Virtue Signalling

Charlie Warren Year 12

“3 Ways for Companies to Utilise Virtue Signalling to Act Like They Care”

Charlie Warren’s top tips for handling social media as a corporation in 2022. Published on Buzzfeed, 30/06/2022 buzzfeed.com/CEOvirtuesignals

A shout out to all you Hyper-Rich CEO’s and Customer Relations Managers!

Today I’ll be running you through the top ways to show your company cares on social media. Listen, I get it, it must be so annoying when your company is undergoing its latest little exploit to maximise profits, and then the “woke” youth is up in arms about “human rights” and sales are suddenly down 2%. What a bummer, right?

The fact of the matter is, in this new era of inclusivity, acceptance and equality, it has become a requirement for companies to show utmost support for trending social issues. Whether it be Gender Equality, Black Lives Matter, Pride Month, or whatever the most recent human rights violation is, your company has must be the face of wokeness and acceptance. But how do you achieve this without spending money or resources on supporting these issues? The secret? Social media and a little trick I like to call virtue signalling.

1. Prolific Power

The staple of social media. This is the first thing people see when they click on your company’s page or any social media platform, therefore, it is key that you keep it up to date. By now, everyone knows the basics of this; the black box for BLM, the rainbow during Pride Month, the flag colours of whatever nation has recently undergone tragedy. The problem with this is that simply slapping on trending colours to your company’s logo can cause damage to what is most clear to us. Sales. This is especially true in nations that are a bit behind on human rights and equality. Fortunately, genius companies such as BMW and Mercedes have solved this issue by simply refraining from updating their profile pic on the Middle Eastern denominations of their pages.

Boom! That is how you successfully show you care about human rights using your profile pic, whilst avoiding any actual controversy and upsetting anyone. Perfect.

2. Messaging Matters

The recent Russian invasion of the Ukraine sparked a huge outburst of peace protests on social media, as many were shocked and horrified by the violence and violations occurring. Companies were called to show support for Ukraine. In fact one corporation at the forefront of this was Formula One with their “Peace Not War” movement.

#PeaceNotWar as well as Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag was plastered all over social media, on the driver’s helmets and along the walls of the tracks. The organisation even went as far as cancelling their Grant Prix in Russia, a decision that would have cost them millions! Now, I know what you’re thinking; what rookies! You should never sacrifice profits to show support for a social issue. But this? This was a genius move because also plastered along the walls of each track was F1’s title sponsor Aramco. Aramco, for those who are unaware, is a Saudi Arabian oil company. Saudi Arabia is a nation renowned for exploiting the rights of women and foreigners within their borders. You may remember their most recent participation in the violence in Yemen – not very peaceful if you ask me. Still, it doesn’t matter because thanks to F1’s consistent messaging over social media, any concerns raised have been squashed. If F1 really doesn’t care about peace, why did Sebastian Vettel have a blue and yellow flower on his helmet?

3. Sponsorship is Superior

Another way companies have managed to put on a friendly face is through endorsements by well-liked and respected celebrities. For example, Nike’s 2020 “Dream Crazy” campaign featured ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick encouraging young adults to “believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” A lovely and fitting message for Kaepernick to be portraying. Wow! Nike really does care. Except at the same time, a Turkish NBA player dared to stand up and speak out against the Turkish government was denied sponsorship. He was told that Nike giving him a sponsorship rushed Turkey to shut down Nike stores. Sounds like he was punished for believing in something doesn’t it? However, by choosing the “right” endorsements of a famous and well-liked American, Nike successfully took a calculated risk and their “Dream Crazy” campaign received praise and numerous awards.

And there you have it! The top 3 ways companies have utilised virtue signalling to demonstrate their support of current social issues, without actually supporting them. However, this is the part where I tell you that I lied in this listicle because the ‘genius’ examples I’ve been giving you actually caused massive controversy for all of the companies mentioned. This is all really to say that no matter what happens, CEO’s all around the globe can be certain of one thing...

The world will keep turning and Nike, BMW and Mercedes will continue to be the among the biggest companies in the world.