Today on my daily signals - the geopolitics of Barbie (the movie), which has been banned in Vietnam for subtly endorsing China's claims on the South China sae region, to the dismay of Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and the like.
Hollywood is hardly alone in its casual hypocrisy when it comes to its different stances on say Russia's imperial tendencies - business is business and businessmen tend to know which side their bread is buttered when it comes to picking sides in geopolitical and socio-cultural conflicts. (See all the hypocritical brands during Pride month this June, with rainbow flags on their Western brand pages, but not a peep on their Middle Eastern ones for sadly common case studies here.)
That said, brands and businesses don't always get the calculation right - or more charitably - sometimes brands choose to have values that actually have a cost (the only values that actually are values are those that do cost in a crunch) - as can be illustrated by the recent cases of Budweiser Light and Ben and Jerries (both of which cost their shareholders real money in exchange for their divisive socio-cultural stances).
Anyway, I find revealed preference much more, well, revealing than stated values. The question is, what do you - and your business - stand for when there is a cost?
Does your business have values beyond economics? If so, how do you justify this to your shareholders?
Or should brands and businesses remain politically, and geopolitically, and culture-wars, natural? - What is the business case for being "Switzerland"?
Let me know. This is a juicy topic.
Read more:
Barbie gets banned : https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/07/13/why-has-vietnam-banned-the-barbie-film
Ben & Jerry's values cost shareholders : https://nypost.com/2023/07/06/ben-jerrys-boycott-calls-unilever-stock-falls/
Budweiser picks the wrong side - or the right one? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12120649/Anheuser-Busch-lost-staggering-15-7-BILLION-value-Bud-Light-controversy-began.html
Hollywood loves Ukraine : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/08/ukraine-how-zelenskiy-hollywood-man-of-the-hour
Taiwan, not so much : https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/02/china-captured-hollywood/621618/
Barbie gets banned