The Guide to Corporate Influence in Europe (The Guide, for short) describes the very strategic ways in which corporate interests try to manipulate the political process in Europe. Such strategic behaviour exceeds what’s commonly known as “lobbying”, and aims at influencing the whole of public life. It includes diverse tactics to frame the public conversation, focus on consumers’ responsibility, portray companies as the adult in the room, and for corporate interests to have a direct hand in writing public policy, among others. All those tactics in combination make up what we call The Strategy.
The Guide is a work of satire. It’s written in the style of a manual addressed to a corporate director or executive that wants to learn how to influence the political process in Europe in order to maximise their company’s profit — even at the expense of the public interest. The idea is to make The Guide funny and engaging, with the hope of reaching wider and more diverse audiences than those normally reached by conventional investigative journalism.
The Guide is itself also a work of journalism. It’s based on investigative research and features real-life examples of corporations implementing the tactics that make part of The Strategy. By describing a typology of tactics and how different kinds of companies have been using them over the last several decades, The Guide aims to provide readers with the big picture and a systematic overview of the attempt by corporate interests to affect public life, the political process and policy-making in Europe. The last chapter, What ‘The Guide’ Is Really About, expands on the ideas behind The Guide and the methodology and sources used in the research.
Every chapter includes, at the end, a section called “Notes and references”, with endnotes quoting and referencing the documentary sources of facts described in the text. After experimenting with different styles and aiming to make The Guide easily readable, I decided for the endnotes to be “invisible”, as described here by The Chicago Manual of Style: there’s no marker in the text, and each endnote starts by printing in bold the phrases in the text that the endnote refers to.
The Guide builds up on a growing body of work, in academia, journalism and other research, that has been documenting and explaining such strategic corporate behaviour for years. Namely, “The Playbook: How To Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make a Killing In the Corporate World”, by Jennifer Jacquet, was a particular inspiration for The Guide, and gave me the idea for the satirical format and tone. Where The Playbook focuses on the different aspects of denying science, and on the impact of corporate behaviour on the political process in the United States, The Guide aims for a wider scope to cover the wider strategy, and focuses on how companies try to affect public life, politics and policy-making particularly in Europe. The last chapter, What ‘The Guide’ Is Really About, includes a full acknowledgement section. If The Guide succeeds, it’s in big part thanks to all those who helped me and to the previous work by other journalists and researchers; on the other hand, any errors or shortcomings in The Guide are my own responsibility.
The Guide is also an experiment in journalistic storytelling. It tries to bring together the materials revealed and produced by many different investigations, with the aim of providing readers with a view to the systemic and structural aspects of how companies influence public life in Europe. The Guide is written as a fake satirical manual and uses dark humour in a provocative way to prompt different reactions and conversations among its readers. And, as a journalistic experiment, The Guide also aims at prompting conversations about how journalists may best research and explain systemic issues to the public. If you have questions, criticism or any comment about the narrative or journalistic qualities of The Guide, please let me know by email at contact @ josemcalatayud . net
Disclaimer
The Guide should be read as a work of satire. While the facts and data reported about the actions of corporations are public and sourced, the language in The Guide is satirical, and we do not and cannot claim to know the private intentions of any individuals involved in decision-making and in implementing those actions.
The Guide doesn’t defend, support, promote or condone in any way corporate behaviour aimed at influencing public life, the political process or policy-making in an illegal, abusive or otherwise undue manner. None of the authors, contributors, website hosts, administrators or anyone else connected with The Guide will be responsible for the appearance of any material considered defamatory, offensive, inaccurate, unlawful or misleading; nor will we be responsible for how others may use the information contained on this website or the webpages The Guide links to.
Every effort has been made to make sure all information and data reported in The Guide are factual and accurate by the date each text was last reviewed. If you think there are factual errors in the text, please let me know by explaining what the potential mistakes are, and by telling me exactly which information or data might need to be updated. You can write to me with as much detail, references and supporting material as possible at contact @ josemcalatayud . net. I will consider your request and may get back to you to ask for additional information; and when considered appropriate, I will correct and update the information on this website, and add a note about the update.
Finally, while one of the main messages in The Guide is that corporations and other big companies can exert too much undue and unaccountable influence on public life, we don’t believe that corporate people, or companies by extension, are or tend to be evil. We realise that corporations are among the most powerful social and economic actors in the world today, that they have a great potential for good, and that they are required partners in any effort to improve people’s well-being and take care of the environment.
This text was last reviewed on 30 August 2024.
This text was updated on 22 September 2024. The paragraph starting with Every chapter includes, at the end, a section called “Notes and references” was added.