According to a leaked report, first published by Drop Site News, the research involved a qual phase with focus groups in the US, UK, Germany and France, followed by quantitative message testing in the countries, as well as Spain.

A third phase, involving ‘animatic testing’ – testing messages’ tone and delivery – is underway and not yet complete, according to the research report.

The research compared attitudes across the five countries towards Israelis and Palestinians, framed in the context of the conflict between the two – as well as asking about attitudes towards Hamas and ‘radical Islam’ and about participants’ perceptions of the root of the Israeli conflict.

A section of the research deck titled ‘recommended messages’ outlined the results of the initial findings from testing 10 animatics, with the listed findings including “the notion of radical Jihadism was universally effective” and “a message that ‘Free Palestine’ is a slogan of terror, not freedom, did very well with US conservatives”.

US-based Stagwell is the owner of research businesses The Harris Poll, including The Harris Poll UK (formerly Maru), and HarrisX, as well as creative agencies 72andSunny, Anomaly and Forsman & Bodenfors.

Earlier this week, Zoe Scaman, founder of strategy consultancy Bodacious, posted on LinkedIn about the report. Addressing those who work for agencies owned by the group, she wrote: “The subsidiary structure doesn't make you clean, but it also doesn't make you trapped. You can walk away. You can refuse to let your talent, your creativity, your humanity be part of this machine.

“The money flows up. And complicity flows down. But your conscience belongs to you.”

The post has been shared over 170 times, with other marketing professionals voicing their concerns.

A Stagwell spokesperson said: “As a network, we work with a broad range of clients and partners, and each agency operates with autonomy to select and manage their own client relationships. Our agencies work across the political and issue spectrum, and this project done by a small team working on a defined brief does not reflect a shift in that approach.”