It's a deep rabbit hole but the corporate wokeness is being driven by "ESG" investing. Basically, a company must earn social credits to be put on a list of socially-responsible companies. A big part of that is DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). The executives think they must do this (probably their boards of directors are directing them to do it). However, the logical conclusion to this story is that unless it is a regulation required by law for all companies (good luck getting that law passed), then the companies who don't do this should have a longer-term competitive advantage, assuming they are focused on the financial interests of their shareholders. As some companies drain resources down this wokeness hole, the profit-focused businesses will make more money, because to them, if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't mane sense (pardon the pun). By the way, the Board of Directors are charged with maximizing shareholder value (measured in dollars) not cow-towing to the left. Unfortunately this is where it gets tricky, because the board members who are voted in by the shareholders are actually hand-picked by the large mutual fund companies (who control all of their investors' votes). The voting in of directors is a flat-out lie to the public. That is where reform needs to happen, then everything will take care of itself from there. But, I am not holding my breath. As an investor, I am considering a strategy of using a company's ESG score as a negative factor when selecting investments. If enough investors did this, the wokeness would fizzle out.
Well here is your answer about the commercials and probably the reason for this book shit.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/14/state-farm-names-victor-terry-as-first-chief-diversity-officer.html
It's a deep rabbit hole but the corporate wokeness is being driven by "ESG" investing. Basically, a company must earn social credits to be put on a list of socially-responsible companies. A big part of that is DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). The executives think they must do this (probably their boards of directors are directing them to do it). However, the logical conclusion to this story is that unless it is a regulation required by law for all companies (good luck getting that law passed), then the companies who don't do this should have a longer-term competitive advantage, assuming they are focused on the financial interests of their shareholders. As some companies drain resources down this wokeness hole, the profit-focused businesses will make more money, because to them, if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't mane sense (pardon the pun). By the way, the Board of Directors are charged with maximizing shareholder value (measured in dollars) not cow-towing to the left. Unfortunately this is where it gets tricky, because the board members who are voted in by the shareholders are actually hand-picked by the large mutual fund companies (who control all of their investors' votes). The voting in of directors is a flat-out lie to the public. That is where reform needs to happen, then everything will take care of itself from there. But, I am not holding my breath. As an investor, I am considering a strategy of using a company's ESG score as a negative factor when selecting investments. If enough investors did this, the wokeness would fizzle out.