The world of advertising has for many years been dominated by liberal politics, but as companies such as these anti-woke brands take root we are seeing the beginning of what some commentators have referred to as a parallel economy. Now the question is whether this alternative marketplace can stand a chance against established industry giants.
Business executive Jennifer Sey, who said she identified as a “left of left of center Democrat” in the past has departed from her party as feels its positions have shifted too far to the radical.
“So many people feel alienated by the aggressively left-wing stances that businesses are taking,” Sey said. “They’re disrespectful, some of these brands that are touting aggressively ‘progressive’ positions.”
With air quotes around “progressive,” Sey doubled down on her skepticism, claiming it isn’t progressive for the International Olympic Committee to let a boxer with XY chromosomes to be “beat[ing] a woman up on the world stage,” as an example.
That philosophy is what prompted Sey — who says she was fired as Levi’s head of marketing for speaking out publicly against school shutdowns during the pandemic — to launch a women-first brand called XX-XY Athletics this year.
XX-XY Athletics is also one of the newest features in a developing “parallel economy,” as conservative and other disillusioned shoppers build alternative worlds to get away from polarized mainstream brands.
“Marketers aren’t stupid. When they see an opportunity, they seize it,” longtime brand consultant Will Burns said.
The advertising industry has a long history of supporting Democrats, says Burns, who’s been in the business for more than 30 years.
“But it’s never been with the vitriol that we see today,” he said.
Burns noticed this shift even more pronouncedly soon after the 2016 election when he posed a query in an op-ed for Forbes calling into question hypocritical liberal ad agencies’ capabilities to advertise Trump supporters.
Brands that wade into controversial political territory face financial consequences, with the effect magnified in recent years.
When Bud Light entered a partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch lost around $5 billion in value over the following weeks.
A 2022 Harris Poll revealed that 82% of shoppers expect brands to align their values with theirs.
More than 30% globally said they “always or often” choose to buy from a brand because of its politics declining by two percentage points since January and four percent over the past year, according to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer with less politically motivated consumers increasing.
