Why it is important for businesses to take a political stance.

956 nr. Contestatie

Pleasing everyone when it comes to companies taking political stances is an increasingly difficult task in the 21st century, and in my opinion so long as companies obey the law there should be no problem with them expressing their opinion on political matters.

First and foremost, as I have mentioned drawing the line is a difficult task. Diferentiating between companies manipulating public opinion and them not interfering at all in such matters is almost impossible because people have differing opinions, hence in this situation not discouraging companies taking political stances gives the right to choose to companies in stead of being subject to public pressure to take a stance on certain matters. Image is everything in today's media, and letting companies manage their responses to these problems is the first step in pleasing the most people.

Secondly, there comes the matter of violating freedom of expression of companies. Even though the duty of companies is to make profit and not to get tangled into politics, they have the right to use their influence and public image to encourage people to adopt a certain stance if it might be considered wrong by other people. As I have stated in my introduction, companies must also obey laws and spreading dangerous messages is very much illegal.

To conclude, there is no immediate consequence in letting companies taking political stances. They can use their position of influence to get important messages across and encourage people to be politically activ in their communities.