Wokeism is Doomed

[grarpamp]

Expensify.Com is Woke, make sure they get added to the anti-woke
app lists and boycott them till their stock goes to zero.


https://www.theepochtimes.com/in-depth-a-revolution-is-unfolding-against-woke-corporate-america-heres-the-strategy-behind-it_5329967.html
https://aflegal.org/america-first-legal-demands-target-corporation-produce-its-books-and-records-regarding-its-reckless-lgbt-political-agenda-and-the-corporations-12-billion-loss-in-market-valuation/
https://nationalcenter.org/programs/free-enterprise-project/

IN-DEPTH: A Quiet Revolution Is Unfolding Against ‘Woke’ Corporate
America–Here’s the Strategy Behind It
Conservatives find their kryptonite against corporate wokeness: 'I
think it's now clear people are paying attention'
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink attends a session at the World Economic Forum
annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 23, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via
Getty Images)
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink attends a session at the World Economic Forum
annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 23, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via
Getty Images)
Darlene McCormick Sanchez	
By Darlene McCormick Sanchez
June 14, 2023Updated: June 14, 2023
biggersmaller
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Consumer boycotts against “woke” corporations such as Target and
Anheuser-Busch are the key to reversing race, gender, and
environmental activism in corporate America, according to conservative
groups.

That’s because customers ditching companies pushing left-wing policies
have given conservative groups the traction they needed to fight them
legally.

Scott Shepard is a Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy
Research (NCPPR) and director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise
Project, a conservative shareholder activist group.

Shepard told The Epoch Times the tide is turning against
environmental, social, and governance, or ESG.

“We’re seeing something very different this time. Because it’s not
just the conservatives, who are always interested in this sort of
thing, it’s the whole country,” Shepard said.

ESG, which started as guidelines, has now turned into heavy-handed
mandates on controversial “social justice” ideologies, he said.

And a potential breach of fiduciary responsibility to shareholders
will expose businesses to legal action like Shepard’s organization has
started.

Even with companies losing billions of dollars, they continue to
embrace the concept to the detriment of their shareholders, Shepard
said.

Target came under fire for “Pride Month” merchandise, including
rainbow-colored onesies for babies and “tuck-friendly” women’s
swimsuits for men identifying as women in front-of-the-store displays.
Epoch Times Photo People walk past a Target store in New York City on
June 6, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Likewise, consumers boycotted Anheiser-Busch after the company
provided transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney with a personalized can
of Bud Light which subsequently went viral on social media.

Target and Anheuser-Busch both came out with statements as the
boycotts intensified. But they fell short of apologizing or continued
to support transgenderism and LGBT causes as consumers stayed away.

Target’s strategy was to blame threats from customers for removing
some of the more “controversial” items from their “Pride Month”
displays and relocating LGBT items to the back of the store.
Epoch Times Photo Pride Month onesies displayed at a Target store in
Nashville, Tenn., on May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Employees at a Target location in Tennessee, where some wore
rainbow-flag gear, gave a mixed review on June 13 about how the
boycott was impacting sales.

“Sundays and Mondays have been less busy. It’s noticeable if you work
here long enough. The past few weeks have been slower,” one employee
said.

“It’s kind of hard to say. Day-to-day things are different,” added another.

Anheuser-Busch came out with pro-America ads featuring Clydesdale
horses traversing the country shortly after their campaign with
Mulvaney.

“We never intended to be a part of a discussion that divides people.
We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,”
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said.

Besides Target and Anheuser-Busch’s continued support of Pride Month,
business titans such as Citi, Bank of America, Cisco, HP, and Pfizer
have all changed their social media icons to Pride-themed logos.

Billionaire Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner, and Shark Tank star,
went so far as to call going woke “good for business” over the
weekend.
Boycotts Kryptonite For Woke Firms

Shareholder lawsuits could be the key to stopping ESG—and prolonged
consumer boycotts are making it possible by inflicting huge losses on
“woke” companies, Shepard said.

On June 6, America First Legal (AFL) demanded Target’s corporate books
and records amid the backlash against the retailer for selling Pride
Month items aimed at children.

The law firm represents NCPPR, a free market public policy research
group, where Shepard is a fellow.

AFL, headed by former Trump presidential adviser Stephen Miller,
accused Target’s management of a “radical LGBT political agenda that
has cost the corporation over $12 billion in market valuation since
mid-May 2023,” according to a news release.

The boycotts hit the companies’ market capitalizations, meaning their
value dropped on the stock market.

Target’s market capitalization fell from $72.52 billion to $58.61
billion between May 1 and June 10 and was downgraded on Wall Street
twice.

Anheuser-Busch’s market cap slid even more—from $132.06 billion to
$108.96 billion between April 3 and June 2 and was also downgraded.

Attorneys for AFL said its client has concerns about the possible
financial risk posed by selling LGBT-related merchandise since Target
admits its customer base is mainly made up of families.

“This dramatic and sudden loss to shareholders is a direct and
predictable result of management’s calculated efforts to please its
extreme leftist ‘stakeholders,’ almost none of whom shop at Target,
and evidence contempt for the corporation’s core customers,” AFL said
in a statement.

Shepard said stock value losses demonstrate that “woke” corporate
boards and executives care more about an ideology than their
shareholders.

“I think it’s now clear people are paying attention,” he said.
Epoch Times Photo A 12-ounce can of Bud Light on a railing at the
World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla. on May 26, 2023. (T.J.
Muscaro/The Epoch Times)

“Aside from the hard-left activists, nobody wants trans issues aimed
at children; nobody thinks that Target ought to play a central role in
deciding whether our children are going to get drawn into all this
nonsense,” Shepard said.

If CEOs and corporate board members continue to “pretend” going woke
won’t make them broke, Shepard believes they will likely be sued
personally.

He predicts executives will be forced to pay back the amount they cost
shareholders out of their pockets by “running companies according to
their own personal preferences, rather than according to objective,
neutral rules of running a business.”
Why Executives Alienate Customers

Woke isn’t going away without a fight, according to Will Hild,
executive director of Consumer’s Research, a nonprofit consumer
protection group.

Consumer’s Research launched a public information campaign on
BlackRock and recently created a “woke alert” for consumers. Those who
sign up are notified when companies “cave to the woke mob—so you know
the brands attacking your values.”

Corporate leaders fear losing their jobs if they drop ESG more than
they fear corporate losses, Hild told The Epoch Times.

That’s why “woke” companies don’t seem to learn their lesson and keep
pushing ESG’s “far-left agenda,” he added.

“It’s a cover for pushing politics using other people’s money,” he said.
Epoch Times Photo Will Hild, executive director of Consumer’s
Research, a nonprofit consumer protection group, says corporate
executives fear losing their jobs if they don’t go along with ESG.
(Courtesy of Consumer’s Research)

“In fact, if BlackRock likes you, and Vanguard likes you, and State
Street likes you, then you may not ever get fired, no matter how bad
of a job you do, because they can have your back,” Hild said.

BlackRock managers who control investments can call the board of
directors and pressure them into making efforts toward left-wing goals
such as “net zero,” where companies work to reduce their carbon
emissions, he said.

Bud Light is a case in point.

Despite losing billions of dollars, Bud Light sponsored the Cincinnati
Pride Parade and announced a $200,000 donation to the National LGBT
Chamber of Commerce.

Companies care about ESG scores because they are essential to attract
investment companies such as BlackRock, which controls some $10
trillion in assets, Hild said.

BlackRock, whose CEO Larry Fink became an early ESG disciple, issued a
thinly veiled threat in 2018 for companies to get with the program—or
else, according to an article in the New York Times.

Fink sent out a letter demanding business leaders do more than make a
profit and “contribute to society” to receive BlackRock’s support,
according to the article.
Democracy Bad for Business

Fink’s reasoning for iron-fisted ESG enforcement appears
simple—Democracy is bad for business.

“Markets don’t like uncertainty. Markets like, actually, totalitarian
governments,” Fink said in a Bloomberg video posted on Twitter.

Since BlackRock manages trillions in investments through 401(k) plans
and mutual funds, it gives Fink tremendous influence over such things
as corporate executive pay, and whether investors are voted on or off
boards, Shepard said.

Under Fink’s control, BlackRock voted to replace three members of
Exxon’s board in 2021 with green “left-wing” members, Shepard said.

After changing the board, Fink pressured Exxon into selling an oil
investment to a state-backed Chinese company where BlackRock holds
investments, Shepard said.

China has lax environmental laws, so tons of carbon will still be
spewing into the atmosphere, he said.

“So the difference is that by forcing that move, Larry Fink and
BlackRock got brownie points with the Chinese Communist Party,”
Shepard said.
The seal for IMF is seen near the World Bank headquarters The seal for
the International Monetary Fund is seen near the World Bank
headquarters (R) in Washington, on Jan. 10, 2022. (Stefani
Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
ESG Started With UN, World Bank

Some point to the 2004 United Nations and the World Bank initiative
“Who Cares Wins” as the genesis of ESG.

The initiative grades companies on social performance instead of
financial performance, according to Dan Sanchez, director of content
at FEE.org, the Foundation for Economic Education.

“ESG is antithetical to capitalism and is antithetical to consumers,”
Sanchez told The Epoch Times.

Since 2004, ESG has evolved from “guidelines and recommendations” to
standards “that hold sway over huge swaths of the global economy,”
according to a 2022 article by Sanchez.

Sanchez explained the idea behind ESG is “stakeholder capitalism,”
which supporters claim is the antidote to the excesses of shareholder
capitalism.

Traditional shareholder capitalism has been condemned as narrowly
focused on maximizing profits for corporate shareholders without
considering the interest of customers, suppliers, employees, local
communities, and society in general, he wrote.

Sanchez said that ESG has been able to mute the power of the consumer
to some extent because of government policies favoring ESG.

These standards are set by ESG rating agencies like the Sustainability
Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and enforced by investment firms
that manage ESG funds, according to Sanchez.
id5228526-Exxon A view of the Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas
on Sept. 15, 2008. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)
Conservative States Part of Equation

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed sweeping legislation this spring to
stop “Biden’s ESG financial fraud.”

DeSantis, who launched a presidential bid last month, partnered with
18 other states to force asset managers away from woke ideology.

They are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi,
Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Investment companies such as BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard
manage state pension funds and university endowments.

Other states, such as Texas, passed legislation in 2021 to divest
state pension funds from ESG portfolios that “boycotted” fossil fuel.
Epoch Times Photo Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs legislation banning
the financial industry’s use of ESG principles on May 2. (Courtesy of
the Florida Governor’s Office)

This year, the state legislature passed a bill restricting insurance
companies operating in Texas from considering ESG factors when setting
rates under a measure sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for his
signature.

Some insurers will not issue policies to those in the fossil fuel
business, which prompted the legislation.

Hild said pressure from conservative states had helped the effort to
break ESG’s hold on businesses.

“We’re gonna see probably 14 states pass anti-ESG measures this year,”
he said. “They are going to start pulling the power back from these
asset managers.”

While it may seem like a David-and-Goliath matchup, the power of the
consumer is still a force to be reckoned with, he said.

“Consumers and citizens do have the power—they just have to stand up
and use it,” Hild said.

Neither Target Corp. nor Anheuser-Busch immediately responded to a
request for comment.