The Problem With America’s “Woke Capitalism”

Corporations need to do more than talk about their impact

Gillette, the universally known manufacturer of all things shaving, launched an advertisement last year which condemned toxic masculinity and offered an incisive perspective on modern manhood. 

The two-minute clip encouraged men to stand up against bullying and harassment, making the connection between the “boys will be boys” attitude and the normalization of sexual harassment towards women. The video was titled “The Best a Man Can Be,” playing on the company’s slogan, “The Best a Man Can Get.” 

As its title implies, the video marks a strong deviation from the company’s past reliance on archaic masculine ideals. Celebrated by some and criticized by others, the campaign sparked a flurry of controversy. 

While the company received positive feedback—especially from LGBTQ+ support groups—it lost $8 billion. Evidently, their message did not resonate with a large contingent of their customers. A few months later, Gillette switched to an advertising strategy that focused on local heroes instead. 

Gillette isn’t the only company that has constructed ad campaigns around social justice issues in recent years. In direct response to President Trump’s decision to temporarily close U.S. borders to refugees, Airbnb aired “We Accept,” an ad celebrating diversity and belonging, during the 2017 Superbowl. 

In 2018, Nike launched a campaign supporting athletes who advocate for racial equality. And of course, who could forget the infamous now-removed video of Kendall Jenner ending a protest with a can of Pepsi? 

While some campaigns have been more successful than others, the pattern is clear: in recent years, facilitated by social media, corporations have increasingly integrated social justice issues into their marketing strategies. 

So when did corporations become so publicly affiliated with political movements? The answer begins to emerge as we look at shifting political and economic ideologies of the 1970s and ‘80s. 

During this period, intellectuals began brainstorming market-based ways to solve environmental and social issues. Instead of creating value solely for shareholders (communicating via prices only), companies adopted deeper business purposes; people began to see private enterprise as a space to create social change.  

Whole Foods is an excellent example. It is a grocery store, not a non-profit. But they see making high profits as a means to the end of fulfilling their core mission statement—not the other way around. CEO John Mackey said in an interview with Reason magazine in 2005, “We want to improve the health and well-being of everyone on the planet. . . and we can’t fulfill this mission unless we are highly profitable.” 

As people grew increasingly skeptical of the effectiveness of government actions, corporate social responsibility gained traction among both business leaders and the general public. Dollars became votes as people chose to support companies that aligned with their values. 

This trend did not die out. According to a study by Econsultancy, 73 percent of people believe that companies should do more than just offer a product or service. Eighty-eight percent of millennials say they will only work for values-aligned companies, and as of 2017, 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies reported their environmental and social impact. 

If the end goal is to build a more socially just and environmentally sustainable world, this is a positive trend. 

There are companies that have embraced this ideology and done genuine good for the world. Patagonia, for example, has made a commitment to be fossil-fuel-free by 2025. Social entrepreneurs, too, are making positive changes all over the world. 

Many people have critiqued a kind of “woke capitalism” under the guise of corporate social responsibility, claiming that attempts from companies to participate in dialogue about climate change is hypocritical and cheap—Pepsi is, after all, the top contributor to single-use plastic pollution. 

Nike, too, claims to stand for equality in its video ads, but not for its sweatshop workers. And of course, Gilette switched up their marketing strategy after taking a tidal wave of backlash. 

In this sense, “woke capitalism” is comparable with what has been called slacktivism—lazy social media activism that does more to project the political beliefs of the user (or in this case, garner attention for the company) than it does to work towards solving an issue. 

True corporate social responsibility is good. Corporations should be taking steps to use cleaner energy and adopt meaningful mission statements. But the pervasiveness of this ideology has created a space in which every company feels pressure to launch socially responsible initiatives. The problematic outcome is that many companies are engaging in talk without action—they’re appropriating social justice movements to create an illusion of social responsibility that falls short of any real impact. 

As consumers, we can’t buy into hypocritical marketing strategies. We must hold corporations accountable and be critically aware that advertisements reflect positive messages, not corporate social action. 

Carolyn Kuimelis is a sophomore economics major and opinion writer.