientific American

“This brilliantly subversive and witty book lays bare the techniques of manipulation and disinformation that keep the rich and powerful rich and powerful. It’s a handbook to show you all their tricks—with working examples. If you want to be a vile, greedy capitalist, this how-to book will be a great help. And if you want to identify vile greedy capitalists it will show you how to recognise them. It’s a landmark book.”
—Brian Eno

“This whip-smart and delightfully snarky exposé gives readers the tools to recognize and refute corporate deception . . . Fashioned as a strategy manual, Jacquet’s satirical advice explains . . . how to challenge the existence of a problem, the integrity of those who raise it, and the need for policies to address it.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A savage satirical stab at corporate malfeasance draws blood…[Jacquet] takes an original approach to indicting the ethical vacuum that besets much of big business. [The Playbook is] a sharp warning to corporations that deep pockets and armies of accomplices won’t stall a reckoning forever.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Could have been so good

Jacquet makes a good case that Big Biz has been altering the public view of issues for some time. That is not news. She describes several devices used but relies too much on ad hominem attack and straw man arguments. She assumes we all know the horrors of glyphosate (her mispronunciation diminishes her credibility) or GMOs with no hint of why she finds them evil. The real loss was the absence of exploration of those same tactics by "activists", too often giving one-dimensional, near hysterical presentation of complex problems. This could have been very useful to the seeker of the Best Path