Why Brands Lost Their Fear of Controversy and Got Political in 2017

Corporate America took a stand against President Trump's policies

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It’s a longstanding truism of American business that companies don’t like to generate controversy—and there are few quicker ways to do that than taking a stance on a political issue.

The reticence is understandable. What company wants to jeopardize its stock price with bad PR? Or get hit with a boycott? And what brand wants to risk alienating one segment of its customer base in order to please another?

Plenty of research counsels prudence, too. In 2014, the Global Strategy Group released a survey that found that 56

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