CMO Advisor l Author “Responsible Marketing” | Adweek Creative 100 2023 | Anthem Award-Winning Inclusive Marketing Strategist | Keynote Speaker | Moderator | Workshop Facilitator | Linkedin Top Voice in Marketing
These are not “differences of opinion”… these are corporate hate crimes. And no, that is neither hyperbole nor exaggeration: “A hate crime (also known a bias crime) is crime where a perpetrator targets a victim because of their physical appearance or perceived membership of a certain social group.” Are we down with committing hate crimes because some of our consumers really really want us to? If we are, we should all be fired and replaced by less dangerous people. #wakeup #responsiblemarketing
This actively bending-over-backwards approach by Best Buy legitimizes extremely problematic antagonism towards corporate support of LGBTQ employees and partners who advocate for them. And it degrades the trust those employees (and their allies) have in supposed commitments to them and their communities; no shilling about Human Rights Campaign scores or assessments can evade the harm stuff like this causes. cc GLAAD The Trevor Project and SAGE, all harmfully targeted (among others) 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
2 of 2 / Fourthly, are they screening ALL donations including political donations on behalf of the company be they ERG related or not? I’ve worked in very conservative companies where money was going to some candidates on the right that had views inconsistent with the company’s own employee (inclusion) policies! What a mess and likely not the only company that dealing with this. Now is the time for allies to speak up and show support.
I will have to return to this post tomorrow because this Sunday evening… I just cannot! Total, constant, incessant assault on humanity from all sides masquerading as “decision-making” and “stakeholder management” (eeek, reminds me of that HBR article from a few weeks ago).
Perfectly stated, Lola Bakare.
Purpose Hive Co-Founder & Co-CEO | Marketing Reformer helping brands prosper from good growth | Author of the forthcoming book: People | Purpose | Progress | Planet | Prosperity - reshaping the 5P's of commerce.
5mo1 of 2 / What an absolute mess. Firstly this palaver is gong to cause huge rifts between the company and its ERGs. It’s going to leave a lasting breach of trust and confidence in the org leadership from its own employees. Hence, they should start crunching the numbers on how it’s going to hurt morale and productivity in the short and mid term. And with Pride month on the horizon, how will they in good faith support their LGBTQAI employees, customers,shoppers and stakeholders? Secondly, it’s going to raise the specter of losing its HRC Best Place to work status and all the YEARS of equity and credibility built up. They better start crunching the numbers on how that negatively impacts brand equity and Talent, recruiting and reputational efforts for the foreseeable future. How are they going to answer candidates that ask questions about their commitments to DEI overall and not just LGBTQIA? I know I’d be asking LOTS of questions! Thirdly it’s caused a mess that likely the Chief Diversity Officer and their team will need extra resources and time to clean up! So also, factor that into the P&L for this year and the next couple.