Woke up and smell the coffee

Sex is going out of fashion.  Down at Victoria's Secret, the lingerie's most successful brand to date is taming its sexy look.  It's opting for more subdued tones in its bras, diversity among its leggy, tenuous models, and, heaven forbid, letting the waifs on its catwalks put on some curves.   The beauty ideal as we know it is changing, forced to roll with the times. Sexualised marketing from the likes of American GQ, Playboy and Abercrombie & Fitch, amongst others, is more woke and inclusive. Self-love, self-respect and self-worth are part of a more liberal outlook that is gaining pace; the woke culture is upon us. Outlooks, whether socially progressive, politically vigilant, or aware of all forms of injustice, prejudice, racism and care for the environment, all fall under the woke umbrella. Wake up to Woke.

It all started with the concept of "to take the knee" by Colin Kaepernick, an American athlete, rather than standing up at the American national anthem.  Overnight, he became an outcast.  Nike, a footwear manufacturing company, launched "Just do it", an advertising campaign in support of its prized personality: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." they said. A boycott of Nike followed, and Nike shares tumbled.  But America soon realised racial justice was the backbone of the Constitution, and Nike shares spiked. From a protest by an activist over police killings of African Americans and other injustices, anger became amplified by Black Lives Matter Movement - "Stay Woke". It moved from social media to streets across America, becoming a viral, worldwide rallying cry.

 Nike's ad featuring the American footballer Colin Kaepernick helped boost the company's profits to $6bn. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

To gain such momentum, especially among the young, meant changing how they live and accepting liberal values, which at times mean sacrifice. Woke makes a statement about our political and social attitudes.   It shows we care, stay alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice, be socially progressive, take on social responsibility, and act ethically.   Marketing campaigns must now show duties to the planet, be environmentally friendly, and be conscious of caring for the ecosystems.  Some companies are taking on the role of stewards of nature, setting standards for operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments. The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria help manage relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where a company operates.  These include energy use, waste, pollution, natural resource conservation, and animal treatment. Young investors advocating these concerns are increasingly influencing company approvals by putting their money where their values are, avoiding companies with known exposure to coal mining or weapons manufacturing, for instance.  Eventually, and in all likelihood, for a company to operate, it must acquire an ESG certificate as a social license so people will buy from it and work for it, hoping to attract the best and the brightest.

In 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, political theorist Francis Fukuyama announced that history had come to an end.  Liberal Democracies and free-market Capitalism of the West and its lifestyle have triumphed. Globalisation and the widening gap of inequality, driven by prioritising freedom, followed, and with it the scaffolding of morality holding Capitalism was demolished.  Public anger that ensued, however, was directed towards governments.  Ideals had to change, corporates whos only values was to make a profit for its shareholders compelled to vault face or at least willing to compromise or mask the activities with a human face acquiring profits.   To tame the hell-bent drive for profit meant leaning on the liberal, socially conscious side of the spectrum, dubbed woke Capitalism.  Get woke or go broke gradually was becoming a reality. From now on, Milton Friedman's argument, "Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself," no longer configures so among the Millennials.  

Masks come in all shapes and sizes, real and artificial, and Capitalism can exhibit all.  Companies that claim profit-making can be socially progressive often build a deceptive picture.  Not solely working for its self-interest but in tandem with a culture of feeling is too romantic and, in the long run, merely woke-washing.  As we all know, pledges, especially New Year's ones as sincere as they may be, are hardly kept.  Moral ideals and socially conscious capitalism sound all very hunky-dory in theory, but greed and all-out profit-making are hard to let go.  The mask is likely nothing more than a gossamer-thin veneer dressed up as a social concern.  Politically, most of these companies would still support the Republican Party since Woke, for their liking, is too leftist. A wokeness index makes interesting revelations. While maintaining a woke front, companies will struggle to keep all three: economic efficiency, social justice, and individual freedom. Profit with a progressive social purpose is an artificial concept of modern Capitalism.

For instance, appealing to consumers by clever PR  work instead of paying taxes. Fertiliser companies show social concern by appealing to farmers with new chemicals that can save the planet.  A large retail organisation in the US claims to support the anti-gun lobby, so they stop selling arms in one state.  An Airline ended discounts for members of the National Rifle Association following a mass shooting. To have under their payroll, a transgender employee.  Advertising veganism instead of beef burgers.  Commitment to renewable energy.  Cosying up to the 'Fair Trade Movement'. Ousting chief executives for age-old claims of sexual harassment by some employee who suddenly saw the light in the # MeToo movement can be on top of a tree of wokeness. Why even Civil-rights-hating Saudi Arabia is virtue signalling: allowing women to drive while jailing their empowered compatriots for political dissent and silencing the media.  On the other hand, abuse, not eating vegetables and not turning vegan, advocating coal and steel production, and even travelling by plane runs bad with the eco-system and is terribly un-Woke.  

That said, one light that truly shines in the crowd is Starbucks.  Starbucks boasts one of the most popular corporate Facebook fan pages, with 4m "friends", and 300,000 followers on Twitter. It is often dubbed Fourbucks because of its high prices.  Its friendly approach and its concern for the welfare of African Coffee growers are fortifying its balance sheet and levelling out its competitive edge with brands like McDonald's, which incidentally went Green a couple of years ago.  But in general, for CEOs to become social activists and take the side of cultural justice, they must show real commitment. Politically active and patriotic to the new woke generation who make up their consumers and workers.

The social scene, however, is blighted by radicalism that goes so far as to hurt the cause.  And any institution that volunteers to stem such activities is opting for the Woke Cup.  A holier-than-thou approach is springing up on the back of the politically correct movement; we hoped we saw the back-off - 'This is Woke'.  Have a look at this Woke approach by a Woke Muslim group, critical of those inhibiting free speech, also noting the composition to give you an idea of how they define themselves and how they think society defines them.  This is one way the Home Office encourages people to participate in combating extremism.

The increasing number of Millennials ask well-intentioned, searching questions, but often their reasoning falls on the extreme end of the liberal spectrum, bordering on the ridiculous.  Lately, woke culture has become ubiquitous in social media, the workplace, and elsewhere. In an effort to politically identify, they often use an aggressive approach to establishing moral superiority, ending up contradicting the liberal democracy they try to develop. Pushing the liberal cause too far, employing and asserting dominance, is akin to weaponising their so-called virtuous standpoint.  On the margins, they breed vigilante groups by collective media sharing to name and shame. Before long, it will become the thing it is trying to replace.  

Such attempts at social outcasting were bound at some stage to come face to face with the inevitable backlash. However, the social harm that many believe globalisation generated fueled the anger that demolished the Berlin Wall, but it took different forms as it spread through society.  Rebelling for a cause is not new; it's a generational phenomenon.  Human nature is not static; it develops in many ways.  Riots, protests, marches and social media all have their time to catalyse movements for social restructuring and woke is no different.  This time, unlike its predecessors, the cause is not confined to one group or to one purpose. 

 Liberal democratic ideology to correct injustice, whether to humans, to animals or to the planet, is for the benefit of all concerned.  Free speech is excellent so long as it carries responsibility; not judgmental but compromising.  Casting stones does not bring about change, and an inflated "if you are not with me, you are against me" attitude would not go very far, disguised as woke or otherwise.  The other side of the coin: headline-grabbing stunts on social media, where attention-grabbing is the ultimate prize, can have only limited value. 

The rest of us better woke up and smell the coffee.