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We understand that you don’t read Retail Brew for politics, but as we’ve learned over the past few years, brands and their political messaging have come under intense scrutiny.
Corporate activism has been front and center, given that about 1 in 5 consumers have boycotted a brand, according to a Morning Consult survey data collected between August 2019 and October 2023.
- A majority of respondents (61%) said in 2019 that corporations should not get involved with political or cultural issues. That figure has declined slightly to 53% as of 2020 and has held at that same percentage in 2023.
- The real divide brands should take note of, per Morning Consult, lies in the generational divide: 67% of boomers believe brands should remain apolitical, a figure that’s only 39% for Gen Zers and millennials as of 2023.
“CEOs and other corporate leaders are going to have to weigh the risks involved with succumbing to that pressure with the increasing probability of blowback from the other side of America’s generational and ideological divide,” Morning Consult noted.
Among all US adults, the most important issues consumers believe brands should take a stand on include support for the police, diversity in the workforce, the environment/climate change, and gender equality/women’s rights.
- Gen Z adults, specifically, are more likely than the public, by double digits, to want brands to take stances on issues of race and racism in America, LGBTQ+ rights, access to abortion/contraception, and gun control.
“Corporate brands that want to be active on political, societal, and cultural issues should know that many public positions are likely to turn off a portion of the American public,” Morning Consult said.