A new ad campaign launched on Tuesday by an educational nonprofit organization is taking aim at so-called “woke” corporations that are pushing left-wing political narratives.
The campaign by Consumers’ Research, a group that provides data and information to consumers, targets a number of companies including Coca-Cola, American Airlines, and Nike, claiming they have put political leaders and cultural figures ahead of their customers.
“America Airlines shrunk legroom for passengers and laid off thousands of employees during the COVID pandemic while receiving billions in taxpayer bailouts,” said Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild in a statement as the campaign kicked off. “Coca-Cola and Nike have both been exploiting foreign, potentially forced, labor in China while American workers suffer.”
“It is time these corporate giants were called to task,” he added. “We are giving consumers a voice. These companies should be putting their energy and focus on serving their customers, not woke politicians.”
In recent months, all three companies, which are collectively worth billions of dollars, have sided against Republican-led legislative initiatives in a number of states, especially measures GOP lawmakers said are aimed at improving ballot integrity and voters’ confidence in elections after a chaotic post-2020 cycle which saw dozens of legal challenges filed against results in battleground states.Specifically, these companies and others have pushed back on voter integrity legislation that has passed in Republican-led Georgia and Texas, while many other states are considering similar measures.
“We respect everyone’s right to raise their concerns and express their views, but we also believe the best way to make progress now is for us all to come together to listen, respectfully share concerns and collaborate on a path forward,” Coca-Cola told Fox Business Network in a statement. “We remain open to productive conversations with groups who may have differing views.”
The statement also hit back on Consumers’ Research for highlighting how sugary drinks have contributed to an epidemic of obesity in the country, saying Coke has “taken steps to help people reduce the amount of sugar they consume” at home and abroad. Meanwhile, American Airlines did not respond to Consumers’ Research’s ad campaign but rather referred Fox Business Network to the company’s initial statements regarding Texas’ legislation that seeks to require tighter voter ID, extend early voting hours, ban drive-through voting — which was popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic — and prohibit county clerks from sending out absentee ballot applications to residents who had not asked for one.
“As a Texas-based business, we must stand up for the rights of our team members and customers who call Texas home, and honor the sacrifices made by generations of Americans to protect and expand the right to vote,” the airline said in an April 1 statement. “Voting is the hallmark of our democracy, and is the foundation of our great country.”
And apparel giant Nike signed onto an October letter from the Human Rights Campaign that opposes GOP-led legislation in several Republican-controlled states that seek to ban biological males from competing in all-female sports leagues.
Last month, Fox News host Steve Hilton called out U.S. corporations after Starbucks hosted a Zoom call featuring more than 100 CEOs who gathered to denounce a raft of voter ID laws being proposed in the wake of the 2020 election.
“These CEOs are either lying or wading into America’s most inflammatory issues without knowing what they’re talking about. The only actual proposal that undermines democracy is the Democrats’ HR1, which among other anti-American horrors, unconstitutionally nationalizes elections and pushes banana republic atrocities like ballot harvesting, which replaces one person, one vote with one union activist, 500 votes,” he said.
In February, Time magazine published a stunning expose detailing a behind-the-scenes effort to, among other tactics, manipulate voting laws in key battleground states, which was accomplished by bypassing GOP-controlled legislatures.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) remarked in late November, as election challenges were being filed in several states by the 2020 Trump campaign, that Americans had witnessed the “biggest presidential theft” since John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay “robbed Andrew Jackson” of victory in 1824.
A post-election survey by Rasmussen Reports found that, overwhelmingly, Republicans believe that the 2020 election was ‘rigged’ against or “stolen” from former President Donald Trump, with between 20 and 30 percent of Democrats agreeing.