Endorsements
What happens when racists hijack a company’s brand.
The neo-Nazis were hungry. They had spent the day in a Charlottesville, Va., courthouse testifying at the preliminary hearing for a white nationalist jailed for pepperspraying counterprotesters during August’s deadly Unite the Right rally. Now, after the long drive home to Alexandria, Via., they craved pizza.
“Wewere going to order from the local place where we get pizza all the time, butwe said no, Papa John’s is the official pizza of the alt-right now,” said Eli Mosley, the 26-year-old leader of the white separatist group Identity Evropa. “We’re just supporting the brands that support us.”
That show of support— unsolicited and unwanted by Papa John’s— exhibits an emerging danger to major American brands negotiating the racial politics that have cleaved the country.
It is no longer enough for companies to keep a lowprofile when it comes to polarizing issues involving race, brand experts say.
Instead, some companies are preemptively stating their positions, hoping to avoid being hijacked by white supremacists eager to spread their ideas into the mainstream by tying themselves to household brands, from pizzas and burgers to sneakers and cars.
Lastweek, Papa John’s tweeted an explicit rejection of neo-Nazi ideas.
“Companies need to take a public stand on issues that are affecting consumers in advance of being co-opted,” said Heide Gardner, chief diversity and inclusion officer at IPG, one of theworld’s largest advertising and marketing conglomerates. “Brands need to build a certain level of sophistication around racial issues. They need to be really mindful of how charged the environment is and take pains to look at situations through a diversity lens.”
Papa John’s learned this lesson the hardway after the chain, a major NFL sponsor, found itself in the unwelcome embrace of neo-Nazi groups following its chief executive’s Nov. 1 call with investors in which he blamed disappointing pizza sales on football players’ protests against racism and police brutality.
Following the call, a neo-Nazi website hailed Papa John’s as “Sieg Heil Pizza” with a photo of a pie whose pepperon is were arranged into a swastika.
It didn’t matter that the company immediately condemned racism and all hate groups.
“We do not want these individuals or groups to buy our pizza,” a statement from Papa John’s said.
“They can signal all they want, butwe know,” said Mosley, praising Papa John’s chief John Schnatter’s statements.
The same unwanted attention has come to New Balance, Wendy’s and other companies. The neoNazis’ campaign to co-opt brands has forced firms into a familiar pattern: corporate statements disavowing white supremacy, typically followed by silence, in hopes the controversy will blow over without long-lasting damage to their image and sales.
But that approach did notwork for Papa John’s.
In a renewed attempt to disown the neo-Nazis who have attached themselves to the brand, Papa John’s tweeted an emoji of a middle finger to “those guys.” The company also apologized for Schnatter’s “divisive” comments on
“We’re just supporting the brands that support us.” Eli Mosley, leader of the white separatist group Identity Evropa
the earnings call and affirmed its support for NFL players protesting inequality.
“We willwork with the players and league to find a positiveway forward,” the company tweeted. “Open to ideas fromall. Except neo-Nazis.”
A spokesman said the companywanted to be “crystal clear” about where it stands with regard to white supremacist groups.
Other companies should take heed of Papa John’s experience, experts say.
As the marketplace becomes the latest battleground in the culture wars, brand strategists are advising companies accustomed to staying out of the political fray to proactively weigh in with bold statements about race— as Nike and Ben& Jerry’s have done— to thwart attempts by hate groups to adopt brands as their own.
More brands are also building up their crisis management teams in preparation for the next racial flare-up, said Tiffany Warren, senior vice president and chief diversity officer at Omnicom Group, a global marketing and corporate communications holding company.
“That’s the new reality,” Warren said. “It’s not just nice to have. It’s theway of doing business now.”
Some companieswere just bystanders when they were swept up in the racially charged atmosphere.
Tiki Brand, owned by Wisconsin-based Lamplight Farms, was minding its business as a purveyor of Polynesian kitsch when its bamboo torcheswere used by white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville.
Images of angry young white men parading through theUniversity of Virginia campus holding the flaming torches turned the product once evocative of backyard barbecues and luaus into a symbol of white supremacy.
Other companies caught the admiration of neo-Nazis after their executives voiced support for President Donald Trump or his policies.
Yuengling, based in Pottsville, Pa., and touted as “America’s oldest brewery,” became the favored beer of white nationalists after the company’s owner backed Trump in the final days of the campaign.
Andrew Anglin, founder of theDaily Stormer website, declaredNew Balance the “official shoes of white people” after an executive of the Boston shoe company praised Trump’s stance on trade soon after hewas elected. Liberals tweeted pictures of themselves trashing or burning theirNewBalance sneakers.
Other firms attracted the attention of white nationalists through branding mistakes of their own. Anglin proclaimed Wendy’s the “official burger of the neo-Nazi altrightmovement” after the fast-food restaurant mistakenly tweeted a picture of Pepe the Frog, a white nationalist symbol, in the same red pigtails as the Wendy’s girl mascot.
And white supremacists celebrated when a casting call for a Cadillac commercial sought “any and all real alt-right thinkers/ believers.” Cadillac said at the time it did not authorize the casting notice, but Anglin had already pounced, writing in a post titled “Yes, We areMainstreamNow” and that “it was natural for a major American corporation to want someone fromour movement.”
Experts expect the co-opting of brands to continue.