If a company that I really liked was facing a public lawsuit for discriminating against a group of people I belong to, I would have to say I would first be disappointed. I would probably read up as much as I could on the case, to see if it was blatant discrimination or if there was any room for a misunderstandings. If this was happening to a different company, one that I did not care about as much, I would not do this. This situation would likely influence how I would interact with this company moving forward. I would probably try to erase any history of me supporting the brand on social media (unfollow, unlike, etc.). In today’s society, any ties or links to a scandal or unethical company can reflect poorly on you.
As for supporting them and buying their products or services, I would probably withhold on doing that for a year after the scandal. Whether or not I support them after that is dependent on how the company and their PR department handles the scandal. If they address it and try to right their wrongs, then I would have no problem giving them a second chance. On the other side, if they try to cover-up the scandal and keep it on the down-low as much as possible, I would probably never give them my business again. Even if this company that I really liked hadn’t discriminated, I would have never applied to work their anyways. It’s kind of like when people say “never meet your heroes”. I would hate to go work for a company that I really liked, only to find out that they have a terrible work culture or unethical habits, because then it would be ruined for me.
2 replies on “Experiences with Discrimination”
Hi Cezanna,
I completely agree with you that if a company was faced with discrimination accusations, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. I like how you provide a distinguishing line though between the aftermath of such accusations and how you would feel depending on that organization’s response. Within this past year, I feel like more and more companies have started to make public statements about such accusations and just discrimination that is present in society in general. Because of this, I also feel like it has become a standard. For example, if a large company that I like to shop at did not make a comment on their stance about Black Lives Matter, that would leave a bad taste in my mouth too.
Thanks for sharing!
Morgan Acoba
Cezi,
I think you did a great job covering all the points. Like you talk about in your second paragraph it really depends how the company carries them self and deals with the issue. If they deal with it correctly then I would considering trying it again but if they do what many companies do, which is just saying they are going to change but never really do. I think you are right that if you were working at a company that was having these problems you would need a much better idea of the problems and make a decision after knowing everything.