Over the years, the palm oil industry has been subjected to constant “public relation (PR) attacks” resulting in bad publicity in the global perspective, and hence degradation of demand of palm oil-based products. The focus of the attacks is on the issues of environment, health, and human rights. To deliberate on these issues, Institute of Plantation Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia had organised a forum on 25^th May 2021 via online platform. Six distinguished researchers were invited to share their research findings pertaining to effective strategies to counter the smear campaigns in the global community through the media and public relations. They were Professor Datuk Dr. Mad Nasir Shamsudin (Agricultural Economics), Department of Agribusiness and Bioresource Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, UPM; Professor Dr. Maznah Ismail (Nutritional Biochemistry), Laboratory of Natural Medicine & Products (NatureMeds), Institute of Bioscience, UPM; Professor Dr. Shahrul Anuar Mohd Sah (Wildlife Ecology), School of Biological Sciences, USM; Professor Ir. Dr. Mohd Sobri Takriff (Sustainable Process Technology) is UKM-Sime Darby Foundation Chair for Sustainability, UKM; Professor Dr. Khong Kok Wei (Marketing, Behavioural Science, Analytics), Faculty of Business and Law, Taylor’s University; and Dr. Rosmiza Bidin (Corporate Communication), Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, UPM.

Palm oil producer giants, Indonesia and Malaysia, have been teaming up to fight against the smear campaign targeted at the commodity. But the question is how can the counter campaigns penetrate the global community? To position the advocation strategically, the media must frame the counter campaigns to penetrate targeted stakeholders at various levels consisting of individual, family, community, and organizational levels.

With the targeted counter campaigns focusing at different layers of the society that have different perceptions on palm oil, the strategized advocacy communications can effectively penetrate the global community. Furthermore, crisis communication action should be initiated before the inception of the event or based on early warning system.

Tarikh Input: 25/06/2021 | Kemaskini: 25/06/2021 | ainzubaidah