This is about hiring, not marketing… and while I’ll have to check because it was some years ago, when it came to marketing I found the opposite was true; but not for the reasons you would expect

That being said, it was still better to “go woke”, than not

Basically it boils down to the fact that people typically will not purchase a product they do not want even if they support the company that makes the product

But people who do want the product will not buy from a company if they do not support that company

So as an example, if a jack hammer company “goes woke” and sells a gay pride Jack Hammer sales won’t go up because very few people are going to go out and buy a Jack Hammer they don’t want or need just because they support gay pride. However, those that do need a Jack Hammer will either continue to purchase the Jack Hammer (meaning the woke marketing had no effect because he was already going to buy the Jack Hammer) or they will buy a Jack Hammer from a different company because the “woke” marketing upset them

Companies that already had a strong liberal backing, like cards against humanity, could use “woke” marketing to increase sales, but only temporarily. For instance, if on average a Cards Against Humanity player buys one expansion pack a year, you might be able to get that person to buy two if you make a special time “Gay Pride” pack. Sales will increase for that quarter but then go back to the average after

But it can still be beneficial to “go woke” just to protect your companies image.

For example, “Gay Pride” night at sporting events are usually the worst selling nights. The reason is stated above. You’re not going to go to a baseball game if you hate baseball and those that like baseball will choose to not go on Pride Night if they disagree with the cause. But, it’s still better to have a Pride Night than not have one because being the only team that did not have a Pride Night is a bad look. You don’t want to be known as the only bigoted baseball team in the league

This can be really bad if by some pure chance the wrong group of people support your lack of Gay Pride Night and adopt you as an unofficial spokesperson. The last thing you want is a bunch of MAGA hat wearing transphobic bigots wearing your teams Jersey as part of their unofficial uniform.

It’s better to lose ticket sales on a game or two than wake up and find out that your companies hat is now the hat of choice for the proud boys.

So you go woke to let the world know you are not ok with bigotry