image source: TMZ, Dylan Mulvaney
This is a serious topic and a serious #tellthetruths video. We used to counsel brands to be bolder, but times are changing and the current climate makes taking controversial stands, however principled, potentially dangerous.
Be More Careful Out There
Two thoughts that I wish had come across more clearly in the video: 1. The key word here is “principled.” For brands that are inauthentically chasing a like, rather than connecting to their key values, this will always be a mistake. And in the current climate, when a backlash comes, just backing right down again doesn’t help much. (I’m looking at you, Bud Light!) 2. Know your audience! If you do something controversial it should not only be around an issue that you care about but also something that matters to your people! (I’m still talking to Bud Light. They made the deadly mistake of thinking that their Marketing folks’ values were their audience’s values.)
This video originally appeared in LinkedIn
Pissing People Off Is NOT Good Branding!
Don’t ask my opinion unless you want my opinion
TRANSCRIPT:
You guys, there’s something that I’ve felt really, really strongly about brands that I’ve talked to you about a lot before and I’m now changing my mind. And I don’t understand exactly what’s going on but I think that brands need to be more careful. So… I used to counsel brands to be more daring. I’ve noticed over the years it’s been a truism that a brand that stands for what matters most to it even if it loses some consumers will also gain some consumers by standing for something. And in the end, they come out ahead. And the examples that I’ve often cited have been things like the way Nike stood behind Colin Kaepernick and used him to really revitalize their Just Do It campaign. There was some backlash. Some people were burning their Nike sneakers. But the brand understood who they were for and that it would galvanize them. And the brand, on every measure, including stock price, really took off. They dipped for 2 days and then they took off. And a year later and three years later they’re in a much better space. So to me, this was a rule of brands. Own your point of view. Stand for your values.
But in the last couple of months, things are different. There’s like this level of brand activism that I think is driven by the fact that we’re a much more divided country. It is mostly on the right. This isn’t political, this is just what I’m observing. But I’m not even sure it’s exclusively on the right. I think all my examples are, though. Where it started with Bud Light as an incredibly minor, little thing. It gave some product to a social media influencer who happens to be trans. And the backlash has been really meaningful. I would’ve said, “Oh, you know, people will rally behind you.” I think that there was a strategic miscalculation about just who their people are is part of the problem there but I also think that the culture has changed. The temperature has changed. And perhaps with that as the real turning point, since then, in the last couple of months, we’ve seen… you know, every year during Pride, there’s a big backlash against Target because they have a lot of product prominently on display near the front door. But this year there are people filming themselves on social media knocking it to the floor and being incredibly provocative. And again, it just picks up steam.
This same trans influencer, Dylan Mulvaney was pictured next to Tony the Tiger at some event.The mascot. And now people are on social media saying you can’t eat Cornflakes anymore. Like she just stood next to him for a photo op, my God. Walmart is now being called out. And I’ve seen that people are saying that Chick-fil-A, which is one of the most conservative brands, and some people like won’t even eat there because of some of their policies. They have an HR department, and so there are people saying that they’re too woke now and they have to be boycotted.
It’s gotten out of hand. I think that it’s a pendulum and it won’t stay this bad, but I am concerned as someone who’s been saying, “Stand by your values, it’ll be good business in the end.” I just can’t say that right now. I think brands have to be really careful and really cautious. And I don’t know where this is going. I don’t think it’s forever, to this extent but I don’t know where it’s going to end. I don’t think it’s going to go back to how it used to be. And that’s a shame. And that’s what I wanted to share, and that’s what I would love to talk about, too. I would love to hear your opinion. Let me know. Thanks. Bye.
