We’ve partnered with industry icon Mark Ritson on the ADWEEK MiniMBA in Marketing, a program that helps you become the best marketer you can be. The next course begins April 7 — sign up now (or consider it for one of your team members).
This week, we’re publishing two companion columns from Mark on whether major brands should publicly weigh in on the events in Minneapolis. Here’s the other perspective.
A photograph has haunted me all week.
A grainy image of a five-year-old wearing a blue bunny hat and clutching his preschool backpack, being detained alongside his father by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Whatever your politics, whatever your views on immigration enforcement, that image represents something unprecedented in modern American history.
And yet, as I scan the statements from America’s largest corporations — many headquartered mere miles from where Renee Good was shot dead by a federal agent — I find myself staring at a void. An expanse of corporate nothingness where meaningful brand positioning should exist.
I realize some will counsel caution. But the data, and the commercial evidence, suggest that staying silent in moments of genuine crisis carries its own devastating risks. Minneapolis isn’t a political minefield. It’s a defining test of corporate character.
A decisive majority
Let’s start with the numbers that matter. A New York Times/Siena poll found 63% of registered voters now disapprove of how ICE is handling its job, with 55% strongly disapproving. A CNN poll shows 51% believe ICE enforcement is making cities less safe. YouGov data reveals ICE’s net approval has plummeted 30 percentage points in a single year. This isn’t a 50-50 wedge issue where brands should tread carefully. This is a decisive majority position. When you have two-to-one public sentiment against an agency conducting operations inside your stores and arresting your employees, staying silent doesn’t protect you. It aligns you with the minority by default.
The commercial case for courage
According to Edelman’s 2025 Trust Barometer, 64% of global consumers choose brands based on their beliefs, up four points year-over-year. More than half say they would buy less from brands that ignore their obligation to address societal issues. The Sprout Social Q3 2025 Pulse Survey shows 63% of Gen Z and 57% of Millennials are more likely to purchase from companies that speak out.
