Why corporations won't let Pride die
Still, hopeful as all this is, it seems that for some corporations, Pride still refuses to die. Whilst shopping I recently saw a jar of Marmite. Its label urged me to 'Stand with Pride.' The flag accompanying the statement included the transgender stripes, naturally.
Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer's social media profile pictures were changed to the alphabet flag, not forgetting the intersex circle. Throughout Pride month, M&S matched customer donations to the homeless charity 'akt'. We can argue the merits of corporate philanthropy, and few would object to helping the homeless. But akt doesn't appear to support all homeless individuals, only those who happen to not be heterosexual. It's preferential charitable giving based on sexuality.
Other brands go further. Shake Shack, the popular milkshake shop, has launched their 'Pride Shake'. Don't panic if you missed it: it is available until 7 July. For every milkshake sold, they will donate £1 to LGBTQ+ charities. Such charities include Not A Phase, whose mission is 'uplifting and improving the lives of trans+ adults.' Their attempts to achieve this mission have involved 'growing the UK trans+ economy', and condemning those who want to protect males from competing in female sports.
Why are brands still throwing money at charities promoting an ideology that the public rejects but which they are ultimately being forced to pay for?
The answer is ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance, a set of standards supposedly measuring the ethical impact of businesses, but which usually just serves to keep the money flowing to questionable yet fashionable causes. This is what is keeping Pride month alive.
Whilst the 'E' does much damage to returns as companies are coerced into spending money on unprofitable windmills and solar farms, the 'S' gives us rainbow logos and compulsory trans donations.
Increasingly, to access investment, companies must prioritise ESG. This is because most institutional investors in Britain have launched ESG funds and increasingly invest savers' money into these funds by default. They claim this is because of the good that ESG achieves. A cynic might suggest it is because of the higher management fees that ESG justifies.
Therefore, to access investment, companies prostrate themselves in front of the ESG ratings agencies, who have largely unchecked power.
To receive top points from these agencies, companies must excel in the 'social' category. Obviously social factors are subjective and not easily quantifiable. As such, it is not enough to simply be a thoughtful employer who pays equal work equally. Rather, firms must brandish their commitment publicly, ensuring that when the ratings agencies seek proof of companies' social commitment, it is easy to find. It is no coincidence that the firms which top Stonewall's equality index tend to receive top points in the ESG rankings.
The ESG and DEI reports of big brands make this plain. Unilever, the parent company of Marmite, have an entire section of their DEI report dedicated to explaining, 'how our brands are confronting bias and discrimination' – as if Vaseline is the next Martin Luther King. Unilever are also recipients of Stonewall's gold status award for being a leading LGBTQ+ employer and have an AA sustainability rating, one of the highest scores available from ratings agency MSCI.
Shake Shack's donation to a transgenderism charity, meanwhile, is not a humble humanitarian mission which they modestly pursue. In their ESG reports they boast that their Pride Shake is part of 'a strong history of supporting the LGBTQ+ community and rolling out national Pride'. This has clearly had the desired effect as they have received the Equality 100 award in LGBTQ+ workplace equality. There are a number of criteria for receiving this award. One which stands out is the requirement for 'Philanthropic support of at least one LGBTQ+ organisation.'
Are the executives of these companies true believers in Pride? Some surely are and would fly the flag regardless. Many, however, play along simply because otherwise they would lose access to vital capital. But companies should not be manipulated into pushing an agenda that is increasingly rejected by the public and underlying shareholders.
The shifting public mood and consistent financial underperformance means that ESG will not remain viable for long. In the meantime, individuals who are pleased to see the decline of Pride Month should ensure their money is kept away from funds engaged in ESG.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
7 hours ago
- Times
Home secretary urges stores to use new crime-reporting platform
The images and details of prolific shoplifters are being collected and shared by major retailers on the first national database to tackle the crime. Marks & Spencer, Boots, Morrisons, Greggs, BP and Travis Perkins are among the retailers using a new crime intelligence reporting platform created by a New Zealand software company. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, urged more retailers to use the software as she launched a three-month policing blitz that will target antisocial behaviour in 500 town centres across England and Wales. She called on police forces to use live facial recognition to enforce banning orders on individuals responsible for the worst antisocial behaviour. The Metropolitan Police recently installed permanent live facial recognition cameras to catch wanted criminals in Croydon, south London. Shared intelligence collected by the Auror platform has revealed that 10 per cent of offenders reported by UK retailers account for 72 per cent of all shoplifting offences. Paul Fagg, who served as a police officer before leading Auror's law enforcement partnerships in the UK, said the platform acted as a 'conduit between retailer and policing' by sharing information, CCTV and other evidence between retailers, alerting them to prolific offenders and helping to enforce banning orders on the worst of them. In addition to acting as a preventative tool, Fagg said, the shared intelligence helped to close the gap between the vast number of shoplifting offences recorded by retailers and the minority that are investigated by police. Yvette Cooper visited Derby County FC's Pride Park stadium to launch the Safer Streets summer initiative PHIL BARNETT/PA The latest survey by the British Retail Consortium reported that 20 million shoplifting offences were committed in the past year. While there has been a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of offences recorded by the police to 516,971, these make up only 2.5 per cent of all thefts. Once there is enough evidence that an individual is a prolific shoplifter, the firm then passes the information to the relevant police force to investigate. This overcomes the barrier retailers faced before when reporting thefts to the police. Fagg said retailers were not reporting most thefts to the police because they faced 'pushback' from forces that saw it as a burden to triage the crime. Auror carries out the triaging process by sending on details of only the most prolific offenders and individuals with sufficient evidence to police, maximising the prospect of success. It saves police time by taking away the need for officers to visit stores to collect evidence or interview witnesses because the evidence is collected on the platform. • Police 'forced to deprioritise phone thefts and shoplifting' Superintendent Emma Butler-Jones, of Devon and Cornwall police, said the platform had 'revolutionised how we tackle business crime' in their area. The force's charge rate for shoplifting offences reported through the platform were 7 per cent higher than crimes reported through more traditional means. Crime reports are provided to police officers an average of 8.5 times quicker, which means the force can accelerate their investigations. Auror is now used by 98 per cent of retailers in New Zealand, where the efficiency savings made by the platform freed up enough money to recruit an additional 451 police officers. The crime reporting platform is also used by 75 per cent of retailers in Australia. Auror does not use live facial recognition on its platform. Instead, it uses retrospective facial recognition to match multiple CCTV images of the same individual reported on the platform. Cooper said: 'We do want more retailers, more organisations [involved in] schemes like this, so that we can have that partnership, so that you're tackling the crime but also getting the neighborhood policing reassurance in local communities,' Cooper said. 'I think this hasn't happened for too long. Too often people have been working separately, in silos, and this sort of crime has been treated as low level. It's not. It has a huge impact on local economies and on that sense of safety at the heart of communities.' Backing police forces to make greater use of live facial recognition software, which has so far only been used by the Met and South Wales police, Cooper said: 'Facial recognition is a really important tool for policing to be able to use, to identify criminals, looking at the CCTV. We do think there is more scope for using facial recognition more widely and we're going to set out more ways in which that can be done as part of a proper framework.' Cooper was speaking on a visit to Pride Park, the home of Derby County FC, to launch her 'Safer Streets Summer Initiative', a blitz that will run in 500 city and town centres over the next three months with increased police patrols and additional enforcement to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. Each town centre that will benefit from the increased patrols has submitted a bespoke action plan to the Home Office on how they plan to tackle the specific antisocial behaviour problems in their area. Many are working in partnership with their local football club to divert youngsters away from antisocial behaviour. Bristol City has partnered with Morrisons to provide free 'turn up and play' sessions for youngsters who may be 'intimidating' elderly customers at supermarkets in the city through antisocial behaviour such as hanging out in groups outside the stores. Ben McDonald, head of the corporate protection team at Morrisons, said antisocial behaviour was a 'gateway offence' to more serious crime including shoplifting. He said: 'If you can take youths away from that type of offending into something else and bridge that gap where they've got employment, got a job and got responsibilities, you take them out of crime.'
NBC News
10 hours ago
- NBC News
Bettors are worried Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' could cause professional gambling in the U.S. to fold
A relatively underappreciated constituency is raising the alarm about President Donald Trump's ' big, beautiful bill ' — gamblers. Tucked into the nearly 900-page legislation is a change to how gambling losses are taxed that some professional and amateur bettors say could crush the industry. The provision, only a few paragraphs, would limit what gamblers can deduct from their yearly taxes to 90% of their losses starting in 2026. Currently, bettors can deduct the entirety of their losses, up until their winnings. What a number of gambling aficionados pointed out on social media was that by limiting the tax deduction to 90% of losses, gamblers could actually owe taxes in years where they netted a loss on their bets. 'This new amendment to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would end professional gambling in the US and hurt casual gamblers, too,' Phil Galfond, a professional poker player, posted to X, including a video summarizing his argument. 'You could pay more in tax than you won. Contact your representative quickly.' Trump is set to sign the bill into law on Friday. The provision first generated buzz online after the Senate passed the legislation on Tuesday. One example given on X laid out that, under this new setup, if a gambler won $200,000 in a year but lost $210,000, they would actually be able to deduct only $189,000 worth of losses. Meaning they'd have $11,000 in taxable income even though they netted $10,000 in losses during the year. 'A pro who earns $200k/year might have $3m in winnings and $2.8m in losses,' Galfond said in a subsequent tweet. 'This means earning $200k and being taxed as if they earned $480k. This applies to both recreational and professional gamblers.' Gambling revenues have reached record highs in recent years as legalized gambling has proliferated across the U.S. Thirty-eight states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, now have some form of legalized sports betting, which has exploded following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that broke up Nevada's monopoly on the practice. In 2024, commercial gaming revenue reached a record high of nearly $72 billion, according to the American Gaming Association, which represents the U.S. gambling industry. Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat who represents Las Vegas, tweeted Wednesday that she was already seeking to amend the change. 'Buried within the BS Republican Budget bill is a provision that harms poker players and those who gamble by limiting loss deductions,' Titus wrote. 'I'm working on a legislative fix that fairly treats gaming losses in the tax code.' One gaming industry source who spoke with NBC News said the impact of the tax change is still to be determined, though this person said the change would mostly impact professional gamblers rather than recreational players. In a May 6 letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways & Means Committee, William C. Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Industry, included maintaining the current deduction for wagering losses as one of three industry-specific tax priorities for the reconciliation package Republicans have advanced. Other priorities named in the letter, which was obtained by NBC News, included increasing the slot tax reporting threshold from $1,200 to $5,000 and repealing the sports betting excise tax on legal sports wagers. The AGA also named a number of broader tax priorities, including calling for no tax on tips and maintaining the current corporate tax rate and SALT deductions. In the letter, Miller described keeping the current gambling loss deduction as 'critical,' adding that it should be expanded to allow for taxpayers who do not itemize their returns to report their net wins and losses as part of their adjusted gross income. 'Maintaining this deduction at its existing levels was absolutely a priority for the legal, regulated gaming industry,' the gaming industry source said. 'So it's fair to say that with this specific provision, we're disappointed, and we'll be monitoring its impact and seeking to work with congressional leaders to fix this before the overall legislation takes effect at the end of this year.' A spokesperson for Senate Finance Committee Republicans did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the White House. FanDuel and DraftKings, two of the biggest players in the sports betting market, declined to comment. 'Tax code is already punitive to poker players (you get taxed on winning years but can't write off losing years unless you file as a pro; it's easy to have a down year even as a good player) and Senate-passed version of OBBBA would make it considerably worse,' Nate Silver, the prominent political data analyst, tweeted. As gambling, particularly legalized sports betting, has proliferated in recent years, though, researchers have found a negative impact on bettors' finances, including reduced savings and lower investments in generally safer assets like stocks. Meanwhile, internet searches for gambling addiction and calls to state gambling helplines have increased, particularly with younger men.
NBC News
13 hours ago
- NBC News
Essence Fest leads a summer of events for Black entrepreneurs galvanized by economic uncertainty
In a year when the U.S. consumer has been weighed down by economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and inflation, Black entrepreneurs are eager to get to the Essence Festival of Culture to connect with their core customers. 'Essence Fest is like my Black Friday,' said Rochelle Ivory, owner of beauty brand On the Edge Baby Hair. 'It is my biggest sales weekend of the year. It's where I make all the capital I reinvest in my business.' Essence Fest kicks off on Friday, with roughly 500,000 people attending the event in New Orleans. It generates around $1 billion in economic activity, according to organizers. 'It's the cannot-miss event for us,' said Brittney Adams, owner of eyewear brand Focus and Frame. She said this year Essence Fest is even more important because she's seen Black consumers pulling back on spending. 'I would say the uncertainty of just the economic and political climate — that's giving people a little bit of hesitancy. Should they save the money? Should they buy the things they want?' Adams said. Ivory said her sales are down roughly 30% year over year, but she's hopeful people come to New Orleans looking to spend their time and money in the festival marketplace. 'This could make or break some of us,' she said. 'It's one of the few places where Black women, Black founders can really come together and be seen.' The Global Black Economic Forum aims to bring visibility and create solutions for Black business owners at Essence Fest. This year speakers include Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Last year, then-Vice President Kamala Harris spoke. 'We intentionally curate a space that allows leaders to preserve, build and reimagine how we can collectively increase economic opportunity to thrive,' said Alphonso David, CEO of the GBEF. Second half shift While many Black Americans express economic anxiety, the data is less clear. In the first quarter of this year, according to Federal Reserve data, the median weekly salary for Black workers was $1,192 a 5% increase year over year. Black unemployment stood at 6% in the most recent jobs report, a historically low number, but still higher than the national average of 4.2%. However, the data doesn't appear to fully reflect the sentiment for many Black Americans who are concerned about the political, cultural and economic shifts that have taken place since President Donald Trump's election. 'Never let a good crisis go to waste,' said John Hope Bryant, founder and CEO of Operation Hope, one of the nation's largest non-profits focused on financial education and empowerment. Bryant said he sees the concerns of Black Americans as an opportunity in the second half of 2025. 'This president has done something that hasn't been done since the 1960s, which is unify Black America. Wealth was created in the early 20 th century because Blacks were forced to work together. But instead of Black Lives Matter, let's make Black capitalist matter,' he said. Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has galvanized Black consumers with an organized boycott of Target that began in February in response to the retailer's decision to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Bryant said he is in discussions with Target but is ready to organize a longer-term boycott if the retailer does not fulfill the promises it made to the Black community after the killing of George Floyd. He is urging Black Americans to use the estimated $2.1 trillion dollars in spending power forecast by 2026 to drive economic and political change. 'I would dare say that 'pocketbook protests' are a revolutionary activity,' said Bryant. 'I think we have to be very selective in light of the 'Big Ugly Bill' that just passed and how it will adversely affect our community,' he said, referencing Trump's megabill that passed through Congress this week. Celebrate and educate Invest Fest, an event that blends commerce and culture created by financially focused media company Earn Your Leisure kicks off in Atlanta in August. Co-CEOs Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings said the event will remain focused on financial literacy, but this year they are emphasizing the urgent need for education and entrepreneurship in technology. 'It's definitely now or never, the time is now,' said Bilal. 'The important thing this year is the way technology is going to disrupt a lot of career paths and the businesses, and we have to prepare for that, which is why AI is at the forefront of the conversation, crypto is at the forefront of the conversations, real estate as always and entrepreneurship,' said Millings. New this year is a partnership with venture capital firm Open Opportunity and a pitch competition where an entrepreneur can win $125,000 in funding to scale their business. 'We need more businesses that can reach $100 million valuation to a $1 billion valuation, get on the stock market. The pathway to that 9 times out of 10 is technology,' Bilal said. The National Black MBA Association Conference in Houston in September will have a similar tone. The event is known for its career fair where the nation's largest companies recruit as well as for networking and vibrant social activities. This year, interim CEO Orlando Ashford is working to establish artificial intelligence education and financial literacy as pillars of the event. 'Doing business as usual is not an option,' Ashford told CNBC. 'AI is something I literally refer to as a tsunami of change that's on its way. All of us will be forced to pivot in some ways as it relates to AI. Those of us that are out in front, that embrace it and leverage it actually can turn it into a tremendous and powerful opportunity. Those that wait and ignore it will be overtaken by the wave.'
