We spend more time at work than we do with our families. Must we be brand ambassadors too? Josh Bornstein
We live in a time when an errant tweet or a Facebook ‘like’ can bring a career undone. It wasn’t always like this
Corporations now invest more than ever in their brands, which proclaim that they care, are imbued with commendable purposes and are activists for social betterment. In reality the corporate-brand industry is a form of ethics-washing. When threatened, the brand is unforgiving and ruthless.
And as social media use has reduced our attention span to 45-second bites and upended our lives and culture, it has also threatened the brand. The broken democracy of social media has fomented a culture of shaming, punishment, bullying and Colosseum justice. It is replete with bad-faith actors who seek to punish their foes by depriving them of income. This is done by the simple device of linking an individual’s speech to their corporate employer, then pressuring the corporation to take action. It has allowed anyone to criticise, satirise or try to smear a corporation online.
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