Why Woke Businesses Sell Out Their Customers

In October 2022, the Biden SEC finalized a rule requiring public corporations to file Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores. The scores used measure not only climate change responses, but have expanded to include, human capital, diversity, and “wokeism”. The rule required effected companies to gather data on their own operations and from their suppliers and customers.

Diane Hardy, Executive Director of the Mom and Pop Alliance of SC, shows how the ESG moves organizations to favor woke policies over customer demands.

Going Woke – What’s Really Going On?

Why does corporate “woke-ism” continue to grow despite consumer pushback, and what is its endgame? From the outside, watching companies focus on political agendas rather than products and customer satisfaction seems antithetical to all we know about business – but when you understand the evil genius of ESGs coupled with non-profit activism, it all makes sense.  

ESGs are a very powerful tool for social change, so it is important to understand what they are and how they work – as well as the risk they pose to small business. I’ll be honest, it took a good bit of study for me to fully grasp the big picture of ESGs and woke-ism – and attempting to make sense from the nonsense was a challenge. However, a few years ago when the pieces finally came together for me, as the executive director of the Mom and Pop Alliance of SC I felt called to travel the state to educate legislators, citizens, and small business owners – warning them about this very complex issue and helping protect the Palmetto State, to whatever extent possible, from this absurd and dangerous form of social credit scoring.  

Before we get into ESGs I think it’s important to understand the bigger picture of what we are living through right now. I believe we are experiencing a clash between two world views: those who support DECENTRALIZED decision-making versus those who believe CENTRALIZED decision-making is best. Decentralized decision-makers believe in individualism, free markets, equality, self-government, Federalism, etc. Most small business owners fall into this category. Centralized decision-makers lean toward utopian ideals, they believe people are ignorant and need experts to guide them, they believe in institutions, and in social equity. In short, they follow a Plato-like philosophy – THE (smart and selfless) FEW SHOULD RULE THE MANY.

With this in mind, let’s now take a closer look at ESGs. 

ESG scores (Environmental, Social Justice, and Governance) are an extremely complex form of social credit scoring – measuring a variety of ever-changing woke priorities – currently placed on big business (but designed to trickle down to small businesses). Businesses are compared and rewarded – or punished – based on their ESG scores, so it is in their interest to do what they can to raise their scores. With a foundation coming from global entities such as the UN and World Economic Forum (among others), ESGs have advanced virtually undetected for almost 20 years. The success of the spread of this global social credit scoring cannot be denied. According to KPMG (one of the world’s largest accounting firms) thousands of companies in more than 50 countries have ESG systems in place, including 82 percent of large US companies. Today, most large companies post their ESG scores online. 

In addition to ESGs, a lesser-known social credit score has been introduced by the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, called CEI (Corporate Equality Index) which is specific to LGBTQ+ issues. They have experienced tremendous success using social media and mob-pressure to ensure compliance. They constantly move the goal posts, so companies continue to jump through ever more outrageous hoops to stay in the good graces of the activists and obtain good CEI scores. 

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“KING OF THE WORLD”

The pressure on companies to comply with ESGs has been intensified through a very disturbing public-private partnership between government and private industry. Using a variety of carrots and sticks, our federal government is helping advance the agendas proposed by ESGs. For example, a low ESG score can put a corporation at risk of losing permits, government contracts, etc. But it’s not just governmental pressure; big banks and investment firms such as BlackRock, State Street and many others also put the squeeze on by harnessing the power of proxy votes and threatening to pull their investments. Non-compliance can result in a loss of banking services or being dropped from investment firms, causing a company’s stock to crater. Add to this the many well-funded non-profits including As You Sow which also use proxy voting to take over corporate boardrooms and you can see the power imposed. Clearly, companies are in a tough spot. 

In addition to avoiding the negative effects of this dystopian public-private partnership there are additional reasons why businesses may decide to “go woke.”  

• Some are true believers, as woke-ism can take on a religious quality. It appears to some that Target may fall into this group. 

• Some companies want to virtue signal, and in so doing, cloak themselves in self-righteousness. 

• Some view it all as simply more new regulations, unaware of ESGs’ negative effects. 

• Finally, many are afraid of the mob. It appears this could be what motivated Bud Light’s hiring practices and support of LGBTQ+.  

Unbelievably, ESG compliance criteria are inconsistent and ever-changing, so what gives a company a good score one day may not be enough the next day. Of course, there are efforts to standardize ESG scoring, but so far, a consensus hasn’t been reached. Imagine the power in getting to determine what ESG criteria will be for the entire globe. Talk about being “king of the world!” 

Through ESG and CEI scoring, social and political agendas can now be implemented quite efficiently. Things that would never be popular in the voting booth are now easily achievable. For example, they can mandate an ever-changing green agenda, or determine that it hurts a company’s score to offer any financial services to gun stores or Christian-owned companies. The possibilities are endless! The (evil) genius of ESGs is that they upend free markets AND accomplish an end-run around representative government, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Additionally, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training promoted by ESGs replaces meritocracy by focusing on things like race and gender rather than character and ability.  

Source: https://www.fitsnews.com/2023/06/19/guest-column-going-woke-whats-really-going-on/