Recent posts on our blog have focused on how to develop useful and responsible content during the pandemic. We’re going to continue in that vein with this post, but with a slight refocus: How should a business address larger issues of justice and equality in their content?
We are of course referencing the resurgence and renewed visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement, but this applies to a host of other issues, many of which have been important in this country in recent weeks: police violence; confederate symbols; anti-mask protests; peaceful and less peaceful demonstrations; defunding the police; income, housing, and social inequality. While a substantial list, this doesn’t include every issue currently receiving attention.
The most prominent question might not be which stand a business should take, but whether it should take any stand at all.
Traditionally, many businesses have gone out of their way, sometimes to an extraordinary degree, to avoid taking any stand on important social issues. It’s something of an old (and largely unproven—but accepted) rule of public image management that taking any stand is controversial; and in those cases when a stand is taken, it should align with the popular conservative position. (We use “conservative” in a neutral sense here, to indicate what has been traditionally accepted by the majority, not where an idea falls on any ideological continuum.)
This is especially true as a business grows: the larger a firm, the more hesitant it is to take a stand on an issue—even when the stand is clearly the right thing to do. And by “the right thing” in this case we’re not talking only about what is morally or socially right, but what makes business sense.
For example, in the 1980s the Divestment from South Africa movement (which had existed since the 1960s as one of many efforts to end apartheid) reached a critical mass: academic institutions and international corporations which invested in that country began to receive more and more public criticism over the support, financial and implicitly moral, that their investments gave the apartheid regime.
While only one American college had divested by 1977, more than 150 had done so by 1988. During the 1980s, pressure on companies to curtail their operations in the country led to enough capital withdrawal that the government was forced to take measures to control steep inflation and a potential economic collapse. Before the Divestment campaign had concluded, public opinion was such that any company with significant holdings in South Africa faced both a public relations black eye and the possibility of consumer boycotts if they did not divest.
But is taking a stand the right stand for a business, or for your business in particular? It’s one thing to personally hold a position that takes the moral high ground, but how is a business to know if that position will hurt or help it financially?
To adopt a traditional (and one might say morally ambiguous) position, a business would have to look at itself and its customers, as well as society as a whole at that moment, in depth. Who are the customers? What do they think about this issue? What is the business case for taking one position over another? What are the revenue implications? Some of this can be coldly calculated. For instance, if a firm stops doing business in a country over a particular issue, how much income will be lost? Will that loss be a benefit to a competitor who continues to do business there?
Yet times change. To return to the anti-apartheid divestment example, it was entirely a “safe” position for most American firms to do nothing on this issue in 1975. Yet by 1985 the situation had changed significantly: not taking any stand was seen as equivalent to supporting the regime.
Predicting which way the winds of public opinion will turn is difficult. It is not difficult, however, to distinguish right from wrong.
At Waltham WordWorks, we and our clients are perhaps in an easier position than most: Our clients primarily provide services (as opposed to physical goods). Much of our work (and a fair amount of many clients’ work) is conducted online rather than face-to-face. Both of these things have a tendency to diminish the amount of influence regional or local public opinion can have on the bottom line.
That’s a good thing, because it makes it easier for a business to do the right thing.
Because, if you couldn’t guess, that is where we’ve been going with this entire post. When it comes right down to it, a business should not be afraid to take a stand on important issues. When an issue involves basic human rights or dignity, it should be even easier. Every stand has the potential to come at a price—but every stand also comes with the potential to show leadership and, by doing so, to bring a benefit to the entire community. Let’s not beat around the bush: when the community benefits, so does every member, including the businesses in that community.
We speak from experience on this topic. While it is our general practice to avoid any political slant or commentary in the writing we do for clients, it’s difficult to do this in some cases. The work we do for personal injury law firms, for instance, can occasionally make this a challenge: many people do not understand the value of those firms (until they need one!) and often see them in an unflattering light. Yet not only do they serve a very valuable function in modern American society, the kind of cases they take on frequently offers them an opportunity to highlight lapses, oversights, and negligence in both corporate practices and government regulations. We have often—with the encouragement, approval, and occasional gratitude of our law practice clients—been able to take stands in these posts which allow our clients to show leadership on an issue. Speed limits? Motorcycle helmets? Airbag and other safety recalls? You can always find someone to be against these things; our clients can show that they’re for them, and make the case why that support is justified, using evidence.
Not everyone will read this post and agree with what we’ve written. We accept that. But each business should think hard about the potential benefits and costs of taking or not taking a stand. As each business does that math for itself, it should include an important factor in the calculation: What will be the cost for standing on the wrong side of history?
At Waltham WordWorks, we still respect clients who don’t take a stand. But we respect them far more when they do. If you’re in need of content that can highlight your firm’s position on important issues, reach out to us. We’re ready to help you expand and articulate your position to your clients and potential clients: we can help you, and them, to do the right thing.
Waltham WordWorks 