A Wren Says

I remember, as I prepped for my own strategy meetings at work, learning that the market was shifting. People, especially Gen Z and Millennial consumers, want brands to have a point of view. They use their dollar as a point of protest. Their politics and values are not divorced from their shopping decisions. They won’t blindly support brands that are out of alignment with what they believe. I took that knowledge and said it should influence how we make decisions. If, in my small not truly marketing role, I recognized the importance of that, then surely major brands with massive marketing budgets and analysts galore would know and act on that knowledge, too. But perhaps not.

We are in the wake of ABC’s choice to suspend Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely, following opposition from current FCC chair and Trump administration to what the talk show host said after the death of Charlie Kirk. I say we are in the wake, because we are watching the ripple effects of that decision. The cancellation page for the Disney+ streaming service crashed. People rushed to disassociate themselves from the parent brand of ABC. Even if their favorite show was only on that platform, they could no longer support a brand they didn’t agree with ideologically. Since, ABC has reinstated the late night show, but the damage has already been done.

ABC felt pressure from the FCC to make a move. The brand was worried that there would be repercussions that would impact their ability to make money. But in making that decision, they definitely had real losses as people walked away from the brand.

Now, there are other conversations to be had around the issues surrounding this controversy. I won’t dive into that here. The question I propose to you is what would you do? We saw it with Target. We see it now with Disney. And perhaps we will see a similar situation come up within the next few months. Major corporations are trying to navigate relationships with the Trump administration with a hope that playing nice will get them what they want in terms of regulations. However, many of their consumers are more vocal about how they feel about such decisions and are quick to act.  When stuck between a governmental hard place and a consumer rock, what would you choose?