Go Woke, Go Broke?
Do progressive politics hurt the bottom line? I don’t know. Any politics complicates a company’s mission. While there was drama around big political missteps at Budweiser and others, there is also a wasted business opportunity in companies’, especially big tech companies, ubiquitous left-wing everyday assumptions. Agree or disagree with their politics, such bias is bad business.
One of a million example – with the possible exceptions of Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL), no one knows more about me than Facebook (META). They literally know all my likes and dislikes. As they probably know, I recently got eye surgery and no longer wear glasses so updated my FB avatar:
Take into account that Facebook knows everything about me. Here’s where I’m from:
And here’s what they thought I’d like:
Their next suggestion is the WMBA:
They know my total lack of any interest in basketball. So if I don’t care about the NBA then I don’t care about the WNBA squared. Next:
I order stuff in black slightly more frequently than Johnny Cash. All of their ideas are weird. All are indicative of their interests, not mine. As Facebook well knows, I like jiu jitsu, CrossFit, and trail running. And they could actually monetize my interests. Market me ranches, market me guns, market me trucks, but if you want my money you have to actually try to care about what I want.
One woke catchphrase is to “bring your whole self to work” but they mean to bring your whole pride rainbow minority women’s basketball fan self, not your bow hunt an elk, husband to one, father to three self. Everyone else is supposed to get out of the closet, then anyone culturally conservative or even just mainstream gets shoved back in it. Whether or not it is good politics, it is bad business.
