Woke Capitalism
September 26, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Target Corporation has been even more woke than most large companies, but there are limits. Target has been vocal about the damage that organized retail theft is doing to its bottom line. Now the other shoe has dropped. The Wall Street Journal reports: Target is closing nine stores across four states because of theft and organized retail crime. The Minneapolis-based retailer said Tuesday stores in the New York City, Seattle,
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August 26, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here about the devastating impact of organized crime on America’s retailers. Which means, of course, the impact of organized crime on American consumers–all of us. Now another retailer has spoken up. Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom slammed the brazen bandits who recently ransacked a Los Angeles-area outpost — swiping $100,000 worth of merchandise — as the upscale retailer announced it has suffered “historical losses” from shoplifters. These are organized
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August 16, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Target announced earnings in a call with reporters and acknowledged being hurt by the company’s “Pride” promotions: The retailer said it expected sales to decline again in the current quarter and lowered its profit goal for the full year. Executives said they would still mark Pride Month next year but with a more focused assortment of merchandise. *** “As we navigate an ever-changing operating and social environment, we are applying
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August 4, 2023 — John Hinderaker
This article in Institutional Investor says that hedge funds are more likely to target companies that have diverse boards of directors: Activist hedge funds are paying attention to board diversity — and are using that information to decide on their next targets. New research shows that activist investors are more likely to succeed when boards are less united and slower to act — two characteristics that are common among diverse
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August 3, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Anheuser-Busch InBev released second quarter data today. The Wall Street Journal reports: The culture wars have cost Bud Light big time. Now, the beer brand’s owner says its market share is stabilizing and that it will win back drinkers by staying away from controversial topics. *** Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, said Thursday its U.S. sales, profit and market share had all fallen sharply in the second quarter as
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July 21, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Today’s Wall Street Journal has a heartwarming article on DEI: “The Rise and Fall of the Chief Diversity Officer.” Two years ago chief diversity officers were some of the hottest hires into executive ranks. Now, they increasingly feel left out in the cold. Companies including Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have recently said that high-profile diversity, equity and inclusion executives will be leaving their jobs. Thousands of diversity-focused workers
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July 5, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The outrage of the day is Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company advocating that we give our “stolen land” back to the Indians: This 4th of July, it's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now: https://t.co/45smaBmORH pic.twitter.com/a6qp7LXUAE — Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) July 4, 2023 That is profoundly stupid on several levels, and it
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June 25, 2023 — John Hinderaker
At Breitbart, David Ng notes that the Walt Disney Company has “lost a stunning $890 million on its last eight studio releases, including The Little Mermaid and Elemental, according to a box office analyst.” No doubt that is why Disney’s stock has lost over half of its value since its March 2021 peak. Wokeness has not been working well for Disney. Has the company learned its lesson? Of course not:
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June 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
This Star Tribune headline caught my attention: “Keith Ellison, other state attorneys general concerned with Target pulling Pride products.” Why on earth would Target’s response to customer complaints be a matter of concern to attorneys general? What possible crime could they be looking into? Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a group of 14 other attorneys general penned a letter to Target CEO Brian Cornell this week expressing concern about
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June 6, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Today’s Wall Street Journal surveys the wreckage of recent weeks and headlines: “Companies’ New Cause: Dodging the Culture Wars.” It is all quite interesting, but I want to highlight a couple of points: CEOs spent the past few years adjusting to a world in which investors, customers and employees expected corporate leaders to align themselves with social causes. Did they really? I think that only a small minority of investors,
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June 5, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Target keeps digging the hole deeper. Fox News has a report on the Target Foundation, which funds the extreme Left. One of the beneficiaries of Target’s largesse is the NDN Collective, a South Dakota nonprofit that hauls in $50 million or more in annual revenue. It must be nice to be on the Left! That is where the money is. NDN is absurdly radical: NDN identifies as “intersectional,” which is
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May 31, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Target’s sales have dropped sharply following its bizarre “Pride” promotion of men’s women’s swimsuits, children’s grooming books, and the like. How Target went down the woke path will be studied by future generations of MBA students as a lesson in what to avoid. It remains to be seen whether Target’s sales decline will be long-lasting, but for now the situation is only getting worse. Yesterday, this performance of “Boycott Target”
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May 26, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Left is attacking us with its most bizarre culture war yet, the “trans” fad that threatens the mental and physical health of our children and young people. So we have no choice but to fight back. To start with, let’s fight back against Target. Target’s sins go far beyond its “Pride” collection. Most attention has focused on the clothing line that included expanded-crotch “women’s” swimsuits and partnership with a
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May 24, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Of all the strange phenomena of our strange era, the most inexplicable to me is woke capitalism. We see it all around us: Major League Baseball moving the All-star Game out of Atlanta (does anyone remember why?), Delta Airlines aligning itself with the Democratic Party, the Bud Light fiasco. Along with Budweiser, a number of other companies have driven off the “pride” cliff. This is only a partial list, but
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April 22, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Ad Age reports there’s been a shakeup among leadership in the marketing department at Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch, the brand’s parent company, has confirmed that Alissa Heinerscheid, the woman behind the disastrous decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in their latest marketing campaign, has taken a leave of absence and “will be replaced by Todd Allen, who was most recently global marketing VP for Budweiser.” In a statement first
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April 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Steve posted the heavy thoughts of Bud Light VP of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid here yesterday. I love the condescending sing-song she brings to her “explanation” of the current Bud Light marketing campaign. “We need to evolve and elevate this incredibly iconic brand….What does evolve and elevate mean?” Heavy thought: “It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter
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April 9, 2023 — Steven Hayward
This is said to be the marketing manager for Bud Light who thinks the answer to declining sales is “diversity.” Somehow this genius strategy hasn’t stopped declining enrollments in colleges and universities. Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s VP of Marketing, doubles down on her extreme woke strategy to promote the “declining” American beer brand to “young people”, while smearing her former customers as “fratty and out of touch”. How’s that working
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