Can Corporate Law Wake Up Disney After Biting the Enchanted Apple of Wokeness: The Politicization of Disney and Corporate Law’s Weak Response

Corporations that are household names for American consumers have been in the news for alienating their customers and segments of the public by embroiling their companies in controversial political issues. Target, Anheuser-Busch, and Disney are three prominent examples of companies in the news for putting their foot on politically sensitive issues. As Ryan Newman has explained, the issues raised by these events demonstrate an extensive political activism by American corporations that not only spend billions of dollars on political causes unrelated to their business, but also take actions and political stances on matters wholly unrelated to their products or markets, which can harm their profitability. Newman explains: “Corporations frequently weigh in on matters that oftentimes have no direct relevance to their business, such as abortion, voting rights, gun rights, criminal justice, immigration, racial equity, gay rights, transgender rights, and sex education in elementary school.” Yet, Newman also explains that some corporations go beyond making simple statements about such controversial issues and elect to integrate these political stances into the way they operate their business.