Woke Capitalism
March 31, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Woke capitalism is one of the strange phenomena of our era. I understand why government agencies might go in for DEI (Didn’t Earn It), since government at all levels is mostly in the hands of liberals and government employees, by their nature, are inclined to social engineering. But why corporations should sign up en masse for this left-wing nonsense is beyond me. It is beyond most Americans, too. Rasmussen asked
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March 24, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Of all the inroads the Left has made into our institutions in recent years, the most puzzling is its increasing dominance of the business world. One aspect of this is the movement for “ESG”–Environmental, Social, Governance–investing. ESG basically means swearing fealty to the craziest of left-wing schemes. Why it became a fad is beyond me. Happily, the ESG craze may be coming to an end. The Wall Street Journal reports:
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March 6, 2024 — John Hinderaker
North Face is a left-wing clothing company that is breaking new ground in wokeness. It now has a program, where anyone who completes its “allyship” training module can get a 20% discount on North Face products. This is truly a new frontier: a company is actually engaging in price discrimination, offering lower prices to people who share (or pretend to share) its political views. Intrigued by news stories about North
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January 19, 2024 — John Hinderaker
One iconic cultural institution after another has collapsed in recent years, but this still seems shocking: while news accounts are somewhat confusing, it appears that all or nearly all employees of Sports Illustrated magazine have received layoff notices. Sports Illustrated belongs to Authentic Brands Group, which licensed the magazine to Arena Group Holdings. The present layoffs apparently are the result of Arena’s failing to make its quarterly license payment. Hollywood
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November 27, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I generally think of green dogma as something that the gentry class imposes on the rest of us–you peons have to live more poorly, never mind my yacht and private jet. But there is another side to it, as well, as we see in the Guardian: environmentalism as a manifestation of class envy. The article describes green angst in the advertising industry: There is increasing agreement that although individual behaviour
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November 25, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Disney Company has fallen on hard times, with one movie after another bombing or, at a minimum, failing to live up to expectations. Disney’s troubles are widely blamed on its far-left corporate culture, which prioritizes pushing woke themes over entertaining the masses. But is that how Disney sees it? Yes, actually. A site called That Park Place has reviewed Disney’s most recent 10K filing with the Securities and Exchange
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October 26, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Left’s most insidious power grabs involve taking over private companies that run services that are open to the public. Especially where such services have large market shares, left-wing dominance can have real consequences in suppressing conservative (or just normal) ideas. A case in point is EventBrite. EventBrite’s managers have decided that defending women’s sports is out of bounds. Thus, they have thrown a speech by Riley Gaines at the
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October 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The adage “get woke, go broke” doesn’t always hold true. Sadly, some companies, like Nike, have parlayed leftism into profits. But this one seems overdetermined: Victoria’s Secret drops feminist makeover after sales slump. Who exactly thought that feminist wokeness would cause women to buy a company’s undergarments? Lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret is dropping its feminist makeover and bringing back “sexiness” as it tries to reverse falling sales. Did the people
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October 6, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Disney Corporation is in freefall, with one film flop after another. Its share price has suffered accordingly: Disney pretty much defines corporate wokism, and most people think the company’s far-left orientation largely accounts for its decline. CEO Bob Iger, brought out of retirement in a desperate move, seemed to agree: The culture wars are bad for business, said Disney/ESPN top dog Bob Iger recently, and he vowed to “quiet the
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September 26, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Target Corporation has been even more woke than most large companies, but there are limits. Target has been vocal about the damage that organized retail theft is doing to its bottom line. Now the other shoe has dropped. The Wall Street Journal reports: Target is closing nine stores across four states because of theft and organized retail crime. The Minneapolis-based retailer said Tuesday stores in the New York City, Seattle,
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August 26, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here about the devastating impact of organized crime on America’s retailers. Which means, of course, the impact of organized crime on American consumers–all of us. Now another retailer has spoken up. Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom slammed the brazen bandits who recently ransacked a Los Angeles-area outpost — swiping $100,000 worth of merchandise — as the upscale retailer announced it has suffered “historical losses” from shoplifters. These are organized
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August 16, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Target announced earnings in a call with reporters and acknowledged being hurt by the company’s “Pride” promotions: The retailer said it expected sales to decline again in the current quarter and lowered its profit goal for the full year. Executives said they would still mark Pride Month next year but with a more focused assortment of merchandise. *** “As we navigate an ever-changing operating and social environment, we are applying
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August 4, 2023 — John Hinderaker
This article in Institutional Investor says that hedge funds are more likely to target companies that have diverse boards of directors: Activist hedge funds are paying attention to board diversity — and are using that information to decide on their next targets. New research shows that activist investors are more likely to succeed when boards are less united and slower to act — two characteristics that are common among diverse
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August 3, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Anheuser-Busch InBev released second quarter data today. The Wall Street Journal reports: The culture wars have cost Bud Light big time. Now, the beer brand’s owner says its market share is stabilizing and that it will win back drinkers by staying away from controversial topics. *** Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, said Thursday its U.S. sales, profit and market share had all fallen sharply in the second quarter as
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July 21, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Today’s Wall Street Journal has a heartwarming article on DEI: “The Rise and Fall of the Chief Diversity Officer.” Two years ago chief diversity officers were some of the hottest hires into executive ranks. Now, they increasingly feel left out in the cold. Companies including Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have recently said that high-profile diversity, equity and inclusion executives will be leaving their jobs. Thousands of diversity-focused workers
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July 5, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The outrage of the day is Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company advocating that we give our “stolen land” back to the Indians: This 4th of July, it's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now: https://t.co/45smaBmORH pic.twitter.com/a6qp7LXUAE — Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 4, 2023 That is profoundly stupid on several levels, and it
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June 25, 2023 — John Hinderaker
At Breitbart, David Ng notes that the Walt Disney Company has “lost a stunning $890 million on its last eight studio releases, including The Little Mermaid and Elemental, according to a box office analyst.” No doubt that is why Disney’s stock has lost over half of its value since its March 2021 peak. Wokeness has not been working well for Disney. Has the company learned its lesson? Of course not:
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