As is typical of our times, Peloton’s recent holiday ad has stirred up a bit of controversy. The negative buzz has impacted the brand’s stock price at least in the short-term, but as we have seen with many episodes featuring the “outrage orchestra”, once the orchestra plays its tune, the stock seems to come back to normal.
For some organizations the temptation to copy the value created by others is too hard to resist.
Five years ago, REI took a bold stand against the hyper-consumerism that reaches its zenith every year on the Friday following the US holiday of Thanksgiving aka Black Friday. As with previous years, REI will close its stores, cease processing online payments, and pay its 13,000 employees to ‘Opt Outside’ for for the day. Only this year, the brand now says it, and its members, need to do more.
Call-out culture, or ‘cancel culture’ is, as defined by Urban Dictionary, “a modern internet phenomenon where a person is ejected from influence or fame by questionable actions. It is caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question.
Nike isn’t the only Oregon-based brand making headlines about their activist-themed marketing campaigns these days.
