Corporate Doublespeak (Or When Companies Lie)

I sometimes wonder if I am being excessively critical or cynical when companies issue statements or answer questions.

But in the last few days I have seen some blatant examples of corporate "doubespeak". First, Sony and the PlayStation 3 price cut.

When fliers from Circuit City's upcoming sales ad surfaced on the Internet Thursday, they showed a $100 price-cut on the PS3. I reached out to a Sony spokesperson who said the company doesn't want to comment on "unsubstantiated claims."

The next day, Sony President Ryoji Chubachi told Reuters in an interview that Sony has no plans to cut price of the console "at present."

Sorry, if I am being dense, but I would think that means Sony is not planning a price-cut at least in the next few days, if not weeks.

Turns out "at present" is literally that. For three days later, Sony announced the price cut.

I am not sure what kind of credibility the company has if its senior executives lie outright to the media. Mr. Chubachi doesn't need to talk to the press if he isn't aware of what the management is really thinking or what its moves will be. But I am positive his interviews with Reuters was with the blessing of other Sony higher-ups.

The right thing for Sony to have done here is accept that there was a leak and immediately announce the price cut. Sure they would have had to advance their intended announcement by four days but that's a small price to pay.

My next example: Microsoft. For months and months Microsoft denied it had a problem with the Xbox 360. In February when I reached out to the company about increasing reports of hardware failure with the Xbox 360, Microsoft PR dismissed my concern. Their response? The failure rate was within "normal range" for electronic devices.

So why did Microsoft say Thursday it will take a charge of $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion in additional warranties for the Xbox 360? Microsoft admitted it was receiving a lot of complaints about the console's problems from its users.

There's a chance that Microsoft didn't know the complete extent of the problems in February when I reached out to them but I find that hard to believe. I think Microsoft knew it had an issue but didn't want to admit it. They wanted to see if it would go away quietly.

When it didn't, or maybe got worse, they spun the story as one where the company was concerned about the users and so offering extended warrantly.

Not surprisingly, Microsoft gets so much flak from the media.

That brings me to the question of the day: When being less than truthful is not okay in personal life, how do executives go to work and think it is fine to do so? Don't professional standards come from an individual's personal ethics? Or do you need a split personality to survive in the corporate world?

To me it is shocking that a company's senior management would not place integrity and credibility on top of its must-have professional values.

Sigh.