Last week, Sticker Mule made quite a political statement. They sent an email to their subscribers, which caused a huge outrage.
If you didn’t hear what happened, the short story is that their co-founder got on his soapbox about how he’s feeling about the division in the U.S. and how much he likes and respects Trump, even though he’s afraid to admit it.
At the end of the email, he pleaded to subscribers to buy a once $19 shirt for $4 to show their support for the GOP presidential nominee. It was…something.
Let’s put the illegalities aside (you can’t use your business to raise money for a political candidate) and, truly, as much as I would love to dissect the politics of this, we’ll put that aside, too.
Instead, let’s discuss when we should advise our executives or clients to stand up for what they believe in personally, how their values relate to the business, how to make political statements (if appropriate), and what doing so can cost in the long run.
Political Statements that Work
Since the attempted assassination of the former president, plenty of business leaders have taken to public platforms to express their views and call for unity.
Tim Cook, who has not exactly been overenthusiastic with the former president’s policies, condemned the violence in a social media post following the incident. Others who have been critical of Trump in the past have also put aside their differences in this moment as they released political statements, including:
- Jeff Bezos said on X, “Our former president showed tremendous grace and courage under literal fire tonight. So thankful for his safety and so sad for the victims and their families.”
- Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, posted, “It’s hard to digest what happened in Pennsylvania today. Just awful. My thoughts go out to the victims’ families. Glad that President Trump is safe and hoping he recovers quickly.”
- The Microsoft CEO posted on X, “There is simply no place for any type of violence in our society. Sending my best wishes to (former) President Trump for a speedy recovery and to all those impacted by today’s horrific event.”
- Similarly, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon communicated to all JPMorgan employees a message of unity, condemning violence, including, “We must stand firmly together against any acts of hate, intimidation or violence that seek to undermine our democracy or inflict harm. It is only through constructive dialogue that we can tackle our nation’s toughest challenges.”
- Similar sentiments were shared by CEOs from Meta, OpenAI, Airbnb, Intel, Dell, Pfizer, GM, Ford, and Accenture.
The difference between what all of these leaders and what the Sticker Mule co-founder shared is that they call for unity, peace, and the reinforcement of values. Except for Dimon, who shared his thoughts internally, they all shared on their personal social media networks. They didn’t do it on the company platforms or send a customer-wide email.
Sticker Mule did the opposite. Their co-founder shared his thoughts with their customer base (if not an FTC violation, it certainly walks the line) and invited conversation on X. He didn’t condemn the violence or call for unity and peace. Instead, he whined about how the hate for Trump has gone too far and about how he’s scared to admit he supports him. Gosh. You think?
A Right Way and a Wrong Way
There is a right way and a wrong way to speak about your values or make political statements. And it’s up to us to help executives figure out what makes the most sense for their organizations while building and maintaining a leadership position.
When a client is considering speaking up about what’s happening in the world, we start with two questions: does your brand already support this in a way that attracts like-minded people who have the same values? And does your brand make or sell anything that provides a greater good to society?
In other words, do you make toothpaste or stickers, or do you work with the government or with kids? If it’s the former, we will almost always recommend you not take a stand and definitely no political statements.
There are, of course, always exceptions to that rule, but a toilet paper company likely isn’t going to achieve anything by speaking out, other than pissing off half of your customers.
Start With These Two Questions
Let’s start with our two questions:
- Does your brand already support this in a way that attracts like-minded people with the same values?
- Does your brand make or sell anything that provides a greater good to society?
Answering these two questions allows you to assess the relevance to the brand, evaluate customer expectations, analyze potential risks and rewards, and develop a strategy if you decide to move forward.
Let’s assume the answer to one or both of our initial questions is “yes” and discuss how to proceed.
Brand Relevance
If the issue directly affects the company’s mission or is relevant to your industry, taking a stand or making a political statement may be appropriate—and you probably answered “yes” to the first question.
This might look like an organization that advocates for sustainability should speak out on environmental issues and climate change. A tech company might speak out about data privacy issues.
In both examples, they will remain silent on unrelated political matters. If, however, the issue isn’t relevant to the mission or the industry—such as, I don’t know, stickers or hot sauce—be smart and pass, no matter how fired up everyone internally might be.
Evaluate Audience Expectations
Next, you’ll evaluate what your audience expects—and this includes customers and employees. If your audience supports a certain viewpoint, you can proceed to the next step. If they are diverse, it’s worth re-evaluating your stance.
If you don’t know where your audience stands, your time to speak out is not now. But if you want to prepare for the future, start conducting research—surveys, polls, focus groups, feedback, and reviews—on where your audiences stand, what they think, and how those views will support or detract from your business.
For instance, a bank might be able to speak out on economic equality and corporate social responsibility, while a gaming company might do the same for issues regarding inclusivity.
As you consider this step, consider other stakeholders, such as employees, investors, and partners. Without their support, your political statements (or any other statement) won’t get very far.
Analyze Potential Risks and Rewards
While analyzing the risks and rewards, it’s important to think about this as you would any crisis planning: what are the scenarios, how would you rank them, and what would cause them to move up in ranking (i.e., move from an issue to a crisis)?
For instance, how would sending this email or publishing this social media post affect our reputation? How would it affect revenue? How would it affect sentiment? Does it break any laws?
As we have seen, positive alignment with audience values can enhance loyalty, but misalignment can lead to backlash, loss of trust, and loss of revenue. Make sure you’re in the former group.
Strategize the Communication Approach
OK, let’s say you’ve made it all the way to being prepared to make a statement. Now it’s time to be strategic about how you go about it.
When it comes to this part, I often think about Susan G Komen announcing in 2012 that they were going to defund Planned Parenthood. The backlash they received was fast and furious and four days later, they reversed their decision. To explain their decision, they had their then founder, Nancy Brinker, make the morning show circuit. But with every interview, she flip-flopped on why they made that decision, telling GMA one thing and The Today Show another.
It’s one thing to make a strategic decision—and it came out later it was because they were under Congressional investigation—but you have to stand behind it and not give in to the vocal minority.
All to say, agree on the messaging, avoid divisive language, and focus on constructive dialogue. At the same time, be prepared for some backlash. If you’ve been allowed to do your job to this point, you’ll know what to expect, and it won’t send you or your leadership into a crisis spiral where they are forced to go back and forth about their decision, based on who is asking.
Monitor and Respond
Then, just like anything else, monitor the conversations and respond. Through your scenario and crisis planning, you should have created messaging to respond to both positive and negative feedback. But also don’t give in to the trolls. You know what deserves a response and what does not.
Having messaging ready will help manage any backlash and reinforce the organization’s commitment to its values.
Political Statements Can Be Strategic
If we look at why so many CEOs were able to say something while it backfired so spectacularly for Sticker Mule, it’s mostly because the message wasn’t aligned with his customer base, which is made up of artists, creatives, small business owners, and the LGBTQ+ community. His email seemed to reflect his personal views rather than the company’s values or mission.
The tone of the message was defensive and divisive, focusing on his personal grievances rather than promoting unity or positive action. He sent the message via email and then doubled down on it on the company’s X account. Not only is this risky from a legal standpoint, but it’s inappropriate to use company assets for such a personal and divisive topic.
When Axios asked, he said he drafted the statement while getting a haircut and did not communicate his message to 1,200 employees before blasting it out. They then asked if the communications team was consulted beforehand, and he said, “We don’t have a communications team. We have one PR guy who started five days ago, and he said not to send it.”
Wonder if that “PR guy” still works there?
