Brands Taking a Stand: Authentic Brand Activism or Woke Washing?

In today’s marketplace, consumers want brands to take a stand on sociopolitical issues. When brands match activist messaging, purpose, and values with prosocial corporate practice, they engage in authentic brand activism, creating the most potential for social change and the largest gains in brand equity. In contrast, brands that detach their activist messaging from their purpose, values, and practice are enacting inauthentic brand activism through the practice of “woke washing,” potentially misleading consumers with their claims, damaging both their brand equity and potential for social change. First, the authors draw on theory to inform a typology of brand activism to determine how, and when, a brand…