Brands Taking Stands
U.S. companies are speaking out on divisive hot button issues
By Tom Idle
“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” This sentence in Ronald Reagan’s inaugural address of 1981, which poured ire on the notion of ‘big government,’ has stayed with many Americans to this day. In fact, almost 70 percent of people see government intervention (or otherwise) as the greatest threat to the nation, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, compared with just 26 percent who think it’s big business.
It is little wonder then that politicians—from both the left and right sides of the political spectrum—have long banged the anti-corporate drum in the apparent hope of shifting attention away from themselves. Questioning the role, size and influence of business in society has become the political playground game of choice.
