Why Did Corporations Go 'Woke?' It's Not About the Free Market | Opinion
Black Lives Matter and Planned Parenthood, and threatening to withdraw business if state legislators dare to pass bills they deem too conservative.Many who support corporate politicking say this is the free market at work, but that's not really accurate.
ESG policies certainly aren't popular among consumers. Most Americans don't want to see energy prices go up domestically so the U.S.
can continue to subsidize China's carbon emissions. They don't support late-term abortion or sex changes for kids. They're not enamored with diversity quotas—in fact, they find affirmative action to be abhorrent.It's hard to imagine that these same consumers would be inspired to give money to companies that go out of their way to emphasize their support for unpopular ideas.
While some companies might lean into left-wing politics as a niche marketing strategy—Ben & Jerry's comes to mind—in most circumstances it's not ideal to alienate sizable portions of your customer base.
