OPINION

Alienating base

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I've written previously about what a foolish business plan it is for companies to needlessly alienate customers from all faiths and ideologies by publicly taking sides on political and social issues.

Why would any rational businessperson choose to intentionally blow off a financial foot for no significant purpose other than to salve their ego by in effect saying: "Yeah, potential customers who believe differently than me, take that"?

My reasoning appears to have been vindicated by the latest findings from Morning Consult, a privately held technology and media company specializing in online survey and market research.

In a survey of some 2,000 U.S. adults, it found company managers who choose to leap into the ongoing bitter national divide particularly as it involves incendiary President Donald Trump are jumping with parachutes aflame: The majority of Americans believe brands should refrain from becoming involved in political and social issues.

I've just got to say, it feels downright refreshing to have a national research company validate an opinion I've long held.

In its advice for managing business brands during the Trump era, the survey found, "Speaking about President Trump--either positively or negatively--is more likely to generate backlash than end up successful for brands."

According to the survey, businesses saying something negative about Trump leads 56 percent of Trump voters to have a far less favorable view of that brand while just 32 percent of Clinton voters have a much more favorable view.

Media scrutiny and social media frenzies can skew the conversation. Sixty percent of those surveyed would rather corporations stick to what they do best and avoid involvement in politics. "Furthermore, Americans think corporations already have more influence in politics and cultural conversations than they should," said the report.

The top issues that most animated Trump voters when a company publicly embraced them were advocating for the right of protesters to kneel during the national anthem (58 percent negative), issuing a negative statement about Trump (55 percent negative), advocating for stricter gun control (39 percent negative), the same percentage negative for those supporting the campaign of a Democratic lawmaker, and 39 percent positive for companies advocating stricter immigration policy.

As for which issues are the most controversial for businesses to champion, abortion, anthem-kneeling and immigration drew the most responses. The least controversial issues to take up include civil rights, minority rights, and criminal justice reform.

I believe these findings extend to public figures such as Hollywood stars who share, sometimes viciously, their personal political beliefs regardless of the negative effect they have on many potential purchasers of theater tickets.

Last I checked, the movie industry was suffering its worst attendance record in a long while. Maybe some is due to the dubious quality of films being released. But perhaps much of the downturn is due to ego-driven, outspoken Hollywood thespians who fancy themselves as elite political commentators.

On a related note, from my observation, the same kinds of alienation likely can happen in the newspaper industry when readers begin to detect political biases and not-so-subtle agendas. That's especially true when such prejudice obviously strays through via choices involving headlines, story placement, photographs and word choices in the news pages. See this newspaper's statement of core values published daily on Page 2A.

The same potential holds true for cable and broadcast programs that promote themselves as news agencies but choose instead to become avid propagandists for one political party. That can cost many viewers.

For example, Breitbart News reports that "cable's far left-leaning CNN saw more than a third of its primetime viewership drop last week compared to the same week last year, while Fox News' primetime audience got nearly a double-digit boost" when compared to 2017.

CNN's "viewers might have gone over to Fox News, where the primetime audience jumped by plus 9 percent," reported Breitbart.

Adweek.com's A.J Katz pointed out, "Fox News was the sole member of the 'big three' to post year-over-year audience growth in primetime viewers," beating MSNBC and CNN among adults 25 to 54 both in primetime and throughout the day.

As a news director, I wouldn't care to explain to shareholders why my political choices continue to blow holes in my own corporation's ship. Well, unless those prejudices are flowing from the top, in which case I'd be following orders.

Again, valued readers, I wonder why any sane, well-adjusted business person would choose to alienate a huge portion of their potential customer base by needlessly pushing one ideological view where perhaps half likely are alienated by it.

I've read that the greatest asset any newspaper (or business for that matter) has in its community is its universal good will. That hard-earned quality seems to invariably translate into financial success.

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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 08/12/2018

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