Take a look at Target’s 2023 Pride Month products, Bud Light’s unfortunate partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, and Cracker Barrel’s plans for a logo update in 2025. The phrase “go woke, go broke” seems to ring true in many cases.
But does that necessarily indicate a failure of progressive messaging?
According to BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre, the situation is more complicated than that.
“Though a lot of what’s considered woke was, let’s say, pretty cringeworthy and often resulted in financial loss, what if it had a broader social impact?” he poses.
On a recent episode of “The Auron MacIntyre Show,” MacIntyre and his guest, social scientist and online political commentator Aydin Paladin, delved into this topic.
Auron points out that many conservatives have brushed off the woke movement, believing that “the market ultimately decides.”
“Consumers will spend their dollars wisely; they’ll pay attention to what matters, and this will pressure companies to align with financially beneficial trends. So, even if some bizarre messages come from the progressive left in Hollywood, eventually, when they flop, they’ll revert back to more traditional — and perhaps less controversial — media narratives,” he explains, reflecting a common belief that wokeness can’t last.
While it’s true that wokeness has struggled financially, it may have succeeded in different areas, Paladin argues.
In her recent video “The Disturbing Psychology of Hollywood’s Moral Collapse,” she claimed that despite the financial failures of many progressive-themed projects over the past decade, the core ideas behind them have become more acceptable in society through narrative influence.
“When you consider the financial backing from industry giants like Disney and Black Rock, ultimately, it was less about their success and more about the fact that these ideas might have lodged themselves in people’s minds permanently. It’s quite tough to unlearn something once it’s been learned,” she tells Auron.
“People desire explanations for their world. They can’t experience everything first-hand,” Auron notes.
In discussions around subjects like sexuality and history, “whoever frames the conversation… effectively lays the groundwork for future discussions,” he explains.
They argue that Hollywood has taken on that role, frequently introducing particular subjects. Their decade-long commitment to progressive themes in entertainment has made certain ideas feel like normal assumptions, even if many films and shows didn’t succeed at the box office.
Paladin references the sitcom “Will and Grace” from the late ’90s and early 2000s as an example.
“Research indicates there was a significant influence on people’s attitudes toward gay and lesbian individuals when they were exposed to ‘Will and Grace.’ This show presented gay representation in a mostly positive light, which wasn’t typical prior, and consequently, it shaped a more favorable perception of homosexuality,” she says.
To catch the entire discussion, be sure to watch the episode above.
