Category Go Woke Go Broke

May 26 2023

Corporate Equality Index 2023 – New Criteria for the Woke Credit Score


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted May 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

(old ratings featured above; deemed not inclusive enough)

I mentioned how the Corporate Equality Index (CEI) is the reason companies are going WOKE. This is the imaginary social credit score based on a company’s adherence to WOKE policies. The Human Right Campaign (HRC), a massive international political lobbying group that dictates the CEI score, employs 39 million workers globally. George Soros and the Open Society Foundation fund the HRC directly.

The 2023 Corporate Equality Index toolkit has a point system for various woke policies. The new policy has expanded these woke policies and makes it increasingly difficult for companies to operate outside of the far-left narrative. For example, spousal and partner benefits can earn a company up to 20 possible points. An employee does not need to be legally married for their partner “regardless of sex” to receive benefits, which include surrogacy benefits, expensive IVF treatments, foster care assistance, cryopreservation, and adoption assistance.

Transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits (25 possible points) entail a full page of demands, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors, and reconstructive surgical reassignment surgery (including reconstructive chest, breast, and genital procedures). Employers “MUST” offer these procedures to all employees. They must also offer at least five out of 10 “essential services,” including travel expenses, tracheal shaving, facial feminization surgery, voice modification surgery, voice therapy, and hair removal surgery.

Outreach or engagement to the broader LGBTQ+ community is worth 15 points, meaning that businesses must show they are either trying to recruit more gay employees, working with gay-friendly third parties, providing philanthropic support to at least one LGBTQ+ organization, and more. This criterion is forcing businesses to recruit other businesses into the woke agenda. Forget qualifications! As long as they’re part of the gay community, they’re hired.

The criteria for a 100 CEI score rose dramatically in just one year. Religious organizations or employers are demonized for holding true to their values. Are we really forcing employers to pay for breast augmentations and voice therapy? The most disturbing piece is that employers must now provide “gender-affirming care” procedures to the CHILDREN of their employees. If you look around, nearly every business is adhering to this agenda as the CEI social credit score has become just as important as the ESG climate social credit score.

May 23 2023

Starbucks India Scandal – The Real Reason Companies are Going WOKE


Armstrong Economics Blog/WOKE Re-Posted May 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YyKOc8M5w-s%3Fstart%3D16%26feature%3Doembed

Indians are boycotting Starbucks after the company released a new ad normalizing the woke agenda. They sell overpriced coffee produced from cheap labor—what is Starbucks trying to achieve here? The marketing department for Starbucks India certainly heard about the Bud Light scandal that ruined the brand. People across India are stating that they do not want the Western woke agenda to infiltrate their culture built on tradition. But, there is a reason companies are trashing their brands to adhere to the woke agenda. Follow the money!

As I have stated many times, transexuals compose a tiny fraction of the population, but the woke agenda aims to normalize a genderless world. India is a conservative country that has yet to recognize same-sex marriages. This is a step back for gay people who are simply trying to live their lives without pushing their lifestyle on the population at large. #BoycottStarbucks began trending on Indian social media shortly after the ad was released. Why would Starbucks, a company with unlimited marketing resources, promote such a tone-deaf ad?

The real issue here is the CEI score—a new credit score based on a company’s woke rating. The CEI (Corporate Equality Index) was created by the HRC (Human Rights Campaign), a massive international political lobbying group that pushes the woke agenda aggressively. Lobbyists from the HRC routinely visit corporations to ensure they are implementing the woke agenda. They provide strict guidelines and demands for companies to follow to receive a high CEI score. If a company receives a low CEI score, the woke investor funds immediately pull their funding. They will send activists to protest the company and begin counter-ad campaigns to hurt the company’s image. Anyone who does business with that company is also condemned for supporting intolerance and hate. Companies and all their associates are blacklisted from leftist funding if they do not do as they are told by the man pulling the strings.

Who funds the HRC? None other than George Soros and his Open Society Foundation! This arbitrary credit rating has no relevance other than appeasing the elites wishing to destroy society from within so they can Build Back Better. They want us to lose our basic identities as men and women because they see us all as pawns. The masses would be easier to control if all the men were feminized. The CEI is not as well known as the ESG, which rates a company’s adherence to the climate change agenda. Will companies continue isolating their audience to achieve this imaginary CEI score? Time will tell.

May 13 2023

Disney Shareholder Dumpster Fire, Bud Light Disaster Spreads | MEitM #403


By Midnight’s Edge Posted ordinally on Rumble on May 12, 2023

May 13 2023

Anheuser-Busch Tells Beer Distributors Not to Worry, This Too Shall Pass


May 12, 2023 | Sundance 

Last week it was reported that Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris told investors during a conference call that Budweiser product sales drops in the U.S. and North America were no big deal when contrast against the global sales of the brand. “The Bud Light volume decline in the US over the first three weeks of April, as publicly reported, would represent around 1% of our overall global volumes for that period,” Doukeris said on the call. He focused attention on the company’s global reach, saying that Bud Light is just one beer within its portfolio and it’s not changing the company’s full-year outlook. {link}

Apparently, USA beer drinkers, specifically those who do not want to be identified as transgender men, are an insignificant bunch amid the world of beer drinking consumers.  However, Doukeris might start paying a little more attention as the decline in total A-B products in North America is starting to become more significant. {Source}

It’s interesting that Coors Light and Miller Lite have sales increases surpassing the sales decline of Bud Light.   This would seem to indicate hard brand switches, but Anheuser-Busch in North America held the corporate line and yesterday {source} told their distributors not to worry.

ST. LOUIS – Anheuser-Busch’s distributors from around the country met in St. Louis on Thursday. They heard firsthand about changes being made regarding the Bud Light transgender controversy.

Anheuser-Busch invited the distributors to the downtown Hyatt hotel for a yearly meeting on summer marketing plans. It was the first such meeting since transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s viral social media posts with Bud Light in early April. She received a special edition can with her picture on it. 

Market analysts report Bud Light sales are still down more than 20% for the past month. Bud Light boycotts appear to be driving down sales of fellow Anheuser-Busch brands like Budweiser and Michelob Ultra, which are down but not as sharply. 

[…] They appeared to adopt a “deflect and downplay” strategy, which almost never works. […] An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson confirms the company informed distributors of major changes in marketing structure, issuing the following statement: 

“We regularly bring our wholesaler partners and leadership together to share upcoming brand and business plans. Hosting our May meeting in St. Louis is something we started last year and is an opportunity to bring our partners together in our hometown. 

We have communicated some next steps with our internal teams and wholesaler partners. First, we made it clear that the safety and welfare of our employees and our partners is our top priority. Second, Todd Allen was appointed Vice President of Bud Light reporting directly to Benoit Garbe, U.S. Chief Marketing Officer. Third, we made some adjustments to streamline the structure of our marketing function to reduce layers so that our most senior marketers are more closely connected to every aspect of our brands activities. These steps will help us maintain focus on the things we do best: brewing great beer for all consumers, while always making a positive impact in our communities and on our country.”

Anheuser-Busch and its distributors have also sent letters to bars and other retailers explaining the situation, pointing out that a single marketing official engaged with Mulvaney. (read more)  

As you can tell so far, despite the significant North American impacts to the products, the Diversity Equity and Inclusion outlook of the Anheuser-Busch global company is still strongly entrenched in the branding.  It does not appear the company is going to modify anything as the very vocal Alphabet ideologues have them captive.

As noted by Dustin Smith, a business professor at Webster University who teaches college students how to manage the woke transition in corporate life, “the brewer has been supporting “Pride” events for years with no backlash. Smith predicted its brands would recover and most of its core customers would return.” {link}

Comrades, the global command and control authorities have spoken.  The tranny fluid will continue to be supported until such time as those NASCAR watching, line dancing rednecks capitulate and start drinking it again.   Look for significant ad buys on Twitter soon.

Keep watching.

May 11 2023

Medical Schools Eliminating MCAT in Favor of Diversity


Armstrong Economics Blog/WOKE Re-Posted May 11, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is “a standardized, multiple-choice examination designed to assess your problem-solving, critical thinking, and knowledge of natural, behavioral, and social science concepts and principles prerequisite to the study of medicine.” Students wishing to study medicine needed to pass this examination to determine if they were suitable for the profession. Now, in the name of diversity, some medical schools no longer require potential doctors to pass this exam because it is seen as racist.

A watchdog group called Do No Harm stated that this is a “dangerous trend.” “The MCAT has been shown to predict who has the best chance to be successful in medical school,” Do No Harm Program Manager Laura Morgan told the DCNF. “Eliminating it removes a proven standard for schools to consider when admitting students who demonstrate the aptitude to be good doctors.” Around 40 medical schools across the US are abandoning the MCAT already.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the same agency that developed the MCAT, is pivoting away from the old model to test future doctors on holistic measures. They cannot mandate that medical schools require students to take or pass this examination. Some schools, like CUNY, have stated their goals clearly. CUNY wishes to “increase the number of physicians of African-American, Hispanic and other ethnic backgrounds who have been historically under-represented in the medical profession and whose communities have been historically underserved by primary care practitioners.” I don’t know about you, but I do not care about my doctor’s ethnic background, sexual orientation, or gender. I simply want to speak to the most qualified individual. If they wanted to attract more bright minds, they could eliminate the costs of admission to enter the profession in the first place. Medical students are strapped with hundreds of thousands in debt and arguably underpaid as residents.

Medical deaths are the third-leading cause of death in the US. Around 251,000 people die every year in the US as a result of medical malpractice. Diminishing qualifications for doctors who are expected to make life and death decisions is a major threat to public health.

This is happening in important roles across every sector as the woke agenda destroys our culture from within. Biden boasted how he managed to appoint numerous LBGTQ members to his cabinet, more than any other president. Does anyone care? Most of us want the most qualified individuals in positions of power.