#sales-impact

#sales-impact

In 2017, in the lead-up to the launch of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, developer Warhorse Studios was criticized by some online for not including people of color in the game. The studio defended this by claiming it was historically accurate that in early 15th-century Bohemia, especially in the countryside where the game was set, it was rare to see non-white people. Some scholars agreed, others weren't sure, and people online yelled about it, with some right-leaning gamers very invested in protecting the studio from the "woke agenda."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's political crash out has been painful to watch. His public endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump and spearheading role in the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (which was linked to more than 280,000 layoffs) earned Muskand Teslaa negative reputation amongst left-leaning voters in the U.S. A new study by Yale scholars at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reveals just how much of an impact that reputation had on Tesla's sales.

To recap, American Eagle Outfitters faced weeks of scrutiny for its ad featuring the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor. From mainstream media to LinkedIn feeds, everyone chimed in (including President Trump) on whether the denim brand deliberately issued a racist 'dog whistle' for a campaign that ran with the pun: "Sydney Sweeney has great genes." The ad, which landed during the peak back-to-school marketing rush, was also criticized for seemingly taking inspiration from a 1980 Calvin Klein ad starring a 15-year-old Brooke Shields.