Contents
Introduction .........3
How important is it for brands to have a clear point of
view on political or social issues.4
Are brands perceived to be exploiting issues..........8
Beware of the boycotters ..12
How should brands communicate.......16
Who wants brand purpose..........19
Conclusion ..........23
About the data.24
IntroductionM
ore and more, brands are
expressing opinions on
social and political issues,
supporting causes, and presenting
themselves as infuencers on wider
topics in society.
But to what extent do consumers
believe that brands should associate
themselves with certain issues This
paper uses YouGov data to compare
the point of view of consumers from
the US and Britain.
It explores whether they think it’s
appropriate for brands to comment
on social issues and to what extent it
depends on the industry.
It also looks at whether the reward
outweighs the risk of losing
customers when it comes to brands
nailing their colours to a particular
issue’s mast.
The data shows that GB and US
consumers are broadly similar when
it comes to the bigger picture.
Tend to disagreeDefnitely disagreeTend to agreeNeither agree nor disagreeDefnitely agree
Companies and their brands
should be able to express how
they feel on a topic
100%
0%
50%
More than half (52%) of people in
Britain think that brands should be
able to express how they feel on a
certain topic, compared with 61% of
those from the US.
What’s more, just under half (48%) of
Americans say they like brands that
are willing to get involved in social
issues and 42% of Brits say the same.
Almost six in ten (59%) people in
both countries don’t think brands
should express views on social or
political issues, but, as we’ll see later,
this depends on the industry and
the issue. This indicates that it’s up
to the brand themselves to weigh
up the risk versus the reward and
understand what causes will resonate
with their own audience and what will
put them of.
I like brands that
are willing to get involved
in societal issues
I don’t think brands
should express views on
political or social issues
How important is it for
brands to have a point of
view on social issuesNowadays brands face huge pressure to “get it right” when it comes to commenting on social issues.
While some brands have a clear ft with certain issues or topics, for others it can be a minefeld
where they risk coming across as disingenuous at best or ofensive at worst.
And often it’s not enough for brands to simply “opt out”.
For instance, in Britain many brands have come under fre from campaign group “Stop Funding
Hate” for advertising in (right of centre national newspaper) the Daily Mail – something a brand
may have done for years previously with no comment.
Which daily newspapers do you read
most oftenPaperchase customersGB nat rep
14%14%
The Daily Mail/
The Scottish
Daily Mail
Paperchase recent customers
Negative noise
Purchase intent
The Mirror/
Daily Record
13%
16%
The Guardian
10%
3%
The Times
9%
5%
The Sun
5%
20%
Positive noise
Event
Sept. 2017
301040
Aug. 2018Mar. 2018
In November 2017,
stationer Paperchase
bowed to pressure and
pulled their pre-Christmas
ad campaign from the
Daily Mail. This led to a
sudden spike in positive
and negative attention
amongst customers
with the brand facing
criticism both before and
after discontinuing the
campaign.
Although attention died down fairly quickly
and there seemed to be little impact on
lower funnel metrics such as purchase
intent, the question of whether the brand
should have made this decision remains.
Whilst the brand’s customers over-index in
reading (left wing national) The Guardian,
their most read newspaper is the Daily Mail
(14%). As such their customer base may not
have been those who were bothered by the
brand partnering with the paper.。。。