British Gov Has a Warning for Businesses: It’s Time to Stop Going Woke

(ProsperNews.net) – A British government official has warned UK companies to stop being “woke” and pandering to “social justice” causes. John Glen, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told a London think tank that companies should stand for election or stay out of political and social debates.

“I’m uncomfortable, instinctively, to see big businesses appropriating the views of their customers to make a political point,” Glen said. He mentioned the controversy surrounding the US beer Bud Light as an example of what can go wrong when business goes woke.

Bud Light lost billions of dollars in market value, and its sales dropped by around a third after it contracted with transgender online influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote its brand. Disgusted customers walked away, and the issue even caught the eye of Republicans on Capitol Hill who complained that parent company Anheuser-Busch was marketing alcohol to children.

Texan Senator Ted Cruz, along with Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn, wrote to the Beer Institute warning that Mulvaney’s depiction of a six-year-old girl, Eloise, as well as his “365 days of girlhood,” clearly appealed to children and so the trans-TikToker was unsuitable for beer promotion.

A survey in early 2023 showed that most Americans agree with the British official and think companies should stay out of politics. The Trafalgar Group and the Convention of States Action (COSA) organization asked 1,000 voters if they would prefer to buy from a non-political company, and 80% said yes. The feeling was mutual on both sides of the political divide with 76.9% of Republicans saying they don’t want political shopping, and 78.8% of Democrats agreeing.

COSA President Mark Meckler said company CEOs should “Go back to doing what you were hired to do, which is to make money for shareholders.” Meckler said a “blowback” was coming, and companies who keep their political views to themselves will fare better. He believes customers don’t want to shop with businesses that reflect their values, but want them to “just ignore politics.”