Consumers turn shopping into a political statement

Fifty-seven per cent of global consumers buy or boycott products because of a brand’s stance on political or social issues, according to a new survey, a sign of growing pressure on companies to weigh in on hot-button topics from immigration and climate change to transgender rights and fake news.

Amplified by the megaphone of the internet, consumers have successfully pushed companies including JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz and Delta Air Lines to pull their marketing dollars from controversial television programmes, unsavoury internet content and even a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Edelman’s Earned Brand survey offers evidence that people are also wielding the power of their pocketbooks to reward and punish companies based on whether or not they share shoppers’ values. Of the 14,000 respondents in 14 countries, 30 per cent said they are buying or boycotting based on values more than they were three years ago. Nearly a quarter of consumers who said they prefer to buy from brands that share their beliefs are willing to pay more for those products.

This trend represents “a real opportunity for multinational brands”, said Richard Edelman, chief executive of the world’s biggest public relations firm by revenues, who will present the research at the Cannes Lions advertising festival this week. “Brands have to take on bigger issues of the moment,” he said. Read more….