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Table of Content

1. Executive Summary…………………………………………………….. 2

2. Introduction………………………………………………………………3

3. Evaluation of Brand Activism…………………………………………....4

4. Recommendations………………………………………………………..7

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..11

6. References………………………………………………………………..12
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Executive Summary

In today’s world, consumers want to buy from companies with values that address

social, environmental and political issues.

This report describes the meaning of brand activism and the drivers that enforces it in

recent times. Subsequently evaluating the various benefits attached to actions that portray

activism from the brand, as well as the risks involved. Also, this report would explore how a

brand can represent activism in an authentic way by proactively incorporating it into the

brand’s value and identity, including internal policies and finally, stating the possible

consequences of these actions along with alternative measures that can be put in place.
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Introduction

Brand activism can be seen as the actions or communications of a brand in issues regarding

social, political, environment, legal and other general issues affecting the community in

which they exist, with the desire to make an improvement in that society. It describes “how

progressive businesses are taking stands to create a better world.” (Sarkar & Kotler, 2021)

(Kotler & Sarkar, 2017) believed that brand activism is a natural evolution of corporate,

social responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Government (ESG). These

previous efforts are identified as market driven and corporate driven initiatives, whereas

“Brand activism emerges as a values-driven agenda for companies that care about the future

of the society and the planet’s health”. A sense of justice and fairness for all appears to be the

primary factor driving progress in this area “Consumers now want to support businesses that

share their beliefs and stand up for social, environmental, and political causes. They believe

that governments are no longer capable of solving all of society's problems, therefore they

look to brands to step in and make a difference.”

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Evaluation of Brand Activism

Benefits

Millennials and Generation Zs want brands to take a stand on important issues affecting

them and according to a 2021 Edelman survey, 70% of millennials and approximately 60% of

Americans decide which brands to buy based on their observation about brands' support for

Black Lives Matter movement. “The GenZ’s are a growing influence and they are not

stopping” (White, 2020), they have huge buying power with an estimate of $143billion

dollars in the USA alone. “Consumers who purchase brands that reflect their values are

choosing the kinds of businesses they would like to see in the world, and helping to build a

more sustainable and just economy. “We are in an unfortunate time where Governments and

Institutions provide less moral leadership, and we now expect to see it from the brands we

buy” (White, 2020).

A report by Deloitte revealed that, “Purpose-driven companies witness higher market

share gains and grow three times faster on average than their competitors, all while achieving

higher workforce and customer satisfaction” (O’Brien et al., 2019). Stakeholders prefer to

relate with brands that have a strong value system and culture, moreso, research has shown

that companies use "purpose" to build stronger connections with their customers. These are

attributes that build perceptions and brand associations in the minds of consumers. Having a

purpose for your brand creates positive perceptions and that ultimately increases brand

equity.

It is also beneficial to build brand awareness through brand activism. In addition to

generating content on a company’s social media channels, brand activism can also help turn

customers into brand ambassadors as they can use this content to raise awareness for a cause

or create content of their own that the brand may use (Dodge, 2020).
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Additionally, a strong employer brand helps businesses to recruit and retain quality

employees. Quality employees are essential for successful growth. (Henning, 2021). The

reputation of a company as a place to work is referred to as the ‘employer brand’. To put it

another way, the employer brand is how employees and customers view the company's values

and working environment. As a result, employer branding encompasses everything a firm

does, whether consciously or unconsciously, to promote its unique character as an employer

to existing and potential employees. Employer branding is crucial because it is an important

part of a company's identity. A good employer must offer these benefits to stand out to

candidates seeking employment.

Risks

“Recent polling has shown hypocrisy around diversity and equality can hurt a brand’s

reputation.” “Usually, it is practical for a brand to engage in socio-political issues that align

with the brand’s identity”. “Brands that detach their activist messaging from their purpose,

values, and practice are enacting inauthentic brand activism through the practice of woke

washing, potentially misleading consumers with their claims, thereby damaging both the

brand equity and the potential for social change” (Vredenburg et al., 2020). The "Daughter"

ad Audi ran in the 2017 Superbowl, a feminist campaign advocating equal pay, backfired

when it was revealed Audi did not employ any women executives, the youtube video

gathered more dislikes of 59,000 than the likes of 47,000 in the first few hours it was

uploaded (Kauflin, 2017).

There are instances of brands making campaigns that were meant to promote a social

cause but in the end backfired. BrewDog's 2018 attempt to make a joke at the expense of

firms who aim to appeal to women is a good example of a wrongly communicated message

on sensitive social matters. Twitter exploded with complaints regarding the so-called "Pink
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IPA", a play on the brand's iconic Punk IPA. The brand further aggravated the situation with

this tweet: "This is not ‘beer for girls.’ This is beer for equality". “BeerDog claims that it was

all deliberate satire as part of a campaign to close the gender pay gap and did not succeed”

(Carson, 2019a). The satire was totally lost on most people, and the story became about the

tone-deaf, patronising branding of the new beer making them deviate focus from the main

objective of the brand’s donation to charity.

Companies need to consider that their chain of production, sales and distribution

which includes, suppliers, retailers, employees, brand ambassadors, up to influencers, have

the same values aligning with the brand at all levels. The case of L’Oreal and Munroe

Bergdorf can be cited as an example, the company was at first applauded for hiring a

transgener to be its spokesperson but had to sever ties with the brand ambassador days after

she made a controversial statement about “White supremacy”. These chains of association are

in one way or the other related to the brand such that their actions or inactions reflect back on

the brand’s identity and values.

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Recommendation

Oftentimes, consumers quickly dismiss brand activism as nothing more than marketing

ploys, while on the other hand they expect brands to get vocal and act. To truly contribute to

the common good, brand activism requires a long-term strategy based on purpose and

identity. The purpose of this report is to identify how brands can effectively portray brand

activism, while taking into account the possible consequences and potential leeway for crisis

arising from poor brand activism decisions.

Company’s culture

A brand should only declare in the public what it stands for and known for. A company’s

internal policies and value system must corroborate its activists actions. Vredenburg et al.,

(2020) described the reverse of this case as inauthentic brand activism. “brands that detach

their activist messaging from their purpose, values, and practice are enacting inauthentic

brand activism through the practice of “woke washing,” potentially misleading consumers

with their claims, damaging both their brand equity and potential for social change”

(Vredenburg et al., 2020). An instance of Patagonia, a US clothing manufacturer whose

mission statement “we’re in business to save our home planet” aligns with all its initiatives

over the years and has also impacted the way the customers relate with the brand in terms of

loyalty and support. Journalist Emy Demkes published a correspondence with Patagonia with

the heading “the more Patagonia rejects consumerism, the more the brand sells” (Demkes,

2020). When asked during an interview, whether consumers purchase their products because

of product quality or to make a statement with their purchasing power, Vincent Stanley, the

director of philosophy for Patagonia responded that in November 2016, the company

declared that it was donating all its Black Friday profit for good causes, sales on that day

exceeded $10 million. “Customers returned their purchases the next day, mostly feeling

embarrassed”. “They told similar stories about how they did not need the products and had
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rushed to buy them because they wanted to show support for Patagonia's message” (Demkes,

2020).

Brand positioning and relevance

This is when a brand has its own unique positioning which should advisably stem from

long term commitment to a cause. For example, “should a fast fashion company stand in

support of cotton farmers? The answer is both yes and no” and it all depends on the unique

positioning of the brand. A sudden statement of support for a cause may result in a backlash

that can affect the company’s image. Using an example of Boohoo’s case, who showed

support for the black lives matter movement, only to face allegations of modern slavery acts

few days after (Butler, 2020), this drastically affected their share price as one of their major

shareholders “Aberdeen Standard Investments sold 27m shares worth about £80m criticizing

the company's "inadequate" response to malpractice allegations, Boohoo lost 18% of its share

value in less than a week (Butler, 2020). “60% of consumers say brands should only speak

out about social issues if they already have strong internal policies in place.”(Datawords

Group Website, 2021). Brand positioning in activism needs to stem from long term

commitments to exploring the brand’s proposition and finding the best narratives and

connections to the social causes the brand stands for. This can be achieved by being

consistent and staying true to the brand’s core values.

Delivery on commitments

Consumers expect brands to deliver on their commitment. Studies have shown that

“majority of consumers believe brands should go beyond issuing statements but also make

symbolic gestures to take concrete action and launch real initiatives” (Datawords Group

Website, 2021).
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Possible consequences

There are cases where a brand’s activism efforts have backfired and caused huge

public scrutiny. For example, Starbucks’ attempted to engage the public on a racial

oppression subject in 2015 following the police shootings of unarmed black men and

subsequent civil unrest. They delivered this campaign in a face to face debate of their baristas

with the general public, stirring negative feedback to the brand. One of the important things

for a brand to consider before launching an activist movement is to research the audience to

understand their level of reaction to a social message. In this case, this was a risky move from

Starbucks and “critics derided the idea as superficial, ill-judged and simply playing

lip-service to a serious social issue, particularly when spearheaded by Starbucks’ chairman

and CEO Howard D. Schultz, a white billionaire who couldn't be further removed from the

issues at hand” (Carson, 2019). Worst case scenarios for brand activism gone bad would

usually include, backlash from the general public, product or service boycotts and PR crisis.

In such situations, a company must have in place proactive measures to address such a crisis.

Measures

In situations where a brand’s activist messaging receives a backlash, it is advisable the

brand has in place a crisis management procedure and team in place to ensure that the crisis is

nibbed before it explodes. Shift Communication described crisis management as analogous to

putting out fire, explaining that fire requires three things to burn; the heat(energy), fuel and

oxygen (catalyst/speed). “A crisis communications situation occurs when something has gone

wrong and your brand is on fire. When you do something wrong or are responsible for

something, this is the fuel, public opinion is what gives the heat(energy) and the speed of

reaction to it is the catalyst. If you deny the fire from any one of these sources, you break the

chain reaction that causes the fire, so it burns out on its own.” (SHIFT Communications,
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2020). Nonetheless, a case study of Cracker Barrel who fired its female retail manager of 11

years gathering about 17,000 signatures as petitions for the hashtag justice for Brad’s wife,

revealed that sometimes silence can be a good form of crisis communication, the company

did not publicly address this issue and over time the storm calmed, “while you’ll still find a

few #NotMyCountryStore hashtags littering Cracker Barrel’s social media channels, the

firestorm has mostly passed. According to the company’s latest numbers, they’re doing just

fine” (Prater, 2017). This approach might have worked for Cracker Barrel, it should be noted

however that there is no one size fits all approach for specific crisis management.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, the report defined the meaning of brand activism and identified brand

awareness as one of the benefits of a brand being active on socio-political issues and

thereafter identified some potential risks of brand activism to a brand.

Also, it recommended that a brand should only declare its support for a cause by

initially incorporating it in the company’s core values and remaining consistent and true,

through long term dedication and initiatives that align with the brand’s values. Additionally

the report reveals that irrelevance and poor brand positioning in brand activism

communication have terrible consequences on brand’s image which may ruin customer

loyalty and trust for the brand. However, this can be managed through proactive crisis

management measures already instituted in the company’s policies.

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References

Butler, S. (2020, July 13). Boohoo shares drop 18% as new Leicester factory reports threaten

sales. The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/13/boohoo-shares-drop-18-as-new-leic

ester-factory-reports-threaten-sales

Carson, N. (2019, August 8). 3 times big brands tried to be woke and failed miserably.

Creative Bloq.

https://www.creativebloq.com/features/3-times-big-brands-tried-to-be-woke-and-failed

Datawords Group Website, A. (2021, May 25). Why we all need more brand activism in

2021—and how to make it work. Datawords Group Website.

https://www.datawordsgroup.com/uk/why-we-all-need-more-brand-activism-in-2021-a

nd-how-to-make-it-work-2/

Demkes, E. (2020, April 28). The more Patagonia rejects consumerism, the more the brand

sells. The Correspondent.

https://thecorrespondent.com/424/the-more-patagonia-rejects-consumerism-the-more-th

e-brand-sells

Hennig, C., (2021, July 7). “Brand Activism as an Extension of Brand Identity and its

Implications for Employer Branding – Conditional Process Analysis of the Influence of

Taking a Stand on Employer Brand Attractiveness and Job Pursuit Intentions for

Potential Employees”. 10.13140/RG.2.2.22718.00321

Kauflin, J. (2017, February 6). Why Audi’s Super Bowl Ad Failed. Forbes.

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Kotler, P., & Sarkar, C. (2017, January 9). “Finally, Brand Activism!” – Philip Kotler and

Christian Sarkar. The Marketing Journal.

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https://www.marketingjournal.org/finally-brand-activism-philip-kotler-and-christian-sar

kar/

O’Brien, D., Main, A., Stephan, A., & Kounkel, S. (2019, October 15). Purpose is

everything. Deloitte Insights.

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marketing-trends/2020/purpose-driven-companies.html

Prater, M. (2017, April 19). Crisis Management Examples: Learn From These 5 Brands.

Brandfolder. https://brandfolder.com/blog/crisis-management

Sarkar, C., & Kotler, P. (2021). Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action. IDEA BITE

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Vredenburg, J., Kapitan, S., Spry, A., & Kemper, J. A. (2020). Brands Taking a Stand:

Authentic Brand Activism or Woke Washing? Journal of Public Policy & Marketing,

39(4), 444–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915620947359

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