Woke capitalism

Woke capitalism is a term coined by columnist Ross Douthat in use for an article for The New York Times.[1] It used by many large corporations in their public policy decisions.[1] It has been used with cancel culture but has been said to maintain the power structures.[2] Although it has been said to have benefits for the public good, it has also been stated to be nothing to celebrate.[3] It is believed to pay little to progressive causes.[4]

Two packages of Ben's Original rice, the right one rebranded after Black Lives Matter protests

By the mid-2010s, language associated with "wokeness" had entered the mainstream media and was being used for marketing.[5] The term woke capitalism came to be used for brands that used inexpensive messaging as a substitute for genuine reform.[6] According to The Economist, examples of "woke capitalism" include advertising campaigns designed to appeal to millennials, who often hold more socially liberal views than earlier generations.[7] These campaigns were often perceived by customers as insincere and inauthentic and provoked backlashes.[8]

In 2020, cultural scientists Akane Kanai and Rosalind Gill described "woke capitalism" as the "dramatically intensifying" trend to include historically marginalized groups (currently primarily in terms of race, gender and religion) as mascots in advertisement with a message of empowerment to signal progressive values. On the one hand, this creates an individualized and depoliticized idea of social justice, reducing it to an increase in self-confidence. On the other hand, the omnipresent visibility in advertising can also amplify a backlash against the equality of precisely these minorities. These would become mascots not only of the companies using them, but of the unchallenged neoliberal economic system with its socially unjust order itself. For the economically weak, the equality of these minorities would thus become indispensable to the maintenance of this economic system; the minorities would be seen responsible for the losses of this system.[9]

The term woke-washing has been used by Alan Jope, the chief executive of Unilever, who warned that brands which failed to take action on their rhetoric could "further destroy trust in our industry".[10]