Skybird
08-15-20, 04:53 AM
https://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/schwarzer-kanal/die-focus-kolumne-von-jan-fleischhauer-wie-deutsche-unternehmen-vor-der-politischen-korrektheit-in-die-knie-gehen_id_12321764.html
After turbo-capitalism comes “awake” capitalism, which reacts to every political demand with an immediate kneel. Opportunism has also reached a new level in the business world.
A little girl is casually leaning against the grille of a car in a photo. She wears a polka dot summer dress, denim jacket and sunglasses and eats a banana while she waits for someone to unlock the car. Maybe she has to go to daycare or she's going on vacation, you can't say that exactly.
The picture is one of the motifs with which Audi advertises the RS4, its new turbo station wagon. Other motifs of the campaign show the young parents, the father in a T-shirt, the mother in a leather vest and leopard trousers. "Lets your heart beat faster - in every aspect," is written above the image series. It is somewhat puzzling why the child is holding a banana. On the other hand, haven't the Greens just called for children to eat more fruit?
So far, so innocent - and as stupid as advertising can be. However, there is someone who gives deeper thought to everything. The Audi campaign was also examined more closely. Small children in particular are increasingly being overlooked in traffic because the cars are getting bigger and more motorized, according to one of the allegations. A potential victim as an advertising figure: how tasteless!
In addition, the picture has a lolita touch. “Disturbing,” commented user Christian Hasiewicz on Twitter. “Little girl with a phallic symbol in her hand. Sure, great, ”said shiri @ home. I would think that there is something wrong with someone who thinks of Lolita when a four year old is eating a banana. Sometimes a reproach falls back on whoever utters it.
But you can't see the Twitter world at Audi in Ingolstadt that calmly. As soon as Christian Hasiewicz and shiri @ home had spoken, Audi withdrew the advertising motif. "We sincerely apologize for this insensitive image and assure you that we will no longer use it in the future," said the group. An investigation will be carried out immediately to find out how this campaign came about and which control mechanisms had failed.
We have reached a new level of capitalism. After predatory capitalism and turbo-capitalism comes woke capitalism. For those who are not familiar with the latest trends: The term "woke" comes from the American student movement and means something like "awake", "mindful".
What is meant is an attitude of mind that recognizes injustice everywhere, even where it should not be suspected. I preferred the old, left-wing drug heads, I have to say. At least they didn't sense a moral crime behind every bush and every radiator grille.
Three sharp screams in the net, and they drop like cones in the corporate headquarters. Well, steadfastness has never been a strength of business leaders. Showing one's backbone isn't the first virtue that brings one to the boardroom. But so far, opportunism has been limited to personal advancement, now it is also oriented towards the demands of the street.
Programmers with dubious minds
It doesn't stop at advertising motifs. Where political honesty is elevated to the guiding principle, it can affect anyone whose attitude is suddenly considered dubious. They fired a programmer at Google because, in an internal memo, he cited theories that women are more interested in people than things as the reason for the low percentage of women on Google.
The arguments he advanced are supported by a number of scholars. Still, his opinion was so offensive that the CEO of Google interrupted his vacation to terminate the man personally.
It is well known that Silicon Valley in particular is a particularly misogynistic place. Facebook began as a page for evaluating female students who are “hot” and who are not that “hot”. Instead of holding people accountable for failing to hire more women, it is removing those who make assumptions about why women are underrepresented in the workforce. That too is the new woke capitalism.
What was just a sign of progressive attitudes may be overtaken by a new, even more progressive standard tomorrow. At Adidas, HR manager Karen Parkin was caught six weeks ago. That Parkin was the only woman on the otherwise all-white, all-male board? No matter. A few employees had complained because a year ago they said at an internal meeting that they considered the complaint about racism at Adidas to be "noise", ie a noise that should not be taken seriously. That was enough to put her chair in front of the door.
I looked at photos of CEO Kasper Rorsted online. I noticed a remarkable transformation. In the current pictures, Rorsted is wearing a hooded jacket and sneakers. Apart from the fact that I find it doubtful anyway when men over 50 show up in the office in sportswear: just two mouse clicks further you can find pictures that show him in a suit. The photos are from his time at the detergent manufacturer Henkel. The metamorphosis can only be explained by the fact that Rorsted even chooses his clothes according to what he thinks is opportune.
As a reminder, Adidas was also the company that announced it would owe its rent in the future after the government legislated rent deferral to help troubled small business owners. When the matter was widely in the newspapers, they backed off as quickly as possible, not leaving it with a normal apology: of course, the apology had to be written in gender-sensitive language.
"Liebe Leser_innen, the decision to ask the Vermieter_ innen of our shops to defer the rent for April was seen by many of you as a lack of solidarity," the letter began. Whatever Adidas may write about its ads in the future, when I see someone with the three stripes, I think: Wendehals (reversible neck).
Don't be mistaken. As fast as it goes in one direction, it goes as fast in the other. Netflix has stopped production of a series in Turkey because the Turkish government took offense at one of the characters being openly gay. If the Chinese government asked Apple to remove any app that made Chinese users think there might be a world outside of China, Apple would upgrade its app store accordingly today.
That is the problem with capitalism, which willingly follows political weather conditions: when the wind turns, the basis for decision-making changes. I promise you: If the AfD should rule in Germany in ten years, we will not be able to look so quickly as the gender flag is brought down in Herzogenaurach and replaced with a sky-blue flag.
by Jan Fleischhauer, for FOCUS
After turbo-capitalism comes “awake” capitalism, which reacts to every political demand with an immediate kneel. Opportunism has also reached a new level in the business world.
A little girl is casually leaning against the grille of a car in a photo. She wears a polka dot summer dress, denim jacket and sunglasses and eats a banana while she waits for someone to unlock the car. Maybe she has to go to daycare or she's going on vacation, you can't say that exactly.
The picture is one of the motifs with which Audi advertises the RS4, its new turbo station wagon. Other motifs of the campaign show the young parents, the father in a T-shirt, the mother in a leather vest and leopard trousers. "Lets your heart beat faster - in every aspect," is written above the image series. It is somewhat puzzling why the child is holding a banana. On the other hand, haven't the Greens just called for children to eat more fruit?
So far, so innocent - and as stupid as advertising can be. However, there is someone who gives deeper thought to everything. The Audi campaign was also examined more closely. Small children in particular are increasingly being overlooked in traffic because the cars are getting bigger and more motorized, according to one of the allegations. A potential victim as an advertising figure: how tasteless!
In addition, the picture has a lolita touch. “Disturbing,” commented user Christian Hasiewicz on Twitter. “Little girl with a phallic symbol in her hand. Sure, great, ”said shiri @ home. I would think that there is something wrong with someone who thinks of Lolita when a four year old is eating a banana. Sometimes a reproach falls back on whoever utters it.
But you can't see the Twitter world at Audi in Ingolstadt that calmly. As soon as Christian Hasiewicz and shiri @ home had spoken, Audi withdrew the advertising motif. "We sincerely apologize for this insensitive image and assure you that we will no longer use it in the future," said the group. An investigation will be carried out immediately to find out how this campaign came about and which control mechanisms had failed.
We have reached a new level of capitalism. After predatory capitalism and turbo-capitalism comes woke capitalism. For those who are not familiar with the latest trends: The term "woke" comes from the American student movement and means something like "awake", "mindful".
What is meant is an attitude of mind that recognizes injustice everywhere, even where it should not be suspected. I preferred the old, left-wing drug heads, I have to say. At least they didn't sense a moral crime behind every bush and every radiator grille.
Three sharp screams in the net, and they drop like cones in the corporate headquarters. Well, steadfastness has never been a strength of business leaders. Showing one's backbone isn't the first virtue that brings one to the boardroom. But so far, opportunism has been limited to personal advancement, now it is also oriented towards the demands of the street.
Programmers with dubious minds
It doesn't stop at advertising motifs. Where political honesty is elevated to the guiding principle, it can affect anyone whose attitude is suddenly considered dubious. They fired a programmer at Google because, in an internal memo, he cited theories that women are more interested in people than things as the reason for the low percentage of women on Google.
The arguments he advanced are supported by a number of scholars. Still, his opinion was so offensive that the CEO of Google interrupted his vacation to terminate the man personally.
It is well known that Silicon Valley in particular is a particularly misogynistic place. Facebook began as a page for evaluating female students who are “hot” and who are not that “hot”. Instead of holding people accountable for failing to hire more women, it is removing those who make assumptions about why women are underrepresented in the workforce. That too is the new woke capitalism.
What was just a sign of progressive attitudes may be overtaken by a new, even more progressive standard tomorrow. At Adidas, HR manager Karen Parkin was caught six weeks ago. That Parkin was the only woman on the otherwise all-white, all-male board? No matter. A few employees had complained because a year ago they said at an internal meeting that they considered the complaint about racism at Adidas to be "noise", ie a noise that should not be taken seriously. That was enough to put her chair in front of the door.
I looked at photos of CEO Kasper Rorsted online. I noticed a remarkable transformation. In the current pictures, Rorsted is wearing a hooded jacket and sneakers. Apart from the fact that I find it doubtful anyway when men over 50 show up in the office in sportswear: just two mouse clicks further you can find pictures that show him in a suit. The photos are from his time at the detergent manufacturer Henkel. The metamorphosis can only be explained by the fact that Rorsted even chooses his clothes according to what he thinks is opportune.
As a reminder, Adidas was also the company that announced it would owe its rent in the future after the government legislated rent deferral to help troubled small business owners. When the matter was widely in the newspapers, they backed off as quickly as possible, not leaving it with a normal apology: of course, the apology had to be written in gender-sensitive language.
"Liebe Leser_innen, the decision to ask the Vermieter_ innen of our shops to defer the rent for April was seen by many of you as a lack of solidarity," the letter began. Whatever Adidas may write about its ads in the future, when I see someone with the three stripes, I think: Wendehals (reversible neck).
Don't be mistaken. As fast as it goes in one direction, it goes as fast in the other. Netflix has stopped production of a series in Turkey because the Turkish government took offense at one of the characters being openly gay. If the Chinese government asked Apple to remove any app that made Chinese users think there might be a world outside of China, Apple would upgrade its app store accordingly today.
That is the problem with capitalism, which willingly follows political weather conditions: when the wind turns, the basis for decision-making changes. I promise you: If the AfD should rule in Germany in ten years, we will not be able to look so quickly as the gender flag is brought down in Herzogenaurach and replaced with a sky-blue flag.
by Jan Fleischhauer, for FOCUS