Go woke, go broke, or alternatively get woke, go broke, is an American political catchphrase used by some political pundits to refer to the actual or perceived stock value drops or loss in sales ("going broke") of companies or corporations that publicly support progressive causes, such as the empowering of women, LGBT people and critical race theory (termed as going woke by its opponents).
Opinions differ on the genuine impact of the phrase. When conservatives boycotted various companies in 2023, such as Bud Light, Target, and The Walt Disney Company, they experienced a loss in sales and stock value drops, while Disney lost subscribers to its streaming platform Disney+. Experts said these losses could not be solely attributed to the boycotts and that they could stem from other causes, such as the companies' responses to the boycotts. Some movies said to be "woke" have gone on to financial success, such as Greta Gerwig's 2023 movie Barbie, while others, such as The Marvels, released to a record low box office for Marvel.
Origin
The word "woke", originally a slang term to describe increased awareness for racial injustice, has been adopted by various right-wing groups to label opposing ideas and their proponents. While some individuals and groups, particularly in certain factions of the American right, use it to criticize developments in social justice, the term has also been employed to describe a wide range of issues ranging from climate change to initiative to support minorities' rights.
The phrase "get woke, go broke" is believed to have been coined by the American military science fiction author John Ringo in 2018. It originated in a dispute involving Ringo's invitation to ConCarolinas where objections were raised because Ringo wrote books in which the central character has impulses to rape. The organizers rescinded their invitation because they could not guarantee that he would be free of hostile actions from those who objected to his presence at the convention. The incident was reported in a right-wing website that has since ceased operation, Dangerous.com; it said that according to Ringo, the convention "pushed its conservative members out of its planning committee, attendance dropped over years, and it's now defunct." Ringo characterized the effect on organizations that give in to the demands of social activists as "Get woke, go broke". The phrase is then interpreted as a reference to companies that engage in politically correct activities as part of their corporate strategy, but only to see such strategy result in significant financial loss for them.
The phrase is also used in political discourse in the United Kingdom.
Early usage
The phrase quickly gained popular usage by those on the right after it was coined. One of the early incidents the phrase was invoked concerned the use of Colin Kaepernick in Nike's "Just Do It" ad campaign in September 2018, which drew criticism from Donald Trump and calls for its boycott. Nike nevertheless continued with its campaign. It also reported increased sales, and this has been used as an example where a company that made a commitment and stayed the course can reap the benefits despite alienating some customers.
Another early application of the phrase involved Gillette. In January 2019, Gillette ran an internet campaign "The Best Men Can Be" that criticised toxic masculinity and suggested how men should act. While the campaign received praise from some quarters, it also received widespread criticism from men who were their core customers, and led to calls for boycott. In July 2019, some months after the ad was released, the parent company of Gillette, Procter & Gamble, announced that while it had record sales for other products, it took an $8 billion write-down on its revenue for Gillette. The company said that the write-down was due to currency fluctuation, greater competition and a shrinking market as men shave less frequently. Critics of the campaign, however, believed that the campaign had hurt the company, and this campaign has often been cited as an example of "get woke, go broke".
Other uses
The Walt Disney Company
After the passage of Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, colloquially known as the "Don't Say Gay law" due to its restrictions on "classroom discussion" or giving "classroom instruction" about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through 3rd grade, The Walt Disney Company initially did not take a public stance on the matter. However, as public pressure mounted and in response to employees' concerns, Disney eventually publicly opposed the bill. This stance led to a dispute with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who had supported the bill's passage and later expansion to all grades K–12 and has repeatedly criticized Disney for being "woke" and accusations of "grooming". As a result, the Florida legislature repealed and renamed the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special taxation ward controlled by Disney and hosting the Walt Disney World resort, to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Disney responded by filing a lawsuit against Governor DeSantis and cancelling their expansion plans in Florida.
Disney's streaming service Disney+ was reported in February 2023 to have lost over two million subscribers for the last quarter of 2022, over 4 million the first quarter of 2023, and over 11 million worldwide the following quarter. Right-wing commentators have attributed the decline to Disney's "woke activism", The New York Times, however, noted that the losses came from India after Disney+ lost the rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches, while the rest of the world showed an increase of 800,000 subscribers.
In 2023, a number of films released by Disney under-performed on the box office, including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Little Mermaid, and The Marvels, under-performance attributed by some to Disney having gone "woke". Others, however, attributed the decline to the expectation that Disney-related films would eventually be released on Disney+, and potential customers chose to wait for the films to be streamed.
AB InBev and Bud Light
The beer company AB InBev, which owns Bud Light, partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on April 1, 2023, sending her custom Bud Light cans featuring her face to celebrate the anniversary of her "365 Days of Girlhood" series, which documented her gender transition. In response, several notable figures on the American right called for a boycott of the company. In the month following the advertisement, Bud Light sales dropped. During a conference call with investors on May 4, 2023, AB InBev's CEO Michel Doukeris said the drop in Bud Light sales "would represent around 1% of our overall global volumes for that period." The company placed its marketing vice president, who authorized the promotion, Alissa Heinerscheid, on administrative leave.
Bernd Debusmann Jr, writing for BBC News, reported that experts believed the boycott's success depended on the company's response, and they considered Bud Light to have made a mistake when handling the boycott. Public relations professor Tony D'Angelo considered the company's stance to be "waffling", stating "If you waffle, then people are going to rightly question what they really stand for". While research suggests that consumer boycotts tended to be short-lived, the effect of this boycott continued for some months, and Bud Light lost its leading position as America's best-selling beer, with the company's profits in the US dropping by more than 28% in the quarter. Owen Myers of the Guardian described the boycott as one of the biggest in US history.
Target
The American retailer Target released its annual LGBT pride merchandise collection in May 2023, which sparked a boycott from American conservatives, after viral posts by Gays Against Groomers and other social media accounts falsely claimed that the company was marketing "tuck-friendly" swimsuits to minors. According to Reuters, these swimsuits, which are designed to "tuck male genitalia", were sold only in the women's section. The company's stock price decreased by over 10% following the release of the products, and the company has been the focus of scrutiny from several GOP politicians.
United States women's national soccer team
Right-wing politicians and individuals used the slogan to refer to the knockout round loss of the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) against Sweden during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, particularly player Megan Rapinoe, who was noted for missing a penalty kick during the shootouts against Sweden's team. The USWNT supports various progressive values, which conservatives argued was the reason they lost. James Dator of SB Nation and Alex Abad-Santos of Vox reported the loss stemming from player injuries, organizational reasons and play, noting Rapinoe did not enter the field until extra time.
Cinema
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The phrase was notably used in the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain Marvel and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which challenged the notion of diversity backlash and the success of boycotts against the films. Regarding Captain Marvel, Bethany Lacina, writing for The Washington Post, concluded that there likely was no strong conservative resistance when she analyzed search traffic and Fox News coverage of the film. Lacina also noted that superhero movies the alt-right has objected to have performed well in conservative parts of the United States.
After The Marvels debuted in 2023 to a record low opening for the MCU, Forbes published an article on the film's anti-'woke' backlash. The article quoted film industry analyst David A. Gross as saying “female-powered entertainment is enjoying extraordinary success right now, but audiences are not embracing these stories”. The article however also noted that while some of Disney's movies have been targeted by conservatives, their review bombing did not actually hurt the movie's performances, noting that multiple movies that were targeted for being "woke" were box office successes, including Captain Marvel, The Little Mermaid and Elemental all more than doubling their respective budgets.
Barbie (2023)
Barbie released to 2023's largest opening weekend as well as the largest ever opening weekend for a female director. Barbie's feminist themes and inclusion of a transgender actress triggered backlash from some conservatives, who argued that the film's overt messages made it less entertaining. Barbie would nevertheless gross over $1.4 billion dollars and a positive critical reception.
