CHATTERJI AND TOFFEL
CEOs who resigned from Trump’s economic councils (a group that
included Plank) were widely praised. The applause for Merck’s Fra-
zier, the fi rst to step down, was particularly eff usive. “Mr. Frazier,
thank you for your courageous stand,” tweeted U.S. representative
Keith Ellison. The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect was even
more emphatic, tweeting “A HERO: Ken Frazier.”
This controversy also highlighted the risk of silence, which may
be viewed as a sign of tacit approval. The New York Times and CNBC
published lists of which CEOs remained on the president’s various
economic councils, with CNBC noting that “with each new resig-
nation, those left on the council faced increased scrutiny.” Oracle’s
CEO had similarly been put on the spot when a group of workers
from that company launched a petition urging their employer to join
numerous other companies in opposing Trump’s immigration ban.
Their eff ort attracted national attention, with USA Today observing,
“More than 130 tech companies— from Apple to Zynga— have signed
the amicus brief. Oracle and IBM have not.”
Still, CEOs should keep in mind that reactions to activism can
cut both ways. While Benioff ’s advocacy has been widely praised,
he admitted to CBS News that Colin Powell, the former secretary of
state and a retired four- star general— and now a Salesforce director—
warned him: “The farther you go up the tree, the more your backside
is going to be exposed, and you’d better be careful.” After Chick- fi l-
A’s Cathy spoke out against gay marriage, the chain faced consumer
picket lines and a boycott— but also a countervailing “ Chick- fi l- A
Appreciation Day,” which attracted large crowds of customers.
Indeed, in a Weber Shandwick survey 40% of respondents said they
would be more likely to purchase from a company if they agreed
with the CEO’s position, but 45% said they’d be less likely to if they
disagreed with the CEO’s view.
We conducted our own experiment to assess the infl uence of
CEO activism on U.S. consumers’ behavior. In it, we asked a nation-
ally representative group of respondents about their intent to buy
Apple products in the near future. To some, we fi rst provided a
statement describing CEO Tim Cook’s opinion that Indiana’s reli-
gious freedom bill was discriminatory against LGBTQ individuals;