Crossing The Line

Phil: There's a new study that also came out of the UK from the poll agency, their consultants, they served over 2000 UK consumers. And what they found is 68% of consumers said they were uneasy or unsure about brands supporting climate change, black lives matter, LGBTQ, equality, diversity and inclusion and female body confidence. 8% of them said they would actively avoid brands that support these causes. So I guess the question is, are brands stepping over the line as a way to either get positive publicity align their values with consumers? But it just doesn't sound like it's working. 

Sally: Yes. It seems like, you know, reading this statistic that when brands get involved with social causes, 58% believe it's insincere, which is woke-washing or greenwash. And that to me is the key part of this. You know, it's not that people aren't interested in supporting these causes. It's just that they don't believe maybe that their retailer or this brand is sincere in getting behind it, you know, it's interesting when target for pride month target, you know, really brought out a lot of pride products into their store, which was really fun and exciting and cool to see them supporting that. But I did hear, you know, quite a few people talking about how it was opportunistic on Target's part and maybe, you know, just let's make money off of people. So, you know, I think those consumers have to know that you really mean it. 

Phil: Yeah. I have to put your money where your mouth is. And if you're gonna support something like that, you've really gotta make a commitment 365 days a year to support it, not just to be opportunistic about it.