Originally Posted by
drk
Well, I'm not telling anyone anything they didn't know, already. The people that corporations hire to do things like "brand management" (usually young people in their 20's and 30's, because that's the demographic companies assume [wrongly] are the big decision-makers) choose their marketing campaigns in a very immature way.
They don't seem to understand their customers very well. Or, they don't care to understand, they only care about their own religio-socio-political beliefs that have been inculcated in their colleges or virally-absorbed from media, and are too self-unaware to realize that no one really cares what they think. They are entitled to their beliefs, but so is everyone else, and the seemingly logical way to deal with the plurality is to avoid unnecesary divisiveness. Selling sportswear or sports marketing should not include sexual preference or politics, in my opinion, because discussion of religion and politics is really not polite, in mixed company. It goes to respect.
I don't subject people to my political or religious views in the process of doing commerce. It's a free country, and Nike and Kate Spade and Anheiser-Busch is welcome to do what they want, but then it narrows their market appeal.
As a business owner, I want to TRULY be inclusive. I don't want to offend other genders, "races", religions, national origins, political people, etc. So we talk about commonalities such as eye care, and leave the divisive stuff alone. That's inclusivity, IMHO.
So really, in the misguided attempt to be "inclusive"--or, just to make a buck, they think---these companies are pressing on sore spots in our society. Race, gender, religion, politics, etc. really have no business in business, in my view, if you truly care about all people.
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