“Virtue signaling is the act of publicly announcing opinions to demonstrate moral authority over others. It sounds really impressive for one liberal to say to another that they are boycotting Chik-Fil-A, but those chicken biscuits sure are delicious, so they buy them anyway when no one is looking…”
From campaign financing to public relations, America’s biggest companies and household names have been dipping their toes into politics for years. Although major lobbying efforts and mega-money pull our nation away from its front porch of democracy and closer into oligarchy’s neighborhood, I can see why companies spend money greasing politicians when looking out for their own bottom line.
With that said, I’ve never understood why companies on either side of the conservative-liberal spectrum would officially endorse political issues in the public arena as part of their advertising strategy. In today’s ultra-divisive political climate, it seems like companies are automatically alienating half of their potential consumer base by publicly taking a stance one way or another. But what do I know? Things are going great for Kellogg’s and ESPN right now. Right?
In today’s boycott-crazy world, companies on both sides have faced the volatility that results from politically related backlash. Some boycotts are cases of one side taking vengeance on a company if it makes financial contributions to opposing political campaigns. Others are purely self-inflicted, such as when a company publicly proclaims its sponsorship for one side of a contentious or hot-button national issue. Then, there are the boycotts that occur because companies simply sell the products that people want regardless of who makes them or what they believe in. Many retailers are now being boycotted or threatened with a boycott simply for following the number one law of economics: supply and demand. This economic warfare is waged on both the liberal and conservative sides, so here’s the scorecard of who is winning the battle of the boycotts.
Georgia’s Religious Freedom Act Killed: Liberals: 1, Conservatives: 0
2016 was a historic year for my home state of Georgia as it relates to Tinseltown and sports. The most attractive tax incentives for movie production in the country had Hollywood brands like Marvel Studios, Netflix, and Tyler Perry Studios—to name a few—flocking to the Peach State in order to maximize profit margins on productions. After Bill 757 was passed easily by the State House and Senate, it was quickly shot down by Governor Nathan Deal, who gave in to the pressure levied by a conglomeration of Hollywood corporations threatening to pull out major investments and the National Football League, who publicly announced it would snatch the hosting of the 2018 Super Bowl from Atlanta’s grasp. While not the traditional “boycott,” this one opens the list with a partnership of liberal-minded companies successfully achieving their desired outcome by threatening to boycott an entire state.
ESPN Ratings Tank: Liberals: 1, Conservatives: 1
I remember the simpler days of my youth where the only channel I ever needed was ESPN. Then they turned into “MSNBC with football,” as Ben Shapiro says. Police shooting? ESPN wants the police to stop targeting young black men and for white athletes to “step up” and spread their message. Race relations? ESPN wants you to check your white privilege. Congressional happenings? ESPN wants you to know the Republicans are trying to “establish a caliphate like ISIS.” Yes, resident windbag Tony Kornheiser actually said exactly that on his show.
Whether they are busy firing Curt Schilling for tweeting his opinion on the transgender bathroom issue or shrugging off Jemele Hill’s criticism of Christians in the wake of the ISIS-inspired Orlando Pulse Night Club shooting, it is clear that ESPN is propagating that leftist point of view best explained by Mao Zedong when he said, “Not to have a politically correct point of view is like having no soul.” The result? Conservatives tired of being lectured are tuning out in droves. ESPN parent company, Disney, lost 14% in profits and 3% in revenue during the first fiscal quarter of this year, according to Market Watch.
#DumpKelloggs: Liberals: 1, Conservatives: 2
In late 2016, Kellogg’s decided to shoot itself in the foot by proactively cutting advertising ties with Breitbart over the values of the news agency failing to mirror the values of the cereal giant. In the fallout of the public relations war, however, it wasn’t Breitbart that was left licking its wounds. While Breitbart was able to continue to get advertising from other sources, the company that profits off of sugary cereals fattening up America’s children came across as slightly out of touch with the values of its own consumer base. While Kellogg’s denies that Breitbart’s Twitter campaign, #DumpKelloggs, has anything to do with its 53 million dollar loss in the fourth quarter of 2016, common sense says otherwise.
Trump Brand Products Soar: Liberals: 1, Conservatives: 3
To be fair, I’m just going to lump all Trump products that have been boycotted by leftist groups since the election into one point on the scoreboard for conservatives. First it was Nordstrom, who discontinued the Ivanka Trump clothing line. Not long after, the First Daughter’s brand skyrocketed to the top of sales in several categories, to include the number one best-selling perfume on Amazon. Despite being the highest-priced women’s fragrance on the site’s top 20 list, it currently sits at number two in popularity. Meanwhile, Nordstrom’s stock figures spiked in early February but rebounded with higher than expected numbers this month.
Following the National Organization for Women’s Twitter campaign #StopTrumpWine, Trump Wine reportedly went from being fully stocked to sold out at all but two Wegmans grocery stores in the entire state of Virginia. Trump bought the vintage in 2011 and gave it to son Eric to manage. By the way, Trump hotels appear to be doing just fine, judging by the lack of stories to state otherwise.
Best of the Rest:
The Under Armour CEO publicly supported his president’s economic plans for the country before caving to the bullying effect of leftist media to avoid losing their roster of liberal celebrity athlete spokespeople. Advantage: Liberals
Following Target’s public statement in support of transgender bathroom sharing in June of last year, an American Family Association petition gathered over 1.5 million signatures in addition to Target’s stock crashing to the lowest levels since 2014. Since the political stunt, the company has lost an estimated $15 billion. Advantage: Conservatives
The Christian-friendly fast food chain already notorious for being closed on Sundays, Chick-Fil-A, had their best single day of sales ever after supporters rallied in the face of leftist calls to boycott the brand following their position on gay marriage going public. Even Huffington Post couldn’t avoid reporting on the fact that the boycott backfired, with one store notably having to close its doors early after running out of chicken. Advantage: Conservatives
Starbucks has been no stranger to political controversy. They’ve tried everything from removing Christmas from their cups during the holiday season to awkwardly implementing their Race Together campaign in which they urged their baristas to engage with customers on race relations when most people just wanted a cup of coffee. Then came President Trump’s refugee policies. Following a pledge to hire 10,000 refugees from terror-prone Middle Eastern countries, a Yougov BrandIndex survey showed that potential consumers of the brand dropped from 30% to just 24% while actual sales transactions dropped 2% nationwide. Advantage: Conservatives
Final Score and Lessons Learned
Whether they were being targeted or were the ones on the offensive, conservatives seemed to come out on top in six of the eight most recent and relevant instances of boycotting. I left the successful boycotting of the Oscars, as evidenced by the lowest television ratings in years, off the scoreboard simply to honor the mercy rule here. Why so lopsided?
The biggest factor is that so much of the millennial liberal motive for doing anything is merely virtue signaling. Virtue signaling is the act of publicly announcing opinions to demonstrate moral authority over others. Liberals are constantly virtue signaling to others what a good person they are by how liberal they can be. It sounds really impressive for one liberal to say to another that they are boycotting Chik-Fil-A, but those chicken biscuits sure are delicious, so they buy them anyway when no one is looking. It’s the same with the refugee crisis. Steven Crowder has done some great work by blind calling self-ascribed “inclusive” Christian churches who denounce Trump policies where he plays the part of the refugee resettlement non-profit and asks the churches how many refuges they’ll be willing to house. Of course, they advise that they can’t house any in virtually every instance.
Conversely, many conservative positions are rooted in strong principles tied to religious belief. Those who are conservative but not devoutly religious just want the ESPN that they grew up with. These folks just want to see a movie and be entertained without having political ideologies rammed down their throats. Finally, conservatives are fed up with the out-of-control PC culture that has invaded their lives for too long, and are not only willing to make personal sacrifice to put an end to it, they are eager to.
T.B. Lefever is an OpsLens Contributor and active police officer in the Metro-Atlanta area. Throughout his career, Lefever has served as a SWAT Hostage Negotiator, a member of the Crime Suppression Unit, a School Resource Officer, and a Uniformed Patrol Officer. He has a BA in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Rutgers University.
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