Companies are increasingly being called out for "wokewashing," or advertising values they don't champion themselves in their supply chains. This erodes consumer trust and brand image.

In response to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, companies like Nike and Coca-Cola turned to famous athletes like Colin Kaepernick and Simone Manuel, respectively, to act as mediaries for communicating social values. However, they quickly received backlash, accused of "performative allyship," given their lack of black representation at leadership levels.

CSB Director, Tensie Whelan weighs in on this, commenting that companies can make tangible commitments to BLM by putting in place transparent targets, reporting, and programs. 

Excerpt: “Because corporations wield such power—in some cases, more power than a small country—people quite rightly are holding them accountable because how they do business has an outsize impact on people and communities,” says Tensie Whelan, CSB Director. 

Read the full article here.