"It seems like lately, there's a new - and confounding - political melee surrounding a company branding decision every other week. One company sniffles, and someone declares it woke. Another coughs, and it's white supremacist. Just look at what happened with American Eagle and Cracker Barrel over the summer. Or a couple of years ago, when the green M&M got sneakers. The near-constant meltdowns over simple business moves are a sign of the times, though. Americans are seeing everything as politically coded, even when it's not."
"Over the past decade or so, more firms have waded more explicitly into politics, often because it seemed good for their bottom lines, and now many are trying to reverse course. Companies are backing away from any moves that might rock the boat and taking a real "nothing to see here" approach to their messaging. But the blandification is too late, given how polarized the country has become."
Corporate branding moves increasingly trigger polarized political interpretations, turning routine marketing decisions into culture-war flashpoints. Companies previously engaged more openly in politics for perceived business benefit and now often retreat into risk-averse, bland messaging. The retreat fails to reverse widespread politicization because consumers across ideological lines assign political meaning to neutral corporate acts and mobilize rapid online backlash. High-profile examples include reactions to American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ads and past controversies around Cracker Barrel and the green M&M. The result is a marketplace where ordinary corporate signals are read as ideological, increasing reputational risk for brands.
Read at Business Insider
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