"A squirrel is just a rat with good PR"

Three perspectives on this intriguing phrase. Firstly, what is the origin of the phrase, secondly some examples in the UK news recently, and thirdly, the link to trust and how this has been eroded.

Transcript

“A squirrel is just a rat with good PR”

Three perspectives on this intriguing phrase. 

Firstly, what is the phrase's origin, and what does it mean? I tried dictionaries and Generative AI, but none knew of its origins. They told me it was a decades-old humorous quip playing the idea that squirrels are just tree-dwelling rodents like rats that have a cute, more appealing public image. That perception and public relations can significantly influence how similar animals - or, by extension, people - are viewed. I did find out that the satirical author P.J. O’Rourke used the saying to underscore observations about politics and society in a 1992 book.

Second perspective. I would like to reflect on three scandals back in the news this last week. The NHS and government covered up the contaminated blood transfusion scandal with the loss of 3,000 lives; the Post Office covered up faults with its IT programme for subpostmasters by prosecuting over 700 of them for theft and false accounting; and the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 people died from grossly inadequate building safety. All three were major disasters. I joined the excellent online discussion between Amanda Coleman and Prof. Lucy Easthope last week. A standout point for me was that organisations responding to a crisis needed to put victims at the heart of their response. Not the organisation’s reputation. Lucy also spoke about being wary of the ‘good lie’. A version of the truth, carefully crafted by comms teams, that is perceived to be easier to accept. Thinking about the three disasters I cite, which occurred long ago, one can see that reputation was prioritised over the victims. In his report on the contaminated blood transfusion scandal, Sir Brian Langstaff identified “institutional defensiveness” by the NHS, government and civil service. Yet, time and time again, this is repeated in other scandals, which are aided, unfortunately, by public relations to save the reputation of an organisation. The PR advice appears to be to say “I can’t remember that”. As a reader in The Guardian wrote, “There are two meanings. One is that ‘I have no memory of that’. The other is ‘I can’t permit myself to remember that’”. A squirrel is just a rat with good PR.

The third perspective is the Edelman Trust Barometer 2024 data on the UK. O bozhe moi! The UK has a massive trust deficiency. Of the 28 countries surveyed in this large-scale research, the UK was third from bottom in trust in government, and second from bottom in trust in business (the rest of the world, bar the UK and South Korea, trusts its businesses). Non-Governmental Organisations fared no better - fourth from bottom. And the UK media came bottom in trust. Contrast that with all the government communications on how wonderful everything is! I dislike the term ‘spin’, but one can see why journalists use this. A squirrel is just a rat with good PR.

As a PR person, I am ashamed that it is my chosen profession that sometimes tries to make a squirrel out of a rat. There are no long-term benefits, only maybe a few short-term gains. And massive distrust. There is much work to do.

Photo by George Filatov on Unsplash