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Rebuilding Trust When Your Industry Is Under Attack

Keynote speaker on public distrust, propaganda, and communicating from inside a hated industry
Updated July 22, 2026
Vance Crowe was Director of Millennial Engagement at Monsanto, the most distrusted company in America. He speaks to industries under permanent public attack about how fear campaigns work, why facts alone never win, and how to communicate when the public has already decided against you.
110 of 168 analyzed episodes carry this theme40 argued at length487 episodes total

Crisis communication speakers handle acute scandals. Vance handles the other problem: chronic distrust, the industry that is permanently mistrusted rather than momentarily in crisis. Agriculture, energy, pharma, and now AI companies live in this condition, and almost nobody speaks from inside the experience.

At Monsanto he stood between the world's most attacked brand and the public that attacked it. He learned how PR firms manufacture fear, why education is how to think while propaganda is what to think, and what actually moves people who have already decided you are the villain. Audiences under attack recognize him as one of their own within minutes.

In his own words

“And it was in that moment that I knew for certain that the science is not enough. That there are men and women that will come and stand on boxes. And if they have a more compelling story than you do, it does not matter if you have the evidence. It doesn't matter if you know what the correct answer is, or at least the better answer, it doesn't matter because their story will outcompete yours and people will buy their snake oil.”
Vance Crowe, solo episode, August 2019
“It's not just there that men and women come and stand on boxes. It's everywhere where the information is complex. Anywhere where you have to use science to be able to explain to people how things work, what decision they ought to make. They are in hyper competition with men and women that will come and stand on boxes and sell snake oil.”
Vance Crowe, solo episode, August 2019
“The problem that we're having right now is actually the very same problem when we first got newspapers, right? Because the first people that could afford newspapers were the political press, right? Which is why you had, you know, a two party newspaper system in any given town, right? And the, and the only thing the local news was about was what's coming up in your election and what's going on and why those guys are the enemy.”
Vance Crowe, in conversation with Tim Hosler, retired investment banker, May 2019
“Once you decentralize that and you're now back to the attention phase, you go straight back to hyperbole and back to that polarization.”
Vance Crowe, in conversation with Tim Hosler, retired investment banker, May 2019
“You are representing one of the most controversial, you don't have to, but the listeners, maybe you are representing one of the most controversial companies in the entire world. And what people are going to question is your integrity.”
Vance Crowe, in conversation with Jerry Hayes, international beekeeping expert, former Monsanto colleague, June 2019
“To have somebody stand down in the crowd and try and cut down the stage is really unsettling. But at the end of the day, I had to learn what do I really believe? Do I actually think? It's what drove me to spending time with people... where I would come into the room and be like, okay, okay, what's really going on here?”
Vance Crowe, in conversation with Jerry Hayes, international beekeeping expert, former Monsanto colleague, June 2019

Tested against real rooms

Vance has argued this material with, among others:

Common questions

Our industry is constantly attacked in the media and our members feel hated. What does Vance offer a convention audience?
Recognition first, then tools. He has stood where your members stand. The talk explains the machinery of manufactured outrage, why defensive facts backfire, and the communication moves that work with a distrustful public.
Is this a PR consultant talk?
No. Vance is not selling a crisis playbook. He tells the story of holding the line inside the most distrusted company in America and turns it into principles any leader in a contested industry can use.
Which industries book this?
Agriculture and food, energy, pharmaceuticals, technology and AI, and any association whose members feel permanently on trial in public.
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