Here is this week’s preview of our solutions deep dive. Free readers get the opening section. Paid subscribers and founding members get the full breakdown.
Corporate narrative fingerprints
Commercially Determined dedicated February 2026 to unpacking what corporations say to get their way in the policy arena. Our deep dive issue and accompanying LinkedIn carousel covered ten key narrative tropes that show up again and again. Think of each set of these claims as a corporate narrative fingerprint, a clue that industry-friendly narratives are at play.
The Stealing Corporate Thunder Strategy
This week covers how and when to counter these predictable narratives. Just knowing that these claims show up again and again is useful to all of us as voters. Hearing a variation on any of the themes in a policy proposal can give you pause. Further examining the tropes, who is saying them, and what the evidence base actually is can inform your decision as to whether to support a policy or a candidate or not.
Those of you involved in shaping pro-public-interest policymaking can take this knowledge further by using what we’re calling the Stealing Corporate Thunder Strategy.
We could have also called it the Eminem 8 Mile strategy. In the 2002 movie “8 Mile,” the Detroit rapper “B-Rabbit” (played by Eminem) preempts, in his own rap, every insult that Papa Doc, his final rap battle opponent, is likely to say about him. This move leaves Papa Doc with nothing to say and B-Rabbit the winner.
We could have also called it the “I know what you’re going to say,” the “before you say anything,” or the “let me guess, you’re going to say _____,” strategy that social media creators and influencers use to preempt their critics.
You get the idea! No matter what we call it, the underlying mechanics are the same: Name your opponents’ claims first to take away their power.
We’re giving our own spin to the “stealing thunder” strategy, the name that is used in legal circles for similar pre-emption and mitigation goals.
So, how can you steal corporate thunder in policy debates?
Building and using corporate narrative fluency
The first step to stealing corporate thunder requires a level of corporate narrative fluency. Understanding the narrative fingerprints that industries use in the policy space enables the application of this strategy without sounding defensive or reactive. Corporate narrative fluency can be built and used by:
Understanding that sometimes industry claims are tactics, not arguments.
Learning persistent myths and their effects in order to spot corporate narrative fingerprints in policy documents and conversations.
Using knowledge of counter evidence to consistently prebunk and debunk corporate mis- and disinformation in policy statements and discussions.
Let’s walk through each element of corporate narrative fluency and how to use it to steal thunder from false or misleading industry claims.
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