CHATTERJI AND TOFFEL
Infl uence Public Opinion?”) Moreover, as we’ll discuss, we fi nd that
when CEOs communicate a stance on such issues, it can spur like-
minded consumers to purchase more of their products.
The Risks and Potential Rewards
In today’s politically charged atmosphere, mere affiliations with
political leaders or causes can be risky. A few weeks into Trump’s
term, Under Armour’s CEO, Kevin Plank, faced criticism after refer-
ring to the president as “a real asset for the country” in an interview.
One of his star pitchmen, the Golden State Warriors player Stephen
Curry, expressed his displeasure publicly. The hashtag #BoycottUn-
derArmour began appearing on Twitter, and other Under Armour
endorsers, including ballerina Misty Copeland, echoed Curry. The
company had to take out a full- page newspaper ad clarifying Plank’s
Our Research: Does CEO
Activism Infl uence Public Opinion?
Some of the experiments we conducted investigated whether and how CEO
activism might aff ect public opinion. In one, we developed a survey ask-
ing people if they supported or opposed Indiana’s Religious Freedom Res-
toration Act (RFRA), at a time when the controversy over it was still very
much in the news. In some cases, we fi rst told them that many were con-
cerned that the law might allow discrimination against gays and lesbians. In
other cases we attributed those concerns to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook; to Bill
Oesterle, who was then CEO of Indiana- based Angie’s List; or to the mayor
of Indianapolis.
The market research company Civic Science deployed our survey on the
hundreds of third- party websites (newspapers, entertainment sites, and
so on) with which it partners, gathering 3,418 responses from across the
United States. Among those in the baseline condition, who were not told of
any discrimination concern, 50% of respondents favored the law— evidence
of how split the country is on such legislation. Support for the law dipped
to about 40% among respondents who answered the question after being
presented with discrimination concerns, regardless of who expressed
them— a CEO or a politician— or even if they weren’t attributed to anyone
in particular.