(PM.) Corporate Equality Index (CEI) scores are the key driver for companies pushing “woke advertising strategies.
The CEI is a score given out by the Human Rights Campaign that ties into a company’s Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) Score, a social credit score corporations must maintain or risk losing their good standing among key financial investors.
According to the Daily Mail, the HRC is the “most powerful LGBTQ+ political lobbying group in the world.” They are the ones who compile these scorecards and reward the companies who earn maximum points with a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality” title.
Politically driven advertising is one way a corporation can help boost their CEI score and the Daily Mail notes that this goes to explain why companies like Anheuser-Busch and Nike would team up with an unathletic, non-beer drinker like Dylan Mulvaney to advertise their products.
The CEI has five major rating criteria, Workforce protections (5 points), Inclusive Benefits (50 points) Supporting and inclusive Culture (25 points) Corporate Social Responsibility (20 points), and Responsible citizenship (-25). According to the New York Post, a company can lose points by donating money to “organizations whose primary mission includes advocacy against LGBTQ equality” or doesn’t meet the HRC’s standard for “integration of intersectionality in professional development.”
Financial fund managers like BlackRock are forcing corporations to abide by their ESG principles. Their CEO has stated that “to prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society,” and threatening that a company “will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders.”
Blackrock and Vanguard are two of the top shareholders of companies like Nike, Anheuser-Busch, and Kate Spade (all of whom have promoted Mulvaney in recent weeks). According to reports, CEOs are much more fearful of losing these investors than they are of the loss of revenue from potential boycotts.
James Lindsay, founder of New Discourses said it is an “extortion racket” that “HRC Sends representatives to corporations every year telling them what kind of stuff they have to make visible at the company. They give them a list of demands and if they don’t follow through there’s a threat that you won’t keep your CEI score.”
