Professional survey counsel is always available to handle perception monitoring phases of your program, if your budget will allow. But I stress that your PR people are also in perception and behavior business and can pursue same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Here, you need to set your goal in order to do something about most serious distortions you discovered during your key audience perception monitoring. And that could be to straighten out that dangerous misconception, or correct that gross inaccuracy, or stop that potentially fatal rumor dead in its tracks.

If you are to be successful in this PR effort, you need a solid strategy to show you clearly how to proceed. To keep things simple, note that there are only three strategic options available to you when it comes to handling a perception or opinion challenge. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. Of course, wrong strategy pick will taste like a cold catfish souffle, so be certain new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. You wouldn’t want to select “change” when facts dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

Remember that members of your target audience need to hear a powerful message. But persuading an audience to your way of thinking is hard work. Which is why your PR folks must create some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual. Only in this way will you be able to correct a perception by shifting opinion towards your point of view, leading to behaviors you are targeting.

By all means, let your communications specialists “spider” your message to make certain its impactful and persuasive enough. Then, sharpen it before selecting communications tactics most likely to carry your message to attention of your target audience. You can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be sure that tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

A peculiarity of human nature holds that credibility of a message can depend on its delivery method. So you might consider unveiling it in presentations before smaller gatherings rather than using higher-profile tactics such as news releases. Another human reality is that people love progress reports, a fact that will alert you and your PR team to get back out in field and start work on a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You’ll want to use many of same questions used in first benchmark session. Only this time, you’ll be watching very carefully for signs that bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

If things aren’t moving fast enough for you, try increasing beat with more communications tactics and increased frequencies.

Once in a while, we can all use a thrill. This can be one of those times for business, non-profit or association manager astute enough to demand that his public relations effort actually help him or her achieve their managerial objectives.

end

Bob Kelly counsels managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

American high-voltage electro-shock stun shields turned up in Turkey, stun guns in Indonesia, and electro-shock batons and shields, and dart-firing taser guns in torture-prone Saudi Arabia. American firms are dominant manufacturers of stun belts. Explains Dennis Kaufman, President of Stun Tech Inc, a US manufacturer of this innovation: ''Electricity speaks every language known to man. No translation necessary. Everybody is afraid of electricity, and rightfully so.'' (Quoted by Amnesty International).

The Omega Foundation and Amnesty claim that 49 US companies are also major suppliers of mechanical restraints, including leg-irons and thumbcuffs. But they are not alone. Other suppliers are found in Germany (8), France (5), China (3), Taiwan (3), South Africa (2), Spain (2), UK (2) and South Korea (1).

Not surprisingly, Commerce Department doesn't keep tab on this category of exports.

Nor is money sloshing around negligible. Records kept under export control commodity number A985 show that Saudi Arabia alone spent in United States more than $1 million a year between 1997-2000 merely on stun guns. Venezuela's bill for shock batons and such reached $3.7 million in same period. Other clients included Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico and - surprisingly - Bulgaria. Egypt's notoriously brutal services - already well-equipped - spent a mere $40,000.

The United States is not only culprit. The European Commission, according to an Amnesty International report titled "Stopping Torture Trade" and published in 2001:

"Gave a quality award to a Taiwanese electro-shock baton, but when challenged could not cite evidence as to independent safety tests for such a baton or whether member states of European Union (EU) had been consulted. Most EU states have banned use of such weapons at home, but French and German companies are still allowed to supply them to other countries."

Torture expertise is widely proffered by former soldiers, agents of security services made redundant, retired policemen and even rogue medical doctors. China, Israel, South Africa, France, Russia, United kingdom and United States are founts of such useful knowledge and its propagators.

How rooted torture is was revealed in September 1996 when US Department of Defense admitted that ''intelligence training manuals'' were used in Federally sponsored School of Americas - one of 150 such facilities - between 1982 and 1991.The manuals, written in Spanish and used to train thousands of Latin American security agents, "advocated execution, torture, beatings and blackmail", says Amnesty International.

Where there is demand there is supply. Rather than ignore discomfiting subject, governments would do well to legalize and supervise it. Alan Dershowitz, a prominent American criminal defense attorney, proposed, in an op-ed article in Los Angeles Times, published November 8, 2001, to legalize torture in extreme cases and to have judges issue "torture warrants". This may be a radical departure from human rights tradition of civilized world. But dispensing export carefully reviewed licenses for dual-use implements is a different matter altogether - and long overdue.