Have you ever heard of the dead cat tactic?
The dead cat strategy or dead cat tactic is a PR maneuver that’s often used to divert public attention from a scandal.
Imagine there’s a heated dinner conversation going badly for you and everyone is turning against you. You messed up and looking around the table you realise that wow, nothing you say or do will change anyone’s opinion. If anything, things seem to be getting worse for you.
So what do you do? You suddenly throw a dead cat on the table and everyone forgets what they were talking about and starts reacting to the dead cat instead (“Oh my God, there’s a dead cat!”)
You’ve changed the subject, even if the new topic is unpleasant (especially because the topic is unpleasant.)
In politics or media, the dead cat is usually a controversial statement or distraction story meant to pull attention away from bad press. The more controversial the dead cat is, the better for the recipient of the bad press.
The term is credited to Lynton Crosby, an Australian political strategist who advised UK politicians like Boris Johnson. In his own words, the dead cat is a deliberate move to control the news cycle.
Take for instance when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London and his adviser Lynton Crosby reportedly used the dead cat to shift headlines. Anytime the media was focused on government corruption or poor performance, Johnson would say something wildly controversial about, say, immigration. Expectedly, the outrage and debate around that statement would dominate headlines for days and push the original scandal out of the spotlight.
In Kenya, this strategy has never been given a name, but we all have seen it unfolding right before our eyes for years.
A senior government official might be under fire for misusing funds. It could be SHA, or ghost hospitals and ghost schools being allocated millions dominating headlines. Or it could simply be a contagious bill being sneakily passed in parliament. Suddenly, a rioter will be shot dead and instantly the story will change from the bill to now police brutality.
Social media and podcasts will explode with reactions and suddenly no one’s talking about the contagious bill anymore.
Like clockwise.
When the cost of living protests dominate headlines, that is when a famous female senator who happens to be a mistress will be doing theatrics with her person and dominate the news as the protests then take back stage. Or at that very moment, out of nowhere, a famous church pastor will dominate news about donations he received as the public now bays for his blood and urges him to return the funds. When it comes to politics, nothing is ever truly a coincidence. Everything is conveniently timed.
Just so we are on the same page, the dead cat strategy doesn’t solve a problem. All it does is it changes what people are talking about. It’s a form of agenda control that once you learn to spot you start noticing everywhere.
So many words i have written, when all i wanted to say is we should be vigilant during this mourning period. As we are mourning baba, let us be keen. I am not saying anyone planned it that way (sometimes tragedy really is just tragedy), but rest assured power brokers will seize the moment to slip through controversial appointments, budget allocations or new directives while the nation mourns and the media is fully consumed.
We all know that Kenya has a long history of timed events where something major happens just as the country’s attention is elsewhere. And it is not just unique to Kenya. Globally, this tactic of using national grief or chaos to move sensitive policies quietly is common.
Moments like this when we are mourning our enigma call for heightened vigilance from journalists, watchdogs and citizens alike.
