The Report(s) Gives You the Data. Now What Are You Going to Do With It?

Every communicator and PR professional needs to read the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations 2026 Global Communication Report: A Quiet Shift.

Not because it will tell you what to believe. The report itself says it won’t. But because it surfaces the most consequential question facing our profession right now — and how you answer it will define both your organization’s communications strategy and, more importantly, its character.

I was in Toronto in June presenting at the IABC World Conference when this report was already circulating in our industry. IABC is one of the report’s research partners. So in a very real sense, two sides of the same conversation were happening in the same city. The report was documenting what communicators are doing. I was in that room asking what communicators should be doing. The distance between those two things is where the work lives.

On the top, the cover of the USC Annenberg 2026 Global Communication Report: A Quiet Shift. On the bottom, Jefferson Darrell presenting at the IABC World Conference in Toronto.

What the Research Is Actually Telling You

The report surveyed 704 public relations professionals globally, interviewed Fortune 500 Chief Communications Officers, and commissioned exclusive data analyses from Cometrics.io and Meltwater. This is rigorous research. Use it like rigorous research.

Here is what the data shows: 81 per cent of PR professionals say polarization in the United States is extremely or very high. 91 per cent say that polarization has increased the importance of public relations within their organizations. Nearly all agree that it is negatively affecting quality of life and impacting mental health.

That last point is not background noise. That is the operating context your clients and your employees wake up to every day.

The Cometrics.io analysis tracked LinkedIn posts from more than 6,300 C-level executives at Fortune 500 companies before and after the November 2024 U.S. election. The content of those posts shifted dramatically — not the volume, but the substance. Communications about 2SLGBTQIA+ topics dropped 77 per cent. Diversity and equality content dropped 13 per cent. The Meltwater analysis of corporate media coverage tells the same story: coverage of 2SLGBT+ topics was down 70 per cent. And PR professionals expect resources dedicated to purpose-driven initiatives, sustainability, and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) to decrease over the next five years.

Read that again. The communicators responsible for helping organizations build trust are forecasting that they will have fewer resources to do it.

This is not just a North American phenomenon. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer — a global study of nearly 34,000 people across 28 countries, with research fielded in 2025 and released in early 2026 — puts the broader context in sharp relief. Globally, 7 in 10 people say they are hesitant or unwilling to trust someone who is different from them in terms of values, beliefs, or background. That insularity has sharp consequences inside organizations: 42 per cent of employees say they would put less effort into helping a leader succeed if that leader had different political beliefs. And yet, even in this environment, 64 per cent of employees still expect CEOs to take a stand on societal issues such as discrimination, climate change, and economic inequality.

The data tells us, simultaneously, that people are retreating into distrust AND that they still expect leadership to speak up. That is the tension communicators are navigating — not a clear signal, but a profound one. And it calls for more than a communications strategy. It calls for clarity of character.

The Section That Matters Most

The report is organized into chapters — The Climate, The Impact, The Choice, The Shift. Of all of them, “The Choice” is the one I want you to sit with.

The USC researchers opened it with a quote from Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (our regular readers know how we love pop culture references): “It is our choices… that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities,” Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Bright yellow square with the Breakfast Culture logo on the top and the quote: "It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The report applies this directly to communications leadership: “In an unstable world, good decision-making must weigh both value and values, even when they are in opposition. These choices define the character of a company — and the leaders who make them.”

Since 2020, the USC Center has asked PR professionals the same question: should companies engage in social issues even if those issues are not directly related to their business? In 2023 and 2024, 89 per cent said yes. Today, 55 per cent say yes. The drop is significant. But so is what remains: more than half of the profession still believes business has a social responsibility. The report calls this “a high-wire balancing act” that “requires both competence and courage.”

Here is the part that communicators need to name honestly: the retreat the USC data documents is not neutral. It shows up in the communications choices organizations are making every day — choices that are visible to your audiences whether you intend them to be or not.

In my IABC World Conference session, From Tokenism to Transformation, I framed this as the difference between dog whistles and bullhorns.

Dog whistles are subtle, coded communications signals. When Dolce & Gabbana sent an all-white cast down the runway — what one headline called “50 shades of white” — they did not issue a statement. They did not need to. The choice was the statement. When Pantone announced “Cloud Dancer,” an all-white colour of the year, commentators called it “a white supremacist dog-whistle” and “it feels like a eugenics-y move.” Pantone said nothing about race. They did not have to. When a major retailer pivots back to a conventionally white, conventionally feminine brand aesthetic after years of broader representation, they are not making a neutral marketing decision. They are making a values decision. There are many other examples and on their own each one could be viewed as a “minor gaffe;” however, when you see them all displayed together during 2025 there is a clear pattern about the choice organizations have made. The whistle is quiet, but certain audiences hear it clearly.

Bullhorns are the opposite: overt, loud, and unambiguous. ICE recruitment campaigns featuring exclusively white male imagery paired with slogans like “Restoring the American Dream,” “Americans First,” and “Build Your Homeland’s Future” are not subtle. The visual language is the message — retro propaganda aesthetics that signal explicitly who belongs and who does not.

What both dog whistles and bullhorns share is this: they are choices. And as Dumbledore told us, those choices reveal what organizations truly are — far more than their ability to craft a polished press release.

The retreat the USC report documents, at its core, is a communications industry choosing the dog whistle: pulling back from inclusive values without saying so, hoping audiences do not notice or do not object loudly enough to matter. They notice.

The False Choice Between Offence and Defence

The report’s data surfaces a field divided. It asks PR professionals which sports analogy best describes their approach: “A good offence is the best defence” or “A good defence is the best offence”? Forty-six per cent chose offence. Thirty-eight per cent chose defence. Agency professionals favour offence 53 to 28 per cent. In-house professionals lean toward defence.

I understand why this framing resonates. When everyone is taking sides, it can feel like you have to pick one.

But I want to offer a different frame — because the offence/defence binary assumes that communications strategy is about positioning relative to opposition. At Breakfast Culture, we do not think that way. We think the question is not whether you play offence or defence. The question is whether you are being authentic to your brand, your organization, and its mission.

Three doors against a wallpaper background on a shiny wooden floor; two doors are white and one is Breakfast Culture yellow symbolizing that there is more than one choice beyond offence or defence and that choice is Breakfast Culture's Purpose-Driven Marketing framework.

That is where truth lives. That is where trust is built.

An organization that says it values belonging but quietly withdraws its inclusive communications is not “playing defence.” It is eroding trust with the very people it claimed to value. An organization that launches a purpose-driven campaign it cannot back up with internal culture, hiring practices, or supplier relationships is not “playing offence.” It is setting itself up for a Baldwin Test failure.

James Baldwin wrote: “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” That is not a sports metaphor. It is a character question. And it applies whether you are posting publicly about Pride, going quiet during Black History Month, or redesigning your brand to speak to a narrower audience.

Employee morale is the one area in the USC report where polarization shows a clear net negative impact: 42 per cent of PR professionals say it is hurting morale, compared with only 33 per cent who say it is helping. That is your retention problem. That is the trust gap widening inside your own organization. You cannot build external brand credibility while your internal culture is hemorrhaging trust.

One Fortune 500 CCO quoted in the report says it plainly: “If you’re not building the business, that’s pretty short-sighted. But there is no business to build without a foundation of trust.”

Authenticity is not soft. Authenticity is the foundation.

How Breakfast Culture Helps You Navigate the Choice

At the IABC World Conference, I gave attendees a practical framework for navigating this landscape — not by picking a side, but by grounding communications in authentic values. The framework is the Three Bees of Purpose-Driven Marketing.

Be Authentic.

Be real. Be you. Walk. Your. Talk. The distance between what your organization says and what it does is where the Baldwin Test lives. Before any campaign, any statement, any brand activation goes public, ask honestly: would James Baldwin look at our organization and believe us? If the answer is uncertain, that gap is where

communications strategy has to do work — not paper it over with a polished statement. Authentic communications is not aspirational messaging about who you want to be. It is honest communications about who you actually are — and a commitment to close the gap where those differ.

Be Present.

Consistent, not performative. Purpose-driven communications is not a heritage month strategy. It is not a campaign you run when the spotlight is on. It is the way your organization shows up across hiring, supply chain, creative, culture, and community — all year, not just when it is convenient or award-eligible. The Edelman data tells us that 64 per cent of employees globally still expect their CEO to take a stand on societal issues. If your organization goes quiet on the issues your employees, customers, and communities care about, they do not see silence as neutrality. They see the dog whistle. The report notes that 69 per cent of PR professionals agree internal communications should be prioritized in a polarized environment. Your people are listening. Are you present for them?

Be Prepared.

Everyone will not agree with you. But if you are being true to your brand, your audiences will know. Navigating purpose-driven communications authentically does not mean commenting on every issue — it means being clear enough about your values that when something matters, you have the trust infrastructure to respond with integrity rather than spin. Forty-four per cent of PR professionals in the USC report say “communicating more proactively and taking calculated risks” will have strong impact on addressing the profession’s challenges. The calculated risk is not a leap into the unknown. It is a step taken from solid ground — because you have been showing up consistently, and your audiences have been watching.

These three postures are not a checklist. They are a communications philosophy rooted in authenticity. And they are how we help organizations move from dog whistles and defensive crouch toward something their audiences can actually believe in.

Beehive honey comb with 3 bees and copy that states Breakfast Culture's Purpose-Driven Marketing's "3 Bees" : Be Authentic. Be Present. Be Prepared.

The Bottom Line from the Research

The report closes with a passage worth holding: “Purpose will fade, but not disappear. Corporations will no longer be expected to solve society’s problems… A brave few will take a stand on an issue that is closely aligned with their values. They are the ones to watch and, perhaps, follow.”

At Breakfast Culture, we work with the brave few. And we have seen what it returns: we tripled corporate donations for a non-profit by helping them communicate authentically across communities. We have reduced attrition for organizations that built internal communications strategies rooted in belonging. We have increased revenue and productivity for clients willing to show up in ways their audiences could believe.

The report gives you the data. What you do with it is the choice. And as Dumbledore reminded us, it is the choices — not the abilities — that show what we truly are.

Two Things I Want You to Do

If you lead or advise an organization navigating the tension between purpose and polarization, hire us. Breakfast Culture’s Purpose-Driven Marketing and Communications services are built to help you navigate the choice — authentically, strategically, and with your brand’s long-term trust in mind. We do the research. We build the strategy. We train your team to walk the talk. Book a discovery call here.

If you lead or work at a communications or marketing agency, your clients are sitting with this data right now, unsure what it means for their strategy. From Tokenism to Transformation: How Empathy Drives Equity & Brand Loyalty is available as a keynote, workshop, or half-day training for your team and your clients. We bring the frameworks, the case studies, the data, and the space to sit in productive discomfort. Your team will leave equipped to help clients navigate the choice — and make it with integrity. Reach out at LetsBreakSomeEggs@BreakfastCulture.ca to learn more or to request to receive the Learning Outcomes and Key Takeaways document.

The report says change makes us indispensable. I believe that. The question is whether we will be indispensable because we helped organizations go quiet, or because we helped them build something worth believing in.

Let’s break some eggs!

—Jefferson Darrell, Founder & CEO, Breakfast Culture Inc.™