The Weaponisation of Empathy in Narrative Warfare

Empathy is one of the most powerful tools in communications. It enables institutions, governments, and brands to connect with their audiences on a human level. It builds trust, creates resonance, and can inspire people to act.

The same quality can also be manipulated. In narrative warfare, empathy is often used as a tactic to silence scrutiny and bend perception. Stories of pain or vulnerability are amplified in ways that make criticism feel cruel and facts seem secondary. Once audiences are pulled into this frame, they are guided down a single emotional path with little room for questioning.

Corporations and Climate: Smiling Workers as Human Shields

During recent COP cycles, energy companies released polished campaigns focusing on workers, families, and small towns. These adverts are designed to humanise corporate identity and move the conversation away from fossil fuel dependency.

Watchdogs have highlighted the risks of this approach. In Australia, Energy Australia’s “Go Neutral” product was challenged in federal court for allegedly misleading consumers with vague carbon-offset claims. The product has now been discontinued for new customers, and observers suggest the case could lead to stronger advertising standards (The Guardian).

In France, TotalEnergies is facing legal action for portraying natural gas as a climate-friendly transition fuel despite its continued expansion of fossil operations (Financial Times).

These examples show how human-interest framing shields structural issues. By presenting workers and families as the face of the company, brands make critique feel like an attack on ordinary people rather than an interrogation of business practice.

Politics and Victimhood: The Persecuted Underdog

In politics, empathy is often weaponised through claims of victimhood. Nigel Farage frequently positions himself as silenced or cancelled by mainstream institutions, even while dominating broadcast coverage. This strategy reframes scrutiny as persecution and allows him to present himself as an outsider fighting against the odds.

Supporters empathise with the underdog figure and rally around him, not because his arguments are necessarily strong but because they believe he is being treated unfairly. The result is that accountability is weakened, and loyalty is deepened.

Analysts have described this as the right’s weaponisation of victimhood. LSE research explains how victim narratives function as political speech acts that deflect responsibility and mobilise supporters (LSE Politics Blog).

Influencer Economies: Vulnerability for Sale

On social media, vulnerability is increasingly commodified. Influencers share stories of illness, exhaustion or financial struggle in highly visible ways just before launching products or paid memberships. The effect is to lower resistance to sales by creating a sense of obligation among followers.

This trend, often referred to as sadfishing, has been examined by psychologists. Forbes describes it as performative suffering designed to generate sympathy and engagement, with financial gain often following as a secondary outcome (Forbes).

Here, empathy is not simply an authentic disclosure. It is a funnel that moves audiences from pity to purchase. The blurring of personal hardship and strategic monetisation makes critique socially uncomfortable, which is precisely why it works.

Why It Works

Weaponised empathy succeeds because it distorts normal checks and balances in communication.

• Deflection: Emotional stories draw attention away from structural issues.

• Immunity: Critique feels like cruelty, so audiences hold back.

• Mobilisation: Audiences are recruited into defending the narrative rather than interrogating it.

  
  

Once audiences are inside the frame, they feel morally compelled to remain loyal.

What Communicators Can Do

Strategic communicators need to recognise the difference between genuine empathy and empathy deployed as a tactic. This requires discipline and a structured approach.

1. Run an Empathy Audit

Before amplifying a narrative, ask who benefits from this framing and whose suffering is excluded.

2. Separate Message from Messenger

Challenge claims without targeting individuals. This keeps critique on the content rather than the person.

3. Reframe with Integrity

Acknowledge pain and connect it to the structural context. Example: workers matter, which is why systemic climate reform is essential.

4. Build Audience Resilience

Media literacy training should include how to spot emotional funnelling and manipulative framing, not only how to identify fake news.

Why This Matters for Business Leaders

For businesses, the risks of weaponised empathy are not abstract. They translate directly into financial, legal, and reputational consequences.

• Legal risk: Greenwashing cases are now moving through courts. Energy Australia’s “Go Neutral” product was discontinued following litigation, and TotalEnergies is facing trial in France over misleading climate claims. These cases show that empathetic storytelling that misdirects can become grounds for legal sanction.

• Reputation risk: Once audiences realise a brand is using selective empathy to mask harm, trust collapses quickly. Research shows that recovery from perceived manipulation is slower and costlier than recovery from honest mistakes.

• Operational distraction: Crisis comms teams waste capacity firefighting scandals that could have been prevented by ethical framing upfront. Every hour spent defending a campaign under attack is time not spent on core strategy.

• Investor and partner scrutiny: ESG frameworks and shareholder activism mean brands that overplay emotional appeals without substance face pressure not only from the public but from within their own financial ecosystem.

  
  

For corporate leaders, the lesson is clear. Empathy cannot be used as a substitute for structural change. The safest and most sustainable comms strategies are those where the emotional story aligns with verifiable action.

Closing

Empathy is vital to effective communication, but when it is narrowed into a tactic, it limits accountability and weakens debate. Real empathy opens space for complexity and understanding. Weaponised empathy restricts that space and steers audiences into loyalty or silence.

For public institutions, this is an ethical challenge. For businesses, it is also a strategic risk. Communicators who understand this distinction are better equipped to protect both integrity and long-term value. The task is to apply judgment, audit narratives carefully, and build resilience in audiences so that compassion remains a force for connection rather than control.

Further Reading

• Energy Australia greenwashing case – The Guardian

• TotalEnergies greenwashing trial – Financial Times

• Weaponising victimhood in politics – LSE Politics Blog

• Sadfishing and performative suffering – Forbes