The Wall Street Journal is warning C-suite executives that their daytime adventures in woke politics can cost them their annual bonuses.
“In most of these C-suites, they’re like, ‘We don’t want to be next,’” Jim Fielding, a former top retail executive at Claire’s Stores and Disney Stores, told the newspaper for a June 6 article, headlined “Companies That Embraced Social Issues Have Second Thoughts.”
“One step can turn a social-media storm into a corporate crisis that cripples businesses and wrecks careers,” the article says, adding:
Over the past decade, companies have become more vocal on causes such as immigration, voting access, abortion, gay rights and racial equity, often taking stances shared by progressives. Many executives said they felt pushed by employees or customers to express an opinion on issues rippling through society.
What is changing now, executives and corporate advisers said, is that conservative groups and political leaders are pushing back against companies more forcefully. Consumers are also more openly expressing frustration that companies are airing views in ways some don’t welcome.
In the last month, the social-media storms have helped to kill roughly $10 billion in stock market value at “tuck friendly” Target retail stores and roughly $20 billion from Dylan Mulvaney’s Bud Light partners at Anheuser-Busch.