Woke Business - Beware the Impending Consumer Backlash
From its inception, the internet has been the “go to” place for conspiracy theorists and nut jobs.
Social media has always had its fair share, though when Facebook first started it was a relatively benign place. Twitter, starting only 2 years later, has evolved into the medium for activists. Though small as a percentage of the general population, activist groups have always been well organised and hence had the ability to seem far bigger, with much more influence than they really have.
Fanatics live their lives around whatever it is they are fanatical about. The “average person” doesn’t care about and ignores the various activist’s issues. They have a life and want to get on with it.
My first experience (professionally) with the lunatic fringe was in 1986 when working at Clemenger Sydney. Bridgestone, one of my clients, ran a full-page ad for Dueler Tyres (for SUV & 4x4 vehicles). Targeted to males under 30 (even back then there were a significant number of off-road capable vehicles), Penthouse performed well against this target – what a surprise, young men liked photos of attractive naked women.
Bridgestone received over 100 letters, stating they were “appalled” a company such as Bridgestone would advertise in and support “pornography” and they would boycott the purchase of all Bridgestone tyres until the company stopped advertising in Penthouse.
The marketing manager “shat” himself and was going to pull all planned future ads in Penthouse. My boss, an experienced adman in his early 60s (Clemenger had purchased his independent agency), noted the letters were all similar. The opening, middle and close of every letter followed the same “formula”. He did some research and found the letters all came from an obscure church set up by an American (US), former Methodist minister. They were very well organised, putting out a monthly newsletter in which they named companies to target and provided the “shell” of complaint letters.
Sense prevailed and the advertising continued. Several months later, the church leader was jailed for pedophilia and tax evasion (he had been living in luxury on donations from his flock).
Social media has provided activists with a megaphone for their causes – the Bridgestone complaints example, to the power of 10. The result is far too many business leaders believe in “theories” such as – Critical Race, Gender a Social Construct, Unconscious Bias and White Privilege - 4 high profile and destructive examples.
None have any scientific validity. In fact, all have been discredited. As Goebbels said, tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.
No decent person could disagree with the phrase “Black Lives Matter”. But when interviewed, the founders state first and foremost, they are “trained Marxists”. One had her photo taken with Chavez, the ruthless leader of Venezuela, where anyone disagreeing with what is in reality a totalitarian regime, is imprisoned, tortured, and frequently killed.
That businesses openly support this movement, some even posting the BLM logo on their websites and various merchandising, is madness. Have they forgotten Socialism does not allow for private enterprise, or free speech and the other “niceties we take for granted in a democracy? Their companies would all be “confiscated” by the state and the senior executives and managers sent to “retraining” camps (the Soviets called them Gulags).
Racism is a scrounge, but fighting racism is not high on the agenda of BLM. The destruction of free and open societies is their primary goal. And racism is not systemic in developed countries. Yes, there will always be pockets of racism in every society, but 1st world countries had overcome the systemic racism that was prevalent, still up to the first half of last century (today there is growing racism amongst the progressive left, in the form of anti-Semitism).
We would be going backwards if “theories” such a Critical Race were widely taught and implemented. The objective of these “revolutionaries” is to destroy, free, fair, and open societies and gaining corporate support helps them significantly.
A close look at the Woke companies show they dodge as much tax as they can (Google and Facebook pay fuck all tax in Australia. Money vital to provide health and education to those who cannot afford private alternatives). They source suppliers from countries where the labor is slave, or one step above slave and yet have the audacity to lecture on what is right and proper. Fucking hypocrites! Amazon has been caught destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars a week of stock. A political advisor to Greenpeace was quoted: “Expensive products that took energy and resources to manufacture come straight off the production line and into over stretched waste systems and the high taxes needed to dispose of it aren’t being paid by Amazon”. Yet they censor books they deem not “politically correct” (This is not books espousing violence and intolerance, but those that do fit the narrative of the Counter-Culture fools. “Do as I Say Not as I Do”, should be their motto). The “Counter-Culture” movements, view all activity through the lens of race and gender.
And let’s not forget Antifa – a supposed antifascist movement. There are only 2 Fascists of significance in the world (leaving out small tin pot nations) – Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of Communist China, though they are never the source of their protests.
Donald Trump is a particularly obnoxious individual, who is the anthesis of how the leader of the free world should conduct themselves. But the USA is a democracy and as much as Trump rails against the election result, he lost and has been replaced. But these idiots protest, calling him a Fascist. Has anyone told them there cannot be a fascist in a democracy? Probably not, because if you disagree with them, they act as fascists do and assault, possibly even killing you.
Recently the CEO of Ben and Jerry’s said, “the system is broken and can’t be reformed and therefore must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up.”
When you earn millions a year, live in a big house in a gated community immune from daily violent crime, such suggestions will have no impact on your cozy life, but does make you sound “in tune” with struggle street at a cocktail party of your peers.
Activism is the new fashion sweeping through many large businesses.
What the fuck do business leaders know about the causes of and realistic solutions to poverty and crime? (they are inseparable). There are some 800,000 sworn police officers in the US, though this does not include the many other arms of law enforcement such as the FBI, Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, The DEA – too many to mention.
Fire them all and what will happen? Chaos.
In areas where police have been defunded, crime, particularly violent crime, has doubled. And the people most impacted are those who these dickheads say they are trying to help.
The police are a simple scapegoat for the complex problem of generational poverty and crime.
There is not a significant “Not for Profit” anywhere whose existence is not heavily dependent upon corporate support (the recent CEOs Sleepout is just one of many examples). There is nothing more dangerous than an enthusiastic amateur and those business leaders calling for the police defunding are a perfect example. The role of corporates should be to support the professionals in the many worthy Charities requiring not just financial support but also advice. Giving money is easy, giving up your time is a measure of commitment.
These businesses should not forget the wise words of David Ogilvy (Ogilvy & Mather).
“The customer is not a moron; she is your wife”.
This is an old statement, in the days when women were not equally represented or respected in the workplace. Times change, but the first part of his advice still holds true, in the same way the basics of communication have not changed i.e.
“The customer is not a moron”.
Beware the Woke businesses, those who pontificate and moralize, yet act hypocritically. Gillette learned the hard way. Coke is seeing what can happen.
Another old saying:
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.”.
Or in more direct language. The moralising hypocrites will end up being bitten on the arse!
