Why do businesses get involved with politics?

As someone who was raised on the concept of free speech, this is really disturbing. It illustrates what a horrible situation we are in when a few technical companies become dictators as to what can and cannot be said. No matter which side of an argument one may be on, it is important to insist that all sides be allowed to express their opinions and ideas. Unfortunately, we are proving right now that the government would likely be a worse guardian, given how Obama/Biden have managed to weaponize the IRS, DOJ, FBI, etc., and how those corrupted organizations conspired with the speech dictators.

 

I really do not follow sports much, so I was surprised to see all of the "news" in U.S. conservative news feeds and columns regarding the loss of the U.S. Womens Soccer team against Sweden in the World Cup a day or two ago. All of the commentary was absolutely gleeful that the Americans and, in particular, Rapinoe had lost (Rapinoe was especially roasted as she missed the penalty kick that gave the game to Sweden.) This soccer team has obviously alienated half the country with their political messaging when you find that conservatives stop rooting for anything American, no less a sports team. Conservatives tend to love America and anything American. Up until now. Why the team's owners/management has allowed this to continue to this extreme, is beyond me.

 

"Wait... the US has a female soccer team?!" - 95% of the US population.

 

The U.S. team would have had to play there for you to see anything. Apparently, their descent into politics began years ago when they kneeled during the national anthem and did other things to insult the U.S. while wearing jerseys with USA on them. Megan Rapinoe seems to have done the most damage, in that regard. While the NFL, NBA, etc., had the same disrespect problems for a while, they are successful and supported widely so they could get past those tantrums without much problem. Not the same for the relatively unknown womens' soccer team here in the U.S. Not that there was much momentum to getting soccer to be a popular sport here, but they have certainly set back such efforts with these naïve moves.

 

Here's one that I had not heard of before: Apparently, Victoria's Secret in 2021 decided to re-brand as a "woke" company. The named Megan Rapinoe (anti-US soccer player) and a transgender model, Valentina Sampaio, as its new brand ambassadors. They also began using overweight models and plus-sized mannequins in their advertising and stores. They had dropped their famous fashion show in 2018 because it was "harmful" to women. Result: Revenues dropped from $7.5B in 2020 to a projected $6.2B in 2023 and the CEO, Amy Hauk, was forced to resign earlier this year. Keep in mind that women are their primary customers, by far, so this market rejection is even more telling.

They have announced a return to their previously successful marketing methods, including reviving their fashion show.

The hits just keep coming and coming...

 

Perhaps, but given the inflation that has been inflicted on us over the past 3 years, the drop in revenues is stunning. I know nothing about the ladies lingerie business, but given their history of successful manufacturing and sales for decades, it would be surprising if their product quality deteriorated so quickly. The big change likely was going woke as has happened to all of the other examples above.

 

LOL, Google's parent company, Alphabet, lost $70 billion in market value in a single day (Monday) over its "woke" Gemini chatbot that made historically inaccurate images (e.g., black Vikings, Asian George Washington, etc.). Investors became worried about its apparent hallucinations and obvious political bias. Meanwhile, Annheuser Busch's CEO in December announced layoffs and admitted that it will be a long road back for them to recover their customer base from the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco. He went on to say that it is obvious that customers do not want corporations to tell them how to think. Only took gazillions in revenue losses for him to figure out that they should be making beer and not political statements!

 

Here's a new one that we can keep an eye on to see how well it works out for them. The founder and CEO of telehealth and online pharmacy Hims took to social media on Wednesday to encourage anti-Israel/pro-Hamas protesters on U.S. college campuses to continue in those efforts because companies like his will be "eager" to hire them. Stay tuned for more developments.