Go woke, go broke

[novaphile]

In terms of car ads in Australia, there was definitely a sudden point when things changed.

IIRC, there was a prices and income survey that revealed that same sex couples tended to have high household income and a lot of disposable cash.

Suddenly ads for SUVs would feature two very clean-cut guys with bicycles, or dogs...

I'm not sure if it was one ad company, or advertisers copying each other, but I remember wondering at the time if there was a new rule that said that gay guys had to buy Dalmations...



Currently there is a commercial for something that mentions 'the van life' and shows two girls sharing a bed in the back of a camper...

I think there was a bit of twit-storm when it first started happening, but didn't get very far...

 

[bruto]

Here in the US, if you were to go by the models used in ads, half the car owners in the world would be gay, the bankers and business people almost all slim and comely young African American women, and those needing medication for serious illness as well as erectile dysfunction, silver haired senior sports men and women who love to run and usually have nice dogs too. Sure you have a disease that knocks you off in a month and leaves you gasping for breath on the way to the toilet, and the pill can cause drowsiness, liver failure, spasms, diarrhea and death, but you'll be right out there on the beach tossing sticks to your well groomed goldie. Ask your doctor about plagomagoblagosil today. The buyers of pickup trucks are rugged outdoorsmen or serious self-employed tradesmen. Sometimes they're ranchers. None are fat.

If you look at the ads, American business aren't just woke, they're buzzed.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Someone mentioned that disney may need to be put on watch. They’ll be going broke any day now.

 

[Puppycow]

Someone mentioned that disney may need to be put on watch. They’ll be going broke any day now.

I think Disney has been hurt by Covid more than some other companies. Disneyland(s) had to close. I think they are open again, but I doubt that customers have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Movies? Another Covid casualty. On the other hand they do have a new streaming service, but they have lots of competitors too in that market.

So it's impossible to tell whether their stock price is down because they got too "woke" or because of the obvious challenges to their business model due to recent circumstances.

Well, I guess Disney shares might be a buy these days (buy low, sell high):

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/05/12/1-disney-theme-park-metric-that-will-make-your-jaw/

There was some uneasiness even before Disney either dabbled or was dragged into Florida politics, but a "woke" Disney is apparently not a "broke" Disney. The media-giant's domestic resorts are hitting it out of the theme park these days.

Wednesday afternoon's fiscal second quarter saw strong performance for the segment, including one of the juiciest revelations during the subsequent earnings call. Per-capita spending at Disney's domestic theme parks is up more than 40% from where it was for the same pre-pandemic quarter in 2019.

 

[dudalb]

I think Disney has been hurt by Covid more than some other companies. Disneyland(s) had to close. I think they are open again, but I doubt that customers have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Movies? Another Covid casualty. On the other hand they do have a new streaming service, but they have lots of competitors too in that market.

So it's impossible to tell whether their stock price is down because they got too "woke" or because of the obvious challenges to their business model due to recent circumstances.

Well, I guess Disney shares might be a buy these days (buy low, sell high):

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/05/12/1-disney-theme-park-metric-that-will-make-your-jaw/

The huge sucess of Dr Strange MOM last weekend shows how sucessful the campaign against Disney has been.

 

[carlitos]

If anyone finds this topic of interest, they might like "Abercrombie and Fitch: White Hot" on Netflix. Brand stays unwoke; goes broke, gets woke, goes somewhat less broke, etc.

 

[Dr. Keith]

If anyone finds this topic of interest, they might like "Abercrombie and Fitch: White Hot" on Netflix. Brand stays unwoke; goes broke, gets woke, goes somewhat less broke, etc.

Interesting, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Orphia Nay]

If anyone finds this topic of interest, they might like "Abercrombie and Fitch: White Hot" on Netflix. Brand stays unwoke; goes broke, gets woke, goes somewhat less broke, etc.

Just watched it. Good documentary, thanks.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Someone mentioned that disney may need to be put on watch. They’ll be going broke any day now.

I feel like this is relevant again.

 

[Norman Alexander]

You need to define "woke" first. It seems to be making statements or taking positions on social issues someone disagrees with.

As for "corporate wokeness"...meh. It's just another way for them to pander to certain crowds and launder their own reputations (and get a nice tax write-off). Putting rainbow flags or writing BLM on your merchandise is the same as stamping an American flag on it or painting it pink.

Yeah, this. It's all about the money, man.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

This is awfully reminiscent of Jim Crow Laws, which also were an awfully expensive way to discriminate.

 

[Susheel]

Both my cousin and I gave up using Gillette blades after that ad. ...

I am shocked...shocked I tell you...

 

[Shadowdweller]

Yeah, this. It's all about the money, man.

Totally. Corporate execs, much like politicians, can't ever possibly hold actual sociopolitical opinions.

 

[Craig4]

Someone mentioned that disney may need to be put on watch. They’ll be going broke any day now.

Disney needs to get back into the story telling business. No one watches Marvel or Star Wars movies or streaming shows to be beat over the head. They need to produce a bunch more "Andors" which is both awesome story-telling and nails how to do diversity just right. Most of their movies and shows, alienate their core fans (known as paying customers) and come off an patronizing to the people they're trying to appeal to. Not a great plan when your business models relies on getting lots of people to pay for your streaming service. Their problem isn't going "woke"; it's that the product they produce sucks and irritates everyone.

 

[Puppycow]

The New York Post works backwards. You may have heard in the news that a US bank called Silicon Valley Bank just went broke. Now all you have to do is find the evidence that they went "woke" sometime before that. Easy target:
While Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, top executive pushed ‘woke’ programs

On Saturday, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus insinuated that “woke” policies like the ones launched by Ersapah could have led to SVB’s dramatic failure.

“I feel bad for all of these people that lost all their money in this woke bank. You know, it was more distressing to hear that the bank officials sold off their stock before this happened. It’s depressing to me,” he told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.

“Who knows whether the Justice Department would go after them? They’re a woke company, so I guess not. And they’ll probably get away with it.”

The businessman blamed the Biden administration for pushing companies and banks to consider global warming over shareholder returns, resulting in catastrophic economic pitfalls.

Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson blames diversity and Obama.

"The Obama administration imposed diversity, equity, and inclusion standards on the entire financial sector. And that's one of the main reasons our big banks are now increasingly incompetent."

As we all know, banks never went broke in the good old days when they were entirely run by white men.

Even a columnist for the Wall Street Journal wondered aloud whether the presence of minorities on the board of directors might be part of the problem:

In an op-ed titled “Who Killed Silicon Valley Bank?” columnist Andy Kessler writes: “Was there regulatory failure? Perhaps. SVB was regulated like a bank but looked more like a money-market fund. Then there’s this: In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women, they also have ‘1 Black,‘ “1 LGBTQ+,‘ and ‘2 Veterans.’ I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.”

I’m not saying, I'm just saying. Yep.

 

[Brainster]

The New York Post works backwards. You may have heard in the news that a US bank called Silicon Valley Bank just went broke. Now all you have to do is find the evidence that they went "woke" sometime before that. Easy target:
While Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, top executive pushed ‘woke’ programs




Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson blames diversity and Obama.

As we all know, banks never went broke in the good old days when they were entirely run by white men.

Even a columnist for the Wall Street Journal wondered aloud whether the presence of minorities on the board of directors might be part of the problem:

I’m not saying, I'm just saying. Yep.

They sound pretty middle-of-the-road woke for 2023. And the reason why they went bust is because they chased after fairly small profits. Like every other bank they were offering negligible interest to their depositors, which should mean they were pretty safe. But most of the other banks maintained sizeable cash reserves and their short-term lending operations during the low-interest rate era, while SVB, with huge net deposits in the last few years was unable to lend out the money traditionally and decided to invest in bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Those are actually quite safe investments, and SVB would have been fine if either one of two things happened:

1. Their depositors in the tech industry had continued to make large net deposits in the bank as they had during the last few years.
2. Interest rates had remained stable.

Unfortunately neither of those things happened. Interest rates increased rapidly, and as a result bonds had their worst year in 2023 in memory. SVB was forced to sell their bonds at a loss in order to meet the withdrawal demands of their tech clients who were experiencing a sudden and sharp recession in the industry. When news of the loss hit, large, uninsured depositors became nervous and the run was on.

 

[Darat]

Silicon Valley Bank chief pressed Congress to weaken risk regulations

 

[Puppycow]

Silicon Valley Bank chief pressed Congress to weaken risk regulations

Wasn’t one of the arguments that they deployed to argue for weaker regulations that they were too small to represent a systemic risk to the financial system and ultimately the economy?

And that’s the polar opposite to what people like Bill Ackman were arguing on Twitter about how the Fed must step in immediately to guarantee all bank deposits in excess of the federal deposit insurance limit.

 

[catsmate]

They sound pretty middle-of-the-road woke for 2023. And the reason why they went bust is because they chased after fairly small profits.

No. The failure of SVB was down to seveal factors, mainly it's over-reliance on USGov Treasury Securities ('T-Bills') whose market value declined precipitously as interest rates increased. This was worsened by endemic short-selling.
In fact SVB was lending in the hope of long term profits.
The proximate cause (as usual in USian bank collapses) was the beginning of rumours of imminent failure.

 

[catsmate]

Wasn’t one of the arguments that they deployed to argue for weaker regulations that they were too small to represent a systemic risk to the financial system and ultimately the economy?

And that’s the polar opposite to what people like Bill Ackman were arguing on Twitter about how the Fed must step in immediately to guarantee all bank deposits in excess of the federal deposit insurance limit.

SVB was the sixteenth largest US bank.
The FDIC extension was proposes as ~90% of SVP deposits were not covered, being SME tech companies.