To make the current BudLight, Target, and Dodgers controversies easier to discuss publicly, these moves by such companies are described as going "Woke". That's a polite way to approach the subject. The recent controversies are far more than just woke. This is about the corporate world intruding their questionable morals into the private lives of their potential customers and, worst of all, interfering in the development of their customer's children.
While it's not the same, the clothing and merchandise that Target displays have a relationship to the books on the shelves of the local elementary school.
How does a company avoid getting dragged into this quicksand?
It's especially difficult if the management has caused many recent changes and the brand's history has undergone an erasure or a revision. This would have been most apparent in company divisions that had much to do with branding and advertising. An easy thumbnail? Take a quick audit of the average staff ages of the different divisions. The younger the department, the more dangerous it will be for the brand's future.
Some companies are lucky. They'll have a layer of franchisees or dealers who are able to step in and act as a buffer to keep the corporate types from taking the brand down the wrong path. That is, if said franchisees or dealers will step up and act as a roadblock
to any possible deliberate or accidental reimaging. Some will step up; some will run and hide.
The above picture is dramatic. Is Target going to self-destruct? Heck if I know. That's above my pay grade. I do know that if, fifteen years ago, someone had told me that Sears would soon be gone, I would have scoffed at the idea.
8 comments:
This isn't just about woke politics, it's about corporations using their power and money to brazenly indoctrinate all of us, including the children, into their bizarre, toxic ideological cult of Wokery.
They have gone too far this time. It's on as far as I am concerned.
I'd offer some others to blame:
* The huge investment entities that are using their ownership of various companies to influence the public's culture and morals.
* The various special interest groups who want to use their influence on large companies to force their lifestyle choices on consumers.
* Both of the above are trying to use the force of government to cause the change they desire (hence their involvement in public schools run by teacher's unions).
* And yes, there are some influential corporate people with that "bizarre, toxic ideological cult of Wokery".
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McDonald's o/os should keep an eye on things such as this page
https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/community/lgbtq-plus.html
I'v never seen that before. How long has it been there?
In one form or another, for more than a few years.
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what's your take on chick fil a mr Adams?
I haven't paid much attention to the dust-up. It looks like your typical fake Twitter storm. Chick-fil-A hasn't changed. It appears they've had a DEI VP for a year and a half and he's been with the company for more than 16 years. You've got to assume he shares the company's values if he's been around that long. It's not as though they brought some insane radical from Harvard or Yale who intends to turn the company upside down.
Keep in mind that even in the business media world most reporters, editors, and website publishers lean to the left side of politics. Part of their culture says that Chick-fil-A is one of the bad guys. So, when something negative about Chick pops up online it going to get some circulation. In addition, there are more and more bloggers and podcasters
who are trying to charge $5 or $10 a month as a "subscription" to their content. To promote their business they'll produce headlines that generate a lot of clicks that pull in subscribers. This time it appears the fuss was started by a conservative blogger who doesn't think Chick is toeing the conservative line.
I don't know that Chick ever promised to toe anyone's line.
DEI is not necessarily a bad thing. In its purest form, it's just good Human Relations. It's when those involved try to take DEI to the extremes that the corporate suits overreact and start making bad decisions. Then the hippies move in and start destroying the company.
Chuck-fil-A has been under withering fire for having conservative values since 2012. The liberal pressure doesn't seem to have done any damage. A little conservative pressure won't either.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/4023005-consumers-fight-back-with-some-success-against-brands-gone-woke/
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