Does it make sense for a brand that advocated the principles of equal opportunities to remain silent from now on? Where are the values? What about consistency?

The last few weeks have been marked by numerous political and social events, as well as movements that directly affect brands and their future positioning.

With an agenda that he wants to see implemented in the shortest possible time, the newly inaugurated US President has wasted no time. Some companies, more or less close to him, have followed in his footsteps, taking advantage of this transformative wave, and have set in motion plans that parallel or even coincide with the presidential decrees.

If we had already said here that talking about Sustainability with this new government would seem childish, that prediction was quickly confirmed with the Paris agreement being torn up, and membership of international bodies being called into question or even reversed.

And if there had already been signs that the deepening of social divides was going to be notorious and marked, the last few days have been rich in actions that accentuate it. The DEI plan – Diversity, Equity and Integration – was dismissed out of hand by the US government, and was immediately followed by a number of unsuspecting companies such as Ford, Harley-Davidson and JPMorgan Chase. And, according to a McKinsey study, indicators of social, racial and gender attentiveness have fallen to an all-time low among American executives.

To make things even more explosive, social networks X and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) have withdrawn their fact-checking programs, allowing all kinds of untruths to be spread without any monitoring of the platform, leaving it up to public debate to point the finger at falsehoods. Welcome to the virtual duels for honor and truth!

Brands are worried and, genuinely, they should be. For now, the internet is creating untruths about politicians and social and political events. As there is an ongoing war in Ukraine, of crucial importance for geopolitical balances, there is no shortage of falsehoods, on both sides, to win the disinformation battle. But these movements will reach the brands. And the use of these platforms for the proliferation of untruths – it already happens frequently in the food sector, for example – with the aim of building narratives that lead to a change in behavior. And in the absence of monitoring, chaos will be the destination.

Social networks have become intrusive, which represents a new challenge for brands and consumers. Today, we are fighting for the consumer’s attention, for them to give us a second of their time. And this has led us, as individuals, increasingly to seek to disconnect. We are tired as people and as a society. We have too many stimuli, too much news, too many demands on our attention and they want to fill us with too much information, true or not, that we often no longer want to see.

And this is where the suffering and challenge for brands begins. With misinformation and a saturation of stimuli, the consumer turns away. There is an undeniable “consumer fatigue” that is difficult to reverse. After all, there’s a reason why brands are finding it increasingly difficult to convey their values and messages clearly.

Faced with this scenario, it is absolutely essential that brands review their communication and marketing campaigns. And let’s start with their past statements. Does it make sense for a brand that used to advocate the principles of equal opportunities to remain silent from now on? Where are the values? What about consistency?

This will be the moment when some brands will have to take potentially political positions. To make tough and possibly controversial choices. Going against the tide and against installed power is always hard and difficult. But with such obvious cards on the table, there will be no room for ambiguous positions and the world of brands and business will be polarized – just as politics and society already are – in the coming period. On either side of the table will be those who follow convictions and those who submit to circumstances. Those who confront and those who don’t care. Those with principles and those looking to survive.

Brands need to act with great intelligence and precision. We know that not all of them need to position themselves in extreme scenarios, to choose sides. But they will clearly need to understand in depth what these changes are causing in their consumer and customer base. Clarity about who they are and what they want will be cornerstones for the future, along with the ability to remain relevant and reliable. The future will not belong to those who shout the loudest, but rather to those who manage to create genuine and lasting relationships.

Now the choice is yours. Choose well!

Article written by João Santos, COO of WYgroup in ECO magazine