idk. IBM selling computers to the Nazi regime in the 30s is often cited a poor political decision on their part.
I’m not saying society hasn’t gotten more partisan, but businesses have been doing politics as long as they have been so powerful that their behavior can affect other people significantly. Perhaps there is another reason for this appearance of increased political activity by businesses. Possible explanation include:
- Businesses are doing worse politics now then before.
- News outlets are better at covering when a business is doing politics.
- Public opinion has shifted in what constitutes as bad politics.
- Public opinion is better reflected through better journalism.
But regardless, I don’t buy it when you say that “people were OK about companies not being political a decade ago”. Ten years ago we were in the middle of the great recession, companies were getting unfounded government bailouts and rich CEOs were being payed massive bonuses despite this. The general public was not happy about this. Receiving government bailout in a middle of a recession is very much participating in politics, we would perceive as such today, and people did so a decade ago.
Things aren't black and white. Supporting an enemy of the state is quite a bit different from doing business with a legitimate arm of the government, or choosing to support or not the current social issue. You may disagree with policies, and many people will disagree with many policies. But there is a channel for that doesn't require said policies to permeate every aspect of life.
What's the end state of companies being political? There is a huge number of issues at play at any given time. Do companies have to take a stance for every single one of them? Then can companies only appeal to the intersection of all those dimensions where there is a strict match between consumer and company stance? Do we have a list of pro BLM and not pro BLM companies? Then within each of those pro Palestine and not pro Palestine companies? Where does it end?
I’m not saying society hasn’t gotten more partisan, but businesses have been doing politics as long as they have been so powerful that their behavior can affect other people significantly. Perhaps there is another reason for this appearance of increased political activity by businesses. Possible explanation include:
- Businesses are doing worse politics now then before.
- News outlets are better at covering when a business is doing politics.
- Public opinion has shifted in what constitutes as bad politics.
- Public opinion is better reflected through better journalism.
But regardless, I don’t buy it when you say that “people were OK about companies not being political a decade ago”. Ten years ago we were in the middle of the great recession, companies were getting unfounded government bailouts and rich CEOs were being payed massive bonuses despite this. The general public was not happy about this. Receiving government bailout in a middle of a recession is very much participating in politics, we would perceive as such today, and people did so a decade ago.