This document discusses how to deal with counter arguments by using pre-emptive messages. It provides an example of a U.S. military officer advising going public immediately about a prisoner abuse case at a prison to tell how the problem was being resolved. The discussion explains that this would have helped the military gain credibility and prepare people for detrimental news, which is called "stealing thunder" in legal research. It concludes by suggesting writing an application plan to prepare replies for likely attacks on a high-involvement product within one week.

1. How to deal with counter arguments
Stealing thunder: Pre-emptive messages
Prepared by J. Scott Armstrong (details on him at jscottarmstrong.com).
Please inform Scott about errors and also make suggestions (armstrong@wharton.upenn.edu)
Scott has taken these slides from adprin.com, a site that he founded. That site contains interactive versions of these
slides, along with linked references, videos, and webcasts, all in PPT and PPTX format that you can download.

2. Pre-emptive replies
In Iraq, when the U.S. military uncovered cases of prisoner
abuse at a prison, one officer advised going public
immediately and tell how the problem was being resolved.
Was that good advice?
Go to the next slide for the answer.
Adapted from AdPrin.com 2

3. Use a pre-emptive message if you are
sure that an attack is coming and if you
have a good reply.
Discussion
The officer’s suggestion would have helped the
military gain credibility and helped prepare
people for detrimental news that would be
published by other sources (Persuasive Advertisingp 163-4).
This is called “stealing thunder” in legal
research.

4. Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself,
and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you are
working with someone else, share your application plan and the
results of your application.
• For example, if you have a high-involvement product, prepare
replies for likely attacks.
Adapted from AdPrin.com