6 Brands Paying the Price for Playing Footsie with Conservatives

[Dan Clore]

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

[Liberals and progressives have started to learn how to promote their
values by voting with their dollars in the marketplace.--DC]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/6-brands-playing-footsie-conservatives-and-paying-price?paging=off
6 Brands Playing Footsie with Conservatives and Paying the Price
Companies have to do the right thing -- not the right-wing thing -- if
they want to stick around.
August 3, 2012

Chick-fil-A might have gotten a nice, one-day sales boost with
"Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," but tying a national brand to aging
white bigots is not a winning strategy � and the numbers prove it.
Executives. directors and managers of American corporations take note:
If your company is playing footsie with right-wing ideologues it can
harm your company and your career. People are seriously fed up with
companies that support and fund these right wingers, and brand-equity
tracking surveys prove it. Here are 6 examples of companies and
organizations that have flushed their brands down the right-wing toilet.

1. Chick-fil-A Brand Damage

Last month Chick-fil-A�s CEO made public statements insulting and
condemning America�s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
citizens and their right to marry. For obvious reasons this provoked a
national, negative reaction. Conservatives tried to salvage the
situation this week by putting on a big show of support with their
"Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," trying to make it appear as if it is
good for a company to line itself up with far-right groups. These right
wingers might be celebrating what seems to be a good day for a chicken
sandwich chain, but common sense -- and the numbers -- clearly say
something different.

Chick-fil-A is engaged in a PR effort to lead people to think that
conservative support is helping the company, but according to YouGov's
BrandIndex the company's "brand health" has dropped to its lowest levels
in years. In their release,Chick-Fil-A takes a hit with fast food
eaters, BrandIndex explains,

Chick-Fil-A's perception with fast food eaters nationwide has taken
a significant hit in most regions of the US ... since president and COO
Dan Cathy's perceived anti-gay remarks on July 16th.

... On July 16th, the day the Baptist Press published its Dan Cathy
interview, Chick-Fil-A's Index score was 65, a very substantial 19
points above the Top National QSR Sector average score that day of 46.
Four days later, Chick-Fil-A had fallen to 47 score... This past
Wednesday, Chick-Fil-A had a 39 score...

This makes sense, considering that polling shows that the very
demographic groups a company like Chick-fil-A wants to attract
overwhelmingly support the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry.
According to recent Pew polling, for example the prized 18-29
demographic (they buy stuff) favors gay marriage by 65 percent to 30
percent.

But Chick-fil-A is doing great with the aging, white bigot crowd (they
don�t buy stuff)! Opposition to gay marriage gets great numbers among
the 65+ crowd (31% favor, 56% oppose) and conservative Republicans (75%
favor, 16% oppose) but almost every other demographic group favors gay
marriage, and Chick-fil-A�s position puts them well behind the curve. Is
tying themselves to a dying demographic of angry white bigots really a
winning long term brand strategy? (Hey, that sounds like a certain
political party, too!)

2. Komen for the Cure: The Gold Standard For Brand Damage

Right now it's Chick-fil-A in the news for damaging its brand by playing
footsie with the far right. But Chick-fil-A is hardly the first company
or organization to self-destruct this way. The Susan G. Komen for the
Cure� foundation is the gold standard for right-wing-footsie brand
destruction.

Komen for the Cure was the premier charitable brand in the world. People
used to give through their noses supporting Komen for the Cure�s Race
for the Cure, and buying pink-ribbon Komen-branded wristbands, clothing,
gifts and other merchandise. Then, in a move to please the conservative
right, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation pulled funding from
Planned Parenthood. The result was that according to a Harris Poll
EquiTrend� Study, Komen�s "brand equity" dropped 21 percent, one of the
most dramatic plummets in brand-equity ever.

How far a drop was this? The study said Komen moved "from 'Gold
Standard' to 'Trailing the Pack.'" Last year Komen was ranked among the
top two brands they follow. This year it ranked No. 56. Top two to 56th
� that's a drop of 54 spots! The value of the Komen brand is ruined. And
brand destruction like this sticks; Komen is still having problems. A
recent Race for the Cure on DC�s National Mall drew only 25,000
participants, down 37.5% from a year ago.

By the way, the Komen executives behind the Planned Parenthood decision
were forced out. Along with the company, people�s careers were damaged
after Komen�s move to the right. In, Julie Teer, Susan G. Komen VP Of
Development And Romney's Former Finance Director, Resigns, Huffington
Post explains the extent of the damage done to people�s careers,

Turnover at Susan G. Komen for the Cure continues five months after
the flap over Planned Parenthood funding, with the national office�s top
fundraiser leaving the organization this week.

Vice President of Development Julie Teer will leave on Friday after
four years at Komen ... She becomes at least the fifth executive to
leave Komen�s Dallas, Texas headquarters since February�s debacle
regarding funding to Planned Parenthood, in addition to at least half a
dozen departures at affiliates around the nation.

You get the picture. Don't let this be you next.

3. TED vs the 99%

TED stands for �Technology, Entertainment, Design,� and the organization
puts on conferences in the US and UK. TED is well-known for its �TED
Talks,� videos of TED conference speakers discussing various interesting
and important topics.

In May, wealthy venture capitalist Nick Hanaour gave a TED Talk on
income inequality. TED decided the subject was too "political" to
release to their video audience, and said �business managers and
entrepreneurs would feel insulted.�

National Journal broke the story, in Too Hot for TED: Income Inequality,
reporting, "There�s one idea, though, that TED�s organizers recently
decided was too controversial to spread: the notion that widening income
inequality is a bad thing for America, and that as a result, the rich
should pay more in taxes."

Some examples of the reaction this evoked include Salon, TED: Even more
elitist than we thought and Mother Jones,The Charts TED Doesn't Want to
Share.

The story also spread through social media and, finally, into the major
media. Company directors and executives don't want to see stories like
this one in Time, Was Nick Hanauer�s TED Talk on Income Inequality Too
Rich for Rich People?

Their slogan is �ideas worth spreading.� But the folks at TED � the
Technology Entertainment and Design nonprofit behind the TED Talks,
beloved by geeks and others interested in novel new ideas � evidently
think that some ideas are better left unspread. At least when the ideas
in question challenge the conventional wisdom that rich enterpreneurs
are the number one job creators.

There is no scientific measurement of the brand damage done to TED, but
clearly the organization's brand is now damaged -- at least in the minds
of 99% of us.

4. TD Ameritrade

In May news reports came out that TD Ameritrade's founder Joe Ricketts
was funding an anti-Obama Super PAC. This hurt the company's brand
image, even though Rickets is no longer with Ameritrade.

ABC News summed it up, in Joe Ricketts Drags TD Ameritrade Into the
Political World. Much to the Company�s Chagrin:

Kim Hillyer, director of communications and public affairs for TD
Ameritrade, did not mince words about the pickle in which her company
now finds itself, thanks to the founder and former CEO of the company
Joe Ricketts. �It�s certainly a difficult situation,� said Hillyer,
referring to the calls from clients and members of the public ... about
Ricketts� interest in launching a Super PAC to attack President Obama.

Later, the Huffington Post reported that that the company had indeed
lost customers.

5. Rush Limbaugh and Snapple

Early this year Sandra Fluke testified to a panel of Democratic House
members following a male-only Republican hearing on birth control. She
testified that the "Obamacare" health insurance mandate to cover birth
control is important to the health of women. She told of a friend who,
as a student, needed treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome, which is
treated using contraceptive hormones costing over $100 per month. Some
insurance companies deny coverage for contraception, which is a
financial hardship for many women.

Rush Limbaugh once again shocked the sensibilities of much of the
public, declaring Fluke to be a "slut" because she used birth control.
The public had had enough of this, and turned on Limbaugh's advertisers.
Again, social media enabled people to take action.

Companies, seeing the damage that was occurring, began to flee. Look at
the reports of the numbers of companies that stopped advertising in
reaction to social media-generated pressure: March 6, Hollywood
Reporter, Rush Limbaugh Sponsor Exodus Hits 43 as Sandra Fluke Fallout
Continues, March 10, Think Progress, BREAKING: 98 Major Advertisers Dump
Rush Limbaugh, Other Right-Wing Hosts, March 12, Think Progress again,
EXCLUSIVE: 140 Companies Drop Advertising From Rush Limbaugh [Update: 142].

But these are not the first advertisers whose brands were hurt by their
association with Limbaugh. Snapple-brand iced tea has never recovered
from public reaction to the company being a major sponsor of Rush
Limbaugh in the early 1990s. To this day people believe rumors about
Snapple being associated with the far right, including one that the
company is owned by the KKK.

6. McDonald�s, Wendy�s, Intuit, Mars, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo,
AT&T, GM, Walgreens and Other Companies That Support Or Supported ALEC

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a secretive,
far-right organization the pushes stealth laws supporting right-wing and
large-corporate interests through state legislatures. The organization
is supported by right-wing, �conservative movement� funders and
corporations seeking tax breaks and other legislation that gives them an
edge over their competitors. These companies thought ALEC could stay
under the radar and their donations would be hidden from the public. But
the organization's right-wing agenda enraged the public and led to
increased scrutiny, which led a number of companies to be very publicly
embarrassed.

ALEC was first exposed when the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and
The Nation obtained documents showing the extent of the organization's
activities. The Nation's article ALEC Exposed, and CMD's ALEC Exposed
website tell the story.

Then, the Trayvon Martin shooting case exposed how ALEC helped push
through Florida's dangerous "shoot first" law in Florida, and people
became fed up. Now people are learning that ALEC is also getting state
laws passed that limit the voting rights of minorities, limit the power
of working people to negotiate for better wages and limit the power of
citizens to fight for cleaner environment.

The NY Times, listed a number of companies by name and tied their names
to the right-wing agenda in an editorial, Embarrassed by Bad Laws, which
brought public pressure on corporations supporting ALEC,

The council, known as ALEC, has since become better known, with
news organizations alerting the public to the damage it has caused:
voter ID laws that marginalize minorities and the elderly, antiunion
bills that hurt the middle class and the dismantling of protective
environmental regulations.

... In recent weeks, McDonald�s, Wendy�s, Intuit, Mars, Kraft
Foods, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have stopped supporting the group,
responding to pressure from activists and consumers who have formed a
grass-roots counterweight to corporate treasuries.

Once again companies seriously harmed their public image -- their brand
equity -- by playing footsie with the right.

Hiding Doesn't Help

Some companies understand the potential for damage to their brand, so
they try to hide their support for the right. But as the ALEC exposure
demonstrated, this just increases the potential to further incite public
rage. One area where companies are trying to mask their right-wing
support is through the use of organizations like Karl Rove's Crossroads
GPS, which runs ads supporting Republican candidates. Crossroads GPS
tries to mask its election agenda by calling itself an "advocacy group,"
claiming they only run ads to advance social welfare. This allows them
to keep their donors secret. The same is true of the US Chamber of
Commerce, which spends tens, even hundreds of millions on campaign
advertisements for Republicans. But in reality both are just fronts for
the Republican party.

Corporations supporting organizations like Crossroads GPS and the US
Chamber of Commerce do so expecting that their funding of the right will
remain anonymous. But sometimes the law does catch up, and these
companies also risk damaging their brand equity when a fed-up public
finds out. And this may well be just about to happen. As Business Week
reported in, FEC Orders Names of Donors Fueling Issue Ads Be Disclosed,
"The Federal Election Commission today said that it would require groups
funding issue ads, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Crossroads
GPS, to disclose their donors."

Citizens Don't Like Corporations Interfering With Democracy

Is your company supporting a right-wing organization that promises to
keep your identity secret while helping you get special tax breaks and
government �privatization� contracts, break unions, keep wages down or
gain a legislative edge over competitors? If you think this benefits you
in the long run, you had best think again. This is the lesson: if you
direct or manage a corporation you should not risk your brand by siding
against the 99% of the population that is becoming angrier and angrier
at corporate interference in our democracy. If you work at a company
doing this, use your best efforts to make them aware of the potential
for damage �your job could be saved if you stop them before they are
exposed.

Supporting the right in an attempt to purchase shortcuts to profits will
also damage your company culture. The Huffington Post reported, in
Corporate Political Donations Linked To Lower Stock Value: Study, that
"Corporations might want to reconsider throwing large sums of money at
Washington," because there is a correlation with poor company performance:

Rajesh K. Aggarwal and Tracy Wang from the University of Minnesota
and Felix Meschke from the University of Kansas examined corporate
donations given to political candidates for federal offices from 1991 to
2004 and found that for every additional $10,000 a firm contributed, its
stock market price dropped 7.4 basis points below expectation.
Corporations that donated large sums of money were also linked to poor
governance and agency problems, the study found. [emphasis added, to
emphasize]

Here Is What To Do

It isn't hard to protect yourself from angry public reactions that can
lead to the brand damage that Chick-fil-A and Komen for the Cure are
suffering. Just be good citizens. As a corporation your mission is
supposed to be to serve the public good by providing quality goods and
services, supporting your products, providing good jobs that respect the
humanity and intelligence of your employees, paying good wages and
helping care for the communities that surround and support your
business. So limit your greed, provide a good product or service to the
public, do what is right, and focus on doing things that help people and
the communities where you do business. That is the corporate behavior �
the �success� � that the market wants to reward. That might sound
old-fashioned in today's cutthroat business climate, but, really, doing
the right thing is how you maximize shareholder value in the long term.

It's not hard to do the right thing, and in the long term it pays off
for everyone.




Dave Johnson is a Fellow at Campaign for America's Future and a Senior
Fellow at Renew California.



--
Dan Clore

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