Great summary of this issue and I agree with the idea that corporations should get out of political debate. It's a distraction that tends to snowball and can even turn into a quagmire that drags down the very thing the company intended to promote.
But it immediately gets muddy. Companies have increasingly marketed specifically to the gay community because gays and lesbians tend to be urban couples with two incomes and no kids. Cha-ching. But in the US, in 2025, marketing to the gay community is a political statement because this society insists that it is, even though a corporation may be doing it for purely profit-related reasons which can be objectively determined. If a company sees that black America is an untertapped market for their products they would be objectively wise to increase the number of black people in marketing and product development, particularly in high positions in the hierarchy. The black market is different than the white market in some respects because the black experience is different than the white experience. White people trying to design for that market, that experience, face a real risk of failing spectacularly and embarrassingly. So the company should specifically target black hiring - the dreaded DEI, the political statement du jour - but it's purely profit-driven.
I remain with the position you've presented - it is better to steer clear of politics unrelated to the success of the company. But as long as corporations are embedded in a society that WANTS to shove corporations into political situations - even when they are not - it's going to be quite the struggle.
Great summary of this issue and I agree with the idea that corporations should get out of political debate. It's a distraction that tends to snowball and can even turn into a quagmire that drags down the very thing the company intended to promote.
But it immediately gets muddy. Companies have increasingly marketed specifically to the gay community because gays and lesbians tend to be urban couples with two incomes and no kids. Cha-ching. But in the US, in 2025, marketing to the gay community is a political statement because this society insists that it is, even though a corporation may be doing it for purely profit-related reasons which can be objectively determined. If a company sees that black America is an untertapped market for their products they would be objectively wise to increase the number of black people in marketing and product development, particularly in high positions in the hierarchy. The black market is different than the white market in some respects because the black experience is different than the white experience. White people trying to design for that market, that experience, face a real risk of failing spectacularly and embarrassingly. So the company should specifically target black hiring - the dreaded DEI, the political statement du jour - but it's purely profit-driven.
I remain with the position you've presented - it is better to steer clear of politics unrelated to the success of the company. But as long as corporations are embedded in a society that WANTS to shove corporations into political situations - even when they are not - it's going to be quite the struggle.