Why Brands Are Under Increasing Pressure To Be Transparent About What They Believe In

Some brands do everything they can to avoid political controversy. Cards Against Humanity is not one of them. Last November, the maker of the crude-yet-hilarious party game announced it was raising $2.2 million to buy a small plot of land on the U.S.-Mexican border to prevent a wall from being built on it, then dared the Trump administration to sue them over it. This was not the first foray into national politics for the popular card game. In 2016 co-founder Max Temkin created a Super PAC called the Nuisance Committee, which purchased billboard ads written in Arabic saying, “Donald Trump, he can’t read this, but he is afraid of it.” Before the election, the company created custom 15-card add-on packs for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, asked fans to vote with their wallets for the candidate of their choice, and then donated all of the proceeds—more than $550,000—to Clinton’s campaign. Few brands have the freedom—or the chutzpah—Cards Against Humanity does. But nearly all are feeling the pressure to take stronger social, environmental and political stances, especially from the youngest consumers to flex their marketing might, Generation Z. How nimbly brands navigate that minefield is crucial to their future survival. Read more at Adweek.