Chapter 348 - 254: Zog’s Public Relations Class 3

Chapter 348: Chapter 254: Zog’s Public Relations Class 3

He also feigned ignorance, asking if another riot had broken out in the city.

Had any Tieflings been created?

What?

None?

That was wonderful.

It was just that the Church was now suffering from severe public backlash.

What a pity. Zog, speaking for himself as a dragon, expressed his deepest sympathies for the Church’s plight.

In any case, after about ten more minutes, the Bishop finally had a chance to state the purpose of his visit.

"We need to stop people from discussing the Steam Engine curse online."

"That’s not possible. I’m just a businessman. How can I control what people say?"

"The Pope’s Country can extend the Zog Group’s tax-exempt status for its goods."

"Well, it’s not like it’s completely impossible," Zog said, pulling the Bishop into the conference room. "Come on, let’s talk details."

After the Bishop gave a rough outline of the Church’s needs, Zog understood. The Bishop was just here to feel things out. After getting a proposal from the Zog Group, he would have to wait for the Holy City to evaluate it before it could be implemented.

"This was all caused by the former Patriarch, Cedric. It has nothing to do with the Church as a whole."

Zog nodded. ’Not bad,’ he thought. ’They know how to cut someone loose. And they’re even cutting loose a Patriarch. I thought they’d just scapegoat a few interns at best.’

’Wait, the Church doesn’t have interns.’

"Covering all the patients’ expenses..."

’Also not bad. They know how to take responsibility. They didn’t just hold a press conference, bow to the public, and say they know they were wrong while taking no actual responsibility for their mistakes.’

"And then? That’s it? You’ve only issued two statements so far?"

"So far, yes."

"That’s not good enough," Zog said, putting on a pained expression. "With just that, you won’t be able to fool—I mean, convince people online."

Zog pulled out his phone, opened a social media app, and navigated to the comment section settings on his verified account.

"Here, look at this feature. It’s called ’Curated Comments.’ It lets you hide any comments you don’t want to see. And if you can’t be bothered with that, you can just disable the comments entirely."

"But... doesn’t that just stop people from commenting?" The Bishop didn’t see how that would be useful.

"Shutting people up is crucial. As long as no one can talk about it, more people won’t be influenced. Trust me."

Zog continued, "Next, you can have trending topics removed. We charge for that service by the topic, but we can offer a bulk discount if you have a lot to take down.

"For the next step, another announcement isn’t going to cut it. The trial for this Cedric fellow must be broadcast live from start to finish. You can’t just say he’s the villain; people need a visible target. Of course, we can provide the live-streaming service for the entire trial free of charge."

Turning it into entertainment would dilute the seriousness of the event.

Besides, everyone would love to watch something like this live.

’Zog himself used to love watching a show where they grilled local officials. Oh, that was the good stuff.’

"And the final step: create some other big news to distract everyone. Bury the story. People have limited attention spans. If they’re focused on something else, they can’t be focused on this."

Zog immediately rattled off a bunch of ideas, like Astrid suddenly being caught in a scandal, the Pope getting into a messy divorce with his wife, a clergyman at some church assaulting someone...

A whole slew of eye-catching, but not fatal, scandals.

Half an hour later, the Bishop departed with this whole mess of sordid proposals.

Zog waved a claw, seeing him off.

Doudou sidled up to him. "Are you sure you gave the Church good advice?"

"Of course not," Zog replied. "They’re useful, but completely unscrupulous ideas. And from now on, they’ll use them all the time."

Solve a temporary problem by ruining their long-term reputation.

Zog hoped the Church would go further and further down this path.