Companies' actions considered the most "woke" by adults in the U.S. 2023

As of June 2023, approximately 56 percent of adults surveyed in the United States reported considering companies that supported the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month to be "woke." The acronym stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning) persons, and other sexual orientations and gender identities. Brands that aligned with an LGBTQ+ person and promoted diversity and inclusion in branding followed, each mentioned by 55 percent of respondents. Less than half (49 percent) of the interviewees deemed "woke" for a company to make environmental, social, and governance investments, also known as ESG investing.

Roots and implications of an adjective

As an adjective, the term "woke" dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century, and its origin remains an ongoing debate. The word is often used in African-American English (AAE) as the past participle of the verb "to wake" (instead of "woken"). It entered the 21st century as a term defining the quality of being aware of social injustice and discrimination, mainly based on ethnicity. A recurring idiom among the adjective's detractors is "go 'woke,' go broke," suggesting that companies pursuing that label inevitably face financial trouble. However, according to the same study, almost half of U.S. consumers did not intend to boycott a "woke" brand. Little more than one-quarter reported willingness to do so.

Do consumers find 'woke' bad or good?

The survey also showed that nearly three out of 10 U.S. adults did not know or had no opinion on the connotation of "woke" companies. Around 35 percent of respondents deemed it somewhat or very negative, whereas another 35 percent found it positive. One way to put these figures into perspective is to examine the chasm between different generations' viewpoints. Almost half of U.S. Gen Zers thought referring to a brand as "woke" was positive, while about the same share of baby boomers regarded it as negative.