British people don’t trust major companies and organisations

Milan DinicDirector - Content Strategy and Innovation
September 25, 2015, 4:06 PM GMT+0

69% of British people say they no longer trust any major company or organisation

The scandal launched by Volkswagen has affected not only the company but the entire global car manufacturing market wiping billions off their value due to shareholders losing trust and confidence. John German, who raised the alarm on VW conduct said Volkswagen emissions-rigging case could extend to other companies and countries.

Since First Verdict – the YouGov daily opinion sharing app – started, we have received thousands of comments with opinions and questions. Soon, we will start uploading them on the to the YouGov Daily webpage. As our goal is to research, connect and share public opinion, we decided to ask the users about comments some of them shared with us.

A new poll, based on comments from First Verdict users in regard to the Volskwagen case, found that 69% say they no longer trust any major company or organisation.

In our earlier research 53% said they believe a few other car manufacturers are doing the same as Volkswagen with 38% saying that is the case with most car producers. That poll showed 66% do not trust any of the top car manufacturers to be working in the public interest.

Data from earlier research:

However, it is often noted that the media have a very significant role in building or destroying the public’s trust. According to a comment from one First Verdict user, it is the journalists who are to be blamed for “being over-cynical and undermining trust generally”.

The ongoing scandal involving Volkswagen has showed the car giant admitting to cheating emissions test in the US which has hit the company hard swiping off almost £22 billion from its value and dramatically damaging its public image. The scale of the scandal was summed up by the response of BS America boss Michael Horn who just said “We’ve totally screwed up”. As VW shapes-up it’s board in an attempt to find a solution to this major setback, the word’s second car manufacturer is recalling nearly 500,000 cars in the US, facing massive environmental fines, and is also being investigated in Europe and Asia as well.