The rule that we all learned when woke culture finally broke free of Tumblr and University classrooms and began infecting corporate offices in earnest is that if one goes woke, it’s not long before they go broke. This happened continuously with few exceptions.
But the fact that it happens continuously reveals a major issue. Despite repeatedly draining the bank account, corporations still don’t seem to be learning their lesson. Disney, for instance, became so infected with woke culture that it’s lost billions of dollars. Their movies, once major events, are so hardly trafficked now that they’re losing piles of money.
(READ: Disney Loses $100 Million on Its Latest Flop Promoting Gay Teen Romance)
Yet, Disney seems to only be doubling down just like many other corporations are. Only a select few have seemingly backed off their social justice attachments. For instance, I haven’t heard Gillette say anything more about how masculinity is toxic after its ridiculous commercial insulting men as idiots, pigs, and bullies cost it billions of dollars. Regardless, woke culture continues to pervade corporations with no end in sight despite this seemingly unending loss of revenue.
There are quite a few factors contributing to this. For one, the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment standards give companies strict rules to follow when it comes to getting big-dollar investments from big-dollar investment firms. BlackRock, for instance, controls more assets than any other investment management firm on Wall Street with around $10 trillion under their management. Having the company invest in you means having a high ESG score, and though your company might make the customer angry, making BlackRock like you means staying in certain political lanes.
Money is definitely one way to make a corporation obey. At the end of the day, no corporation actually has a moral standard. If tomorrow, major investment firms became big proponents of pro-life causes, then corporations would suddenly adopt pro-life messaging. If the very next day Black Rock began making a love of all things nuclear the way forward, then corporations would incorporate nuclear friendliness into their ads. If the very next day all those requirements reversed, then these corporations’ values would shift that way.
Money comes first for corporations.
But that’s just for the executives at the top to worry about. For the rest of the company, success isn’t gauged by how much the audience is applauding and forking over their cash. For them, success is measured by normalization.
Let’s take Disney as an example once more. The more these writers, actors, and showrunners can introduce your children to homosexuality, transgenderism, race-baiting, or environmental concepts, the more they feel they’ve accomplished. The end game isn’t entertainment; it’s conversion and acceptance to their radical ideological standards, which wouldn’t be accepted in almost any other way.
Going broke after going woke is just an unfortunate cost of what they see as a crusade to make society better in their eyes. Their crusade to make their radicalism a normal thing in your own household is a long game they’re willing to play. Besides, it’s not their money anyway.
The growing frustration of companies not seeming to back down despite Americans voting with their wallet is understandable, but don’t think that losing money is the ultimate punishment, and definitely don’t think that it sends a message. For sure, they hear you. You’re angry and they know that, but to them, this is a sign that they’re doing the right thing. They will continue to push until the complaints get quieter and quieter, as the message they pushed onto younger generations becomes more and more ingrained.
That said, every company has a line. A corporation can’t exist if there’s no more money. Depriving them of dollars from your own wallet is a good start. Depriving them of dollars from radically political investment firms is the next step. Once the spigot is turned off, it’s only a matter of time before the corporation submits to the people and sanity is restored.
