40 Global 14 Brazil Canada China France Germany India Japan Mexico Saudi Arabia S. Africa S. Korea UAE UK U.S. The CEO 31 26 38 25 26 18 42 31 26 28 40 42 38 28 33 A corporate executive responsible for guiding the company on social issues such as the head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the head of social impact or corporate social responsibility, the Chief Sustainability Officer, etc 22 25 21 25 15 16 31 8 28 23 25 24 26 15 21 The local or regional CEO or senior leader of the business in the country or region most affected by the actions the company is planning to take 19 23 20 21 16 15 27 10 18 21 22 19 20 14 17 A member of their Board of Directors 18 15 16 19 9 14 30 9 19 22 19 21 26 14 14 The Chief Communications Officer or head of communications 18 21 21 17 18 8 22 13 23 18 23 22 18 15 17 A respected journalist 17 23 18 15 14 16 23 15 21 21 20 9 22 10 15 An independent academic or scientific expert on that issue 17 17 17 15 12 16 24 21 22 16 16 14 16 16 14 One of their customers or clients 16 19 14 15 12 17 27 17 16 16 19 14 18 10 12 The Chief Marketing Officer or head of marketing 16 22 13 14 12 9 23 12 17 22 20 21 17 12 12 A community leader 15 14 14 12 11 13 24 9 12 21 23 11 20 8 14 One of their regular employees 15 16 14 9 17 15 26 15 11 20 17 9 19 12 16 The head of an NGO that specializes in that issue 14 17 13 14 13 9 25 9 19 16 19 11 15 11 9 A celebrity 12 13 9 17 6 5 20 11 11 19 14 9 16 5 6 An online opinion leader 12 15 6 13 8 7 22 7 13 21 16 10 18 8 6 An online content creator 11 15 8 12 7 3 27 4 14 15 15 8 17 6 8 A leader in my religious faith 7 7 5 10 5 4 15 1 4 17 7 5 11 5 7 None of the above 11 7 15 8 18 23 2 24 5 5 4 7 3 20 17 Percent who say a company should use the following spokesperson to communicate its response to a contentious social or geopolitical issue DATA IN DETAIL COMPANY SPOKESPERSON 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: The Geopolitical Business. DRV_FOR. If a company wants to communicate credibly and effectively to you about its stand on a contentious social or geopolitical issue, and what actions it is planning to take to address that issue, who should they use to deliver t hei r message? Pick all that apply. Question asked of half of the sample. General population, 14 - mkt avg.