Opinion
Posted
As Australia burned in catastrophic bushfires, luxury
jewellery company Tiffany & Co placed a full page advertisement in
The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald demanding action from Scott
Morrison on climate change.
"We stand with Australia," they declared.Tiffany & Co's ad is just one example of how major corporations have intervened in response to the bushfire crisis.
They are also an example of how the apparent generosity can come hand-in-hand with brazen publicity.
It is easy to be cynical and dismiss this as a calculated stunt designed to bolster the Tiffany brand.
That may well be true, but there is a lot more going on than that.
When major corporations back social and political causes, it is not because they are political thought leaders.
It is because they are convinced the cause has mainstream support.
Their customers believe in the cause
Corporate backing of the bushfires is a sign, finally, that the tide has turned on public opinion.If corporations are backing real action on climate change, it means that their customers, that is Australian citizens, believe in it.
If that wasn't the case corporations wouldn't risk the brand damage.
It is not just Tiffany & Co, of course. The National Australia Bank offered $2000 grants to customers who lost their homes. Woolworths and Coles delivered water and food to evacuation centres.
Qantas pledged $1 million to bushfire relief. Optus and Telstra took care of the mobile phone bills of firefighters. The list goes on.
This help is most welcome, of course. Something has to compensate for bumbled political responses that often appear more interested in impression management than in delivering solutions.
Political parties and corporations are increasingly converging as far as marketing and media strategies are concerned.
Corporations don't lead, they follow
That corporations redirect some of their marketing, public relations or other budgets to political causes is part of what has been called "woke capitalism" — a growing phenomenon where businesses adopt public positions on progressive political causes.Think of Qantas backing marriage equality, or Gillette supporting the #metoo movement.
What these have in common is that by the time corporations back a political cause, it has already become widely accepted by the public.
Corporations might take a bit of a gamble on public opinion, but they don't support issues that would damage their own commercial interests.In other words, if a corporation puts its name behind an issue, it is because they will benefit from taking the popular side.
Major corporations, just like major political parties, don't lead, they follow. Whether it be in pursuit of dollars or votes, there is little room for any radical agendas.
That so many corporations have come out in support of bushfire relief and demanding action on climate change is a sign that the public sentiment has changed, at last.
Australia is listening
What this tells us is that climate denialism, no matter how hard it has been peddled by some conservative politicians, self-interested corporations or dominant parts of the media, is no longer a position that holds water with the public.Real democracy does not happen in boardrooms or halls of government. It comes from an active and vigilant civil society that is attuned to what is happening in real people's lives.
It happens when people take the initiative to confront an establishment which benefits from the status quo.
We have to thank the scientists, the activists, the demonstrators, the political journalists, and everyone else who has had the courage to fight for climate change action, even when they were being silenced by those in power.
It may have taken a human and environmental catastrophe to do it, and corporate publicity to confirm it, but finally Australia is listening the real dangers of climate change.
Carol Rhodes is deputy dean of the UTS Business School.
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