Once a year, the American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF) conducts a survey aimed at Conservative Investors to determine what companies investors think misalign with their values. “It’s an ongoing informal survey intended to identify companies with woke or liberal reputations, as well as capture trends over time,” said ACVF CEO William Flaig, one of the group’s co-founders. Typically tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google top the list but not this year.
Disney, overwhelmingly, has been voted “THE most woke company in America” by this group of Conservative Investors. Tech giants Facebook, Google and Twitter made the top five but this is the first time Disney has topped the list. In 2021, Disney ranked low on the list when just 10 percent of ACVF investors ranked it as woke.
CVF President Tom Carter said, “It’s clear Disney’s adoption of left-wing ideology led by its war on parental rights is harming the company’s brand among politically conservative investors.” He went on to say that the ACVF is currently boycotting 29 companies, including Disney, and actively encourages its investors to do the same.
This line of thinking extends past just the ACVF as well. Financial columnist and analyst Steve Beaman said that many investment groups and individual investors are tired of companies (on both sides of the aisle) mixing business and politics. “Corporations need to focus on products and customers along with shareholder returns,” he said. “That should be the main focus, not some agenda involving political and social issues.”
Many conservatives have gone beyond stock boycotts and have boycotted the Parks and films as well due to their increasing frustration with Disney’s involvement in political issues. Disney Fan turned Disney Boycotter, Tara, spoke with me and said, “Disney used to stand for something everyone could love: simple family friendly fun. Now they want to have some sort of mission statement with an agenda and I’m not ok with that. We used to go 3 or 4 times per year. We won’t go again until they stop the woke stuff”
Disney Parks 4th Quarter Earnings Call showed signs that the company may be feeling the crunch from these protests. Earnings were well below anticipated estimates and stocks suffered more dramatically than they have in 20 years immediately after the call. The Disney online community continuously comments “go woke, go broke” in protest what they perceive as a “Woke agenda.” While the company certainly won’t go broke, it is possible they may take a step back from politics if these financial trends continue.
