New Poll: Brands Weighing in On Chauvin Trial Aren’t Doing Themselves Any Favors

David Dee Delgado, Getty

Among American adults, the bad or indifferent generally outweighs the good will a brand can generate by weighing in on the verdict in the Derek Chauvin verdict. Perhaps surprisingly, that’s true even among Black Americans, Biden voters, and Democrats in general. However, it is also less damaging to a brand among White Americans, Trump voters, and Republicans in general than one might expect.

In almost every way you can break down the result of the data from this new, post-verdict Morning Consult poll, the results show that companies and brands weighing in are not doing themselves any favors.

The main result on the topic comes from comparing a few questions asked in the poll. It asks first, in general, whether a respondent would you feel more or less favorable towards a company for making statement on the verdict. Then, specifically if a company made a statement “supporting” the verdict, and then how the respondent would feel about a company “opposing” the verdict.

Overall, among adults the results show that just 10% gain a “much more favorable view” of a company for making a statement on the verdict, and 12% “somewhat” more favorable.

At 11%, “somewhat” less favorable mirrors somewhat more, but among adults 14% have a “much less favorable view” of a company for making a statement on the verdict.

A comparatively whopping 29% say it doesn’t affect their view either way.

Adding that up, the result is that among the majority, 54%, a company or brand either does nothing positive or actually harms their relationship with the people who see it. That is to say: consumers/customers. The good will gained is 22%, and tepid at that. Or putting it another way, if you group no reaction with positive, that’s 50% who either have a more favorable view or their view remains the same. Whichever way you organize it, it’s not a net pickup.

Interestingly this pattern holds in key demographics. For example, in total, among Black Americans, only 25% gain a more favorable view of a company, whereas 21% gain a less favorable view. With 23% saying it makes no difference to their opinion, the result shows that a company or brand has nothing to gain or harms how it is viewed with 44% of Black Americans, and only gains with around half that much.

Among White Americans, it’s 20% more favorable, 27% less favorable, and 30% neither more nor less. With Biden voters it’s 33% with a positive reaction, 47% negative or no reaction. With Trump voters, 12% positive, 24% no reaction, and a huge 45% negative reaction to a company offering their opinion on the verdict.

That question was simply about offering any reaction, whether supportive or in opposition to the verdict. On the specific question of a company offering a supportive message, the numbers change but only a little. Among adults overall, 31% would have a favorable shift if a company made a statement of support, 30% would have an unfavorable shift, and 22% wouldn’t care either way.

Of course, if a company offered a message opposing the guilty verdict, 15% would have a favorable reaction, whereas a dramatic 49% would have a negative reaction. With only 18% saying it would not impact their view of the company, this is obviously and correctly the worst thing a company could have done in reaction to the Chauvin verdict.

Interestingly, on the specific question of a company weighing in to support the verdict 42% of Black Americans would have a more favorable view, 27% would have a less favorable view, and 16% say it would be neither. So again the result is 43% negative or no impact. You could even add in the 15% for don’t know or no opinion, but the result is at best interpretation, mixed.

And then there’s the fact that even when they weigh in how you want, the trust in the motivation isn’t there.

So overall, when it comes to gaining good will or increasing the favorable view of a company, the poll shows there really wasn’t and isn’t much to gain in issuing a statement on this verdict. It is consistent with previous Morning Consult polls that show brands and companies just really aren’t getting mileage of becoming politically mouthy. And frankly, most aren’t even very good at it.

What the poll doesn’t measure is the negative impact on the country created by companies and brand names giving people more reason to fight with one another, more things to protest or boycott, and generally contributing to the combative discourse.

However you slice the results, by demographic, by grouping the “neither more nor less” result with the “favorable” or “unfavorable”, or by 2020 vote, what companies and brands have to gain by wading into racial and political issues isn’t much. What the American people have to lose from making every aspect of life a battleground, though? Yeah, that’s a lot.