Corporate leaders are not bragging about their environmental wins or diversity hires with the same fervour they had a year ago. Some of this is due to pressure from the 23 US state Governors who are asking CEO’s sharp and pointy questions about anti-trust behaviour and fiduciary duty and campaigning on anti-Woke platforms. And some of this is due to the backlash against disastrous Bud-Light and Target campaigns.
Companies Quiet Diversity and Sustainability Talk Amid Culture War Boycotts
Mark Maurer, Wall Street Journal
Companies’ mentions of green and social initiatives during earnings calls have fallen off sharply in recent quarters, reversing a more boastful approach taken over the past few years amid intensifying pressure from some investors and conservative activists. Finance chiefs and other executives have significantly quieted down in public settings about their environmental and employee diversity efforts …
Charting the rise and fall of public “Woke” declarations in the corporate world.
Peak ESG may be behind us… WSJ
The backlash is coming from several angles — investors, conservative groups, political leaders.
It’s a good sign democracy and free markets are not dead yet. But these companies are probably pursuing quiet “Woke” agendas. After all, as long as the Big Money end of town is demanding progress reports during the ski weekends in Davos, many companies will continue to buy the wind and solar talismans to ward off the fury of the BlackRock and Net Zero Banker cabal.
It’s a win, the trainwreck is slower, but still in progress
In Australia, politicians stopped bragging about emissions trading schemes when Tony Abbott won in a landslide in 2013 with Axe the Carbon Tax. But two years later the party dumped Abbott and snuck in an emissions trading scheme anyway — they called it “The SafeGuard Mechanism” and hid their plans in the details. In that case, popping the public bragging bubble slowed the trainwreck by a decade.
We haven’t won until CEO’s can openly mock people who think eating crickets will change world temperatures.
Thanks to ClimateDepot
So they’ve Woken up?
Woke is a losing image as masses of consumers are tired of being lectured by virtue signalling managers who should concentrate on their jobs, not posing for their friends.
Bud Light is a shining example of how pleasing an extremely small group of people can alienate most of your customers. The biggest selling beer in America is now second biggest and it’s a long road back. It’s a marketing disaster not easily reversed. Seriously, how could any male now openly buy a can of Bud Light with a straight face? Bud Light fans will have to buy over the internet and drink alone.
And Joe Biden’s managers (no one thinks Joe is running anything) will find out that putting a Pride flag on the White House is offensive to most Americans and likely illegal and disrespectful. And it took a muslim council in Michigan to ban any flag other than the US flag at public functions.
Disney too is completely on the nose, pushing a gay agenda on children at every turn. Even the most liberal people find they have gone too far.
As for black Cleopatra and black little mermaid, black people should be celebrating their own culture, not appropriating others. And even the Egyptian government protested. And even the Chinese consumers were openly appalled at a black Little Mermaid as being culturally disrespectful. Playing race games with history is just wrong, but that’s Post Modernism for you. I wonder when Christ will be black with Ghanian Kente cloth?
I note as well the BLM is falling out of favor as the founders grab the money and run.
570
I just wish the Global Warming bubble would burst. There is no Global Warming and what else is Climate Change? Nothing.
If it wasn’t obvious in 1988 then in 2023 it should be obvious after 250 years there is no change let alone a crisis, except that the Woke are blowing up our power stations and promising new fantasy technology will solve the massive supply problems they are creating. Meanwhile the ‘free’ energy is pushing prices through the roof for everything and killing manufacturing, farming, transport and the value of money with rampant inflation.
Do we really have to wait another decade for all the regurgitated predictions of doom to be proven wrong? Again.
590
And all this about 1C in some concocted world average across pole to pole, night and day, summer and winter? It’s nothing. You could not feel a change as small as that. You get a bigger change crossing a room. Can we please have our cheap CLEAN coal electricity back? The ‘toxic emissions’ are no more dangerous than human breathing.
In fact the breath of 1.4Billion Chinese means more CO2 than all Australia’s ‘big polluters’. And the massive environmental damage from Windmills and solar and distribution lines and mining for batteries is destroying the place.
And why aren’t the eco-Greens screaming at the devastation to mountain tops, National Parks and whale killing windmills offshore. Their argument is that there is no point saving the ecosystem if you do not live to enjoy it. Exactly the same argument made by the coal industry.
While apologists say human CO2 is in ‘balance’, that is nonsense. 100 years ago there were only 400 million Chinese and 400 Million Indians. The extra 2 billion people just breathing far exceeds all of Australia’s output. And Nigeria’s population is rocketing.
There is no nett zero ‘balance’. Tiny human CO2 has no impact on atmospheric CO2 despite the fake rocket ship graphs.
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And then you get Joe Biden
“President Joe Biden claimed Thursday that his administration has plans to build a railroad from “the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean.”
Speaking at the League of Conservation Voters Thursday, Biden announced a massive plan to construct a railroad spanning nearly half the globe.
He has no idea where he is.
460
In my heart, I’m confident I could make a good president.
– Joe Biden
“Deluded Joe”
210
Only if he made that President out of Lego blocks
150
I think he said:
“In my confident, make a president heart good I’m could I” 😆
20
So AOC is the one in charge..
90
Perhaps he should look at the “falling apart” infrastructure in many parts his own country first, before he comes up with fantasy ideas.
150
Alongside the railway, perhaps the Biden Administration could build a line of solar panels, then extend it all the way around the globe. That would, in theory, produce free energy from the sun 24 hours a day
140
G’day TdeF,
Perhaps we could sell him the Indian Pacific line, with SHB on the side. Second hand, but in working order. Just don’t mention the small pond to the east.
Cheers
Dave B
40
“Can we please have our cheap clean and RELIABLE coal electricity back”
120
And one more, COMMANDABLE. You can turn it up and down as required. Not as the wind blows or the sun shines.
70
If the government required that all renewable energy projects be constructed 100% from ethically and sustainably produced raw materials, and had to be 100% dispatchable, to receive any tax credits, subsidies, or any other sort of federal support, and received that support based on the average delivered power, not the theoretical capacity, we’d see a lot fewer companies being willing to invest in building renewable generation they couldn’t soak the government for.
20
Yes and let’s get back to normal if we can.
120
The “VOICE” being another example with large companies contributing to the affirmative, any group who thinks otherwise is condemned and cowered. Reason and analysis out the door and the bandwagon of guilt continues. A pathetic indulgence which will fail to deliver except for the academic/bureaucratic class who want sovereignty.
181
ESG really means – Economic Suicide Guaranteed.
360
Here in the USA, CEOs raced to donate millions to groups called “Black Lives Matter” since 2020, but donations have dried up recently because BLM is having trouble in the accounting dep’t. All the money seems to be gone, but none of it went to help anyone not related to a board member of the “charities”. Now, our top CEOs are redirecting that money to celebrate “Pride”. Problem is, the Pride folks seem to be all too effective at rubbishing civilization. At least with BLM, the money was utterly wasted and we were better off.
250
The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters had an amusing take on the BLM tax returns. You have to laugh at the blatant corruption.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1GS0SR5Y5s
80
Any CEO or board of directors member who allows their corporation to engage in woke policies isn’t fulfilling their fiduciary duty to shareholders.
Look at Anheuser-Busch after it decided to dump it’s traditional customers in favour of an extreme minority with gender identity issues.
Market cap down $15.7 billion, sales down 23% (As of May 6). Ref: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12120649/Anheuser-Busch-lost-staggering-15-7-BILLION-value-Bud-Light-controversy-began.html
Many say that the Bud Light brand is permanently damaged and unsalvageable.
Some say it was a rogue, woke employee that was responsible. Fair enough. But the CEO and board are ultimately responsible plus Anheuser-Busch never offered an apology to its traditional customers. Had they done so, the brand might have been saved.
Get woke, go broke.
Prosecute.
350
But Light is no longer America’s top selling beer, it’s now a Mexican brand.
This report from CNN, itself a fully woke failed brand.
SEE LINK FOR REST
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Question is why do the yanks bother drinking beer. Just saying because bud lite is pretty insipid. They have a large crafted beer sector which overwhelms the drinker with an overpowering and cloying hop infusion. Me, I’m a lager and Pilsener type.
90
Benjamin Franklin once said ( hope I’m correct) that beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
60
Franklin didn’t say that but something similar about wine.
https://www.fi.edu/en/benjamin-franklin/7-things-benjamin-franklin-never-said
120
David,
One more : Drugs are for people who can’t handle reality . Our universities are full of them .
140
And Canberra.
20
I’ve never been wrong. I thought I was once but I was wrong. Not Franklin.Thanks David.
60
And you were wrong about being wrong. So you were right about being wrong.
20
Conservatives and fellow rational thinkers aren’t activists by nature, they just want to be left alone to get on with their lives and don’t care to force others to be forced to follow their ideology like the Left.
Nor are they violent toward people, or commit acts of vandalism against property and historical artefacts like paintings or statues, or disrupt meetings or censor and ban or other fascistic acts like the Left do.
However, they have now been pushed too far and are fighting back in the market place.
Get woke, go broke.
290
Here is a list of movies that failed due to wokeness.
https://m.imdb.com/list/ls507889455/
Lightyear (2022)
The Matrix Resurrections
Santa Inc. ( 2021)
Eternals (2021)
Cowboy Bebop (2021)
The Wheel of Time (2021)
No Time to Die (2021)
Invasion (2021)
SEE LINK FOR FULL LIST of 49.
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Try Ghost Busters (2016) All female crew.
All of these ‘female’ remakes include Ghostbusters (2016), Ocean’s Eight (2018), What Men Want (2019) and How I Met Your Father (2022).
And of course James Bond where M became a woman and James had to contend with unfunny partners. And humour was outlawed. I mourn the lack of funny names like Pussy Galore, Miss Goodhead, Plenty O’Toole, Countess Onatop, Miss Goodnight, Wai Ling, Octopussy, Molly Warmflash and more. Some sent up in Mike Moore’s parody like Goldmember and the unforgettable Lotsa Fagina.
60
All classics! Like you, I mourn the loss of broad minded people who enjoy risqué humour.
30
Not so French. I remember it as good old fashioned British smut. Naughty bits. A well turned ankle.
Benny Hill chasing scantily clad women around the park. In a time when no one took it seriously except as fun. Little Barbara Windsor in an outfit which was two sizes smaller. Nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat as parodied in Monty Python.
Now things are not smutty at all and poor Benny Hill was hounded out of the BBC and his life. You could not call a funny film Carry On up the Khyber today. Half would find it in bad taste and the other would think it was gay. A word which used to mean happy.
20
Even children are sick of the woke nonsense being endlessly shoved down their throats 24/7.
See video: https://youtu.be/Fd0SnDMaLZ8
A US class room incident starts at around the 2 min mark and then a Canadian class room incident at about 4 mins.
Most kids today can barely do basic arithmetic but they will all be able to name the 57 supposed genders or whatever they are up to now.
130
Men are from Mars, women from Venus.
All others are from Uranus. 😆
70
The few honest Leftists that exist will admit to themselves that their ideology has little popular support which is why they generally resort to violence, intimidation and censorship to get their way. Just like the National Socialists, just like the International Socialists of yore.
250
..and election frod.
30
But here in Australia – we have so many corporate woketards dedicating and declaring themselves to “The Voice” … without ever knowing how their business model will be impacted.
250
With the engineered shutdown of Australian industry the only two viable export industries left are mining and agriculture. They too will be severely harmed by The Voice which will likely impose even more severe land use restrictions and extortion payments than already exist.
Australia is rapidly reverting to the pre-European Stone Age settlement model, the only problem being Stone Age civilisation will likely only support a few hundred thousand hunter gatherers, not the 26 million we have now.
210
On July 1st farmers in Western Australia will be required to seek approval from Aboriginal Heritage if they want to disturb THEIR OWN LAND to a greater depth than 50mm. Wait until the Voice gets in and the Aboriginal 3.8% will run the whole show. Just as effectively as they ran the place for 60000 years before 1788? Oh great. The pity is that our city centric politicians and policies don’t have a clue about the country beyond the suburbs. The same idiots that think stringing 1000s of kilometres of transmission across wheat fields and potato farms is OK and effects only a few hayseeds so who cares.
350
This is typical of Labor governments who almost always wants the reformist tag stuck to them. Reform this, reform that; convene a committee to find more to reform. Better to reverse engineer a ball of string.
210
Any tillage (ploughing, scarifying, sowing) disturbs the land more deeply than 50mm, so that makes farming “interesting”.
So does sinking a new bore to get water for livestock, or even driving in a star picket to repair a fence.
Does that apply across the board, or just out of town?
200
Cocky,
It will become permit only with a hefty fee . They failed with the reef scare and nitrogen scare and are looking for the next big “thing”.
130
Well, I didn’t vote for it. Reminds me about the unfortunate incident near Moree, NSW when an overzealous environment compliance officer was shot and killed by landowner.
110
A tragedy for all involved but the lesson given may be useful in the long term.
Officials will think twice about being overly forceful in pushing government edicts that effectively take away decades of hard work from an old man.
150
It applies to land holdings greater than 1100 square metres which miraculously leaves out the suburban quarter acre block. Don’t want to scare the townies do we cause they have lots of votes; farmers do not.
130
How about things like maintaining railway lines, or local councils repairing roads or maintaining water supplies or sewage treatment works?
NBN ripping in optical fibre?
100
In a state that relies almost totally on mining for its income…
… this seems like an incredibly ridiculous and counter-productive idea. !
50
On July 2nd, Farmers no longer sell crops to the Voice or the AH. That ought to do it. 🙂
Every stick has 2 ends.
100
they will be happy to pay for Chinese imported food
20
Reagan, Thatcher, et al… won the battle for us but we lost the war.
It took 30-40 years to get from not perfect but rational world to current situation and it might take the same time for pendulum to swing back.
What is certain that day-to-day life will become much harder meanwhile.
150
The ultimate objective of the Left and wokeness is to destroy the West.
Western Civilisation took thousands of years to build but is being destroyed in decades, a typical model of civilisation collapse – it takes a long time to build but little time to destroy.
Even worse, the ultimate expression of Western Civilisation, the United States, being built for most of the last 247 years on ideas of freedom and individual responsibility and a recognition of natural rights, is being destroyed even faster than Western Civilisation as a whole. Obama caused a massive decline in the status and power of the US, as was his plan, and under his surrogate Biden, the acceleration of destruction is even faster. No President, no matter how bad, and not even Obama, has caused so much damage to the US (and West) in such a short time as the present White House resident.
Consider what’s usually called the Tytler cycle of civilisations. I think we are at the second last or last stage;
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.
220
Incidentally, Obama reminds me of Damien Thorn in Omen III: The Final Conflict.
80
Notice that many of those pushing wokeness are not net wealth producers, but are parasites relying on the wealth produced by others e.g. politicians, senior public serpents, so-called academics, trade union officials, etc..
270
Menzies captured it with the lifters and the leaners tag. There are too many useless, non productive types making stupid nation destroying decisions. In times gone they would have been there aken behind the woodheap and then dragged to the meat ant nest.
100
The left never, ever use their own money. Never.
80
There was time back in the Abbott/ Hockey LNP fed government. I remember Joe Hockey talking about an economic statistic that had just been revealed. A threshold of households on government support had just been crossed (so maybe 2012?) and that figure was 50%. So, more than 50 % of Australian households were on some form of government support. Either government salaries, pensions, unemployment benefits was then being paid to more than 1/2 of Australian households. In other words an over reliance on “government” had been achieved. Heaven knows what that figure is now with the public service expansion under Labor governments and the addition of NDIS etc.
50
I’ve never had any doubts that the woke will send us broke and more people are now starting to wake up.
But their CC lunacy is the really big problem and most people are not confident enough to tackle this myth and ditto so called Conservative govts or commentators.
Humans have flourished for 200 years and at a much faster rate since 1950 and yet nobody has the nerve or sense to quote the data.
The historical UN data isn’t hidden and anyone can find it in minutes and the UN projections to 2100 are also available and easy to find.
In the meantime I still think Dr Rosling’s 200 countries in 200 years is a quick accurate reference and Willis Eschenbach’s “where’s the emergency” article at WUWT tackles all the myths of the con merchants and easily answers their delusions.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/25/wheres-the-emergency/
140
Wokeness even destroys mathematics.
SEE LINK FOR REST
So there you have it folks, wokeness says mathematics is “racist”.
120
Unprepared and/or untalented, lazy, or incompetent, students, are rarely proficient in Linear Algebra, Calculus, Differential Equations, Complex maths, Combinatorial Mathematics, or a host of fields. It has nothing to do with Race, and everything to do with individual ability, hard work, opportunity, support, and nurture. Without these things, accomplishment in the maths/sciences, and engineering, are most difficult.
Does anyone want the unable and incompetent to design Bridges, Structures, Pressure vessels, Refineries, Chemical Plants, Substations, HV Transmission and distribution, or even food processing or waste management facilities, much less Surgeons and medical professionals? Woke can get you killed.
120
Lance,
Your question about engineering competence is partly answered by the large numbers of failed windmills.
More failed bridges will follow as professionalism is replaced by woke in engineering schools. Geoff S
60
Back in the day, it used to be a strict rule of corporations that they didn’t engage in politics. They were strictly politically neutral as they didn’t want to offend substantial numbers of their customers.
180
Agree completely, but please follow up, if you own shares. Come the AGM, do not just throw the proxy voting form into the bin. If it is a company that demonstrates any wokeness, fill in the proxy, that was posted to you, and return in time to be counted. Ensure that with the remuneration question you vote “NO”. Same goes for any directors who seem to be woke. The remuneration question only needs a 25% NO vote to embarrass and challenge the board. A minute of your time to help keep Australia sane.
90
The vanguards for that movement David were usually those companies who the public already regarded as damaging the earth. So, presently some of the oil companies are probably some of the greenest wokist types. Also the multinational chemical companies have always had the most protests from the green movement – so your residues in food and GM crops type protests. So what did all those major companies do about 20 years ago-they went all out on Climate change politics. Encouraging end users to go green or carbon neutral. It’s all just window dressing to improve their perception. The only people who profit are the ad companies and the marketing consultants.
40
Another European academic is shaking their woke and racist ideas of forcing poor Africans to use the TOXIC, UNRELIABLE W & S lunacy.
Lets hope he’s correct that African countries will build RELIABLE base-load generators like Coal and Gas and tell the WOKE bankers to get stuffed.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/06/15/newsweek-inflicting-green-energy-on-africa-is-racist/
100
I have wondered why they chose DEI as the acronym:-
DEI- a nod to Latin – GOD, aka Larry Fink
DIE- something that happens to everyone but we prefer not to think about it
EID- might upset those not submitting to Islam
EDI- Nerds already own the electronic data interchange
IDE- Mid march massacre of Augustus recalled
IED- Improvised explosive device- almost appropriate!!!
You are Welcome!
120
The once-scholarly institution of Johns Hopkins University took wokeness a step too far, even for them, when they redefined lesbians from being “women” to “non-men”.
They have temporarily removed the definition but you can see it archived at the link below.
80
Trouble with that, is that they haven’t defined what a “man” is. 😉
60
CC – unreliables – Energy supply diminishing -> poorer economy – depopulation
LGBTQI- Futile sexuality increased 10 fold in a generation -> depopulation
mRNA Jab Jab -> increased mortality, reduced fertility -> depopulation
MAD (medically assisted dying)-> reduced population
I am noticing a pattern here. I am also noticing the people profiting from the above four paradigms.
180
What I find amazing with the ‘Climate Emergency’ is that anyone believes it 35 years after the emergency was announced. That was 35 years ago! And dire predictions were made, none of which were true. And supposedly this has been going on since 1750, so 273 years?
So why are we being told it is real on the front pages of every newspaper every single day?
I can understand the Climatebaggers, the opportunists, the liars. The windmill vendors, the solar panel vendors, the nuclear power station people.
What I cannot understand is that anyone really thinks there is an urgent climate disaster which is going to exterminate life on earth in the next year or two? Or three? And this without any evidence anyone can see?
Any political party which, as Tony Abbott did, takes on this rapacious cult would be elected.
170
It’s part of what I call the “Titanic” mentality with the general populace. So like the designers of the Titanic ship, who thought their vessel was impregnable and unsinkable – ie. look at mankind and tech, we can produce a ship that wont sink! The same applies to the climate catastrophists- look at mankind, we’re so powerful we can alter the climate of the earth! Which we cant and we also know what happened to the Titanic. Every weather event now is unprecedented. Look at the Canadian fires at the moment- someone in the MSM even used the phrase ” Canada on fire”, which not that along was applied to Australia. There’s even a doco on Netflix with the title ” Australia on Fire”. My son was in Italy when that happened and people would commiserate with him that his homeland was a burnt mass of ashes. They actually didn’t believe him when he said “no, its largely only in one state and anyway, that’s pretty normal for Australia”.
120
When profits go down, it’s no joke,
As companies can quickly go broke,
So to stay in the black,
And not lose a whack,
Think twice before going woke.
140
Some fun to bring cheer from the wokium blues:
Well, comrades unlike those other timid CEO’s, I am boasting of an achievement. My woke Cyberpunk Farm: https://youtu.be/8HZ4DnVfWYQ
30
Someone needs to remind the advertising industry in Australia. Because this is where the main ” woke’ messaging takes place in society. So, I’m talking the mainstream ads here, not the government sponsored ads. Every 2nd company has ads now where they might mention “carbon neutral” or “we’re saving the planet” etc. Rife with the energy companies but then also surprising with other entities as well. For a couple of weeks now there are pop up/ side ads on websites that I might use. (Weather sites and also a newspaper website). The ads are from the Gas industry and basically they’e sticking the boots into coal. Claim Australia needs gas to keep running etc. They’re idiots because the green zealots in government want to also ban gas as well. What they should be doing is allying themselves with the other hydrocarbon fuels and offering some kickback. Some years back the Coal industry did some really good adverts supporting that fuel source. But then within the Mining Council the more “woke” representatives started criticising the coal companies and the ads were pulled. Instead of pulling ads, they should have doubled up. I think in general our corporates still have a long way to go and Australia is probably the most woke country in the western world.
90
Can I also say this “whole “getting in touch to let you know” corporate twaddle is just disingenuous crap. I’m getting emails and notifications etc from power companies that would make a dog sick.
50
Maybe the directors and executives are learning that many out here in consumer land consider woke to be a joke?
20
There is a new TV commercial from an Australian internet / broadband provider, that’s boasting its wokeness by including a drag queen.
Apparently including a male dressed as a woman in a TV commercial gives confidence to consumers about the reliability and speed of the broadband connection along with customer satisfaction.
Now just waiting for the Bud Light effect.
40
For some years now, every time I hear the word “sustainable” I’ve been bracing myself for an earfull of bullshit. And I’ve never been disappointed yet.
00