“Apple has waded further into the political fray recently, sometimes against its will, but the jury’s still out on what the impact will be on the brand or the business,” Emily Stewart writes for TheStreet.
“Apple has decided not to provide funding or support for the Trump-helmed Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July,” Stewart writes. “Historically, Apple has been rather hesitant to get entrenched in politics and has stayed neutral. Cook’s predecessor, Steve Jobs, was famously reticent to political involvement.”
Data from YouGov’s BrandIndex, a daily perception research service for brands shows that “at the start of the year, Apple had an ‘impression rating’ of more than 45 (meaning 45% more people said they were positive than negative about the brand) among Democrats and of over 40 among Republicans,” Stewart writes. “Since that time, Apple’s rating among Democrats has dropped to about 30 and among Republicans to about 35.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Some people have said that I shouldn’t get involved politically because probably half our customers are Republicans – maybe a little less, maybe more Dell than ours. But I do point out that there are more Democrats than Mac users so I’m going to just stay away from all that political stuff because that was just a personal thing. — Steve Jobs, August 2004
SEE ALSO:
Nancy Pelosi blasts Apple CEO Tim Cook for hosting GOP fundraiser – June 28, 2016
Apple’s detestable moral hypocrisy – June 21, 2016
Apple CEO Cook to host Paul Ryan fundraiser as company tries to strengthen relationships with key Republicans – June 20, 2016
Apple quashes rifle Emoji – June 20, 2016
Apple refuses to aid 2016 GOP presidential convention over Trump comments – June 18, 2016
Apple condemns Mississippi’s new religious freedom law – April 7, 2016
Apple objects to North Carolina law company says discriminates against LGBTs – March 28, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook attends secret meeting with tech CEOs , top Republicans in plot to stop Trump – March 8, 2016
Apple backs U.S. bill banning lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender discrimination – July 23, 2015
Tim Cook leads over 8,000 Apple employees in San Francisco Gay Pride Parade – June 29, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook celebrates gay marriage ruling: ‘Here’s to the crazy ones’ – June 26, 2015
Tim Cook: Apple ‘deeply disappointed’ with Indiana’s new religious-objections law – March 27, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook attends secret meeting with tech CEOs , top Republicans in plot to stop Trump – March 8, 2016
Apple’s climate change efforts might be based on misguided idealism – April 21, 2015
Apple CEO Cook makes ‘substantial’ donation for gay rights activists in U.S. South – December 19, 2014
Alabama sexual orientation anti-discrimination bill to be named after Apple’s Tim Cook – December 4, 2014
Apple CEO challenges home state of Alabama on LGBT rights – October 27, 2014
Apple joins Gay Pride parade in Austin, Texas – September 21, 2014
Apple releases video highlighting employee participation in San Francisco’s LGBT Pride Parade – July 8, 2014
Tim Cook, Apple employees march in LGBT Pride Parade in San Francisco – June 30, 2014
Apple inviting employees to march in annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade – May 7, 2014
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “David E.” for the heads up.]
I know Steve is no longer with us.
But I wish Apple would be more like the Apple under Steve when it came to politics.
I believe it’s more values than politics. Every corporation has mission/vision/values. Apple is more upfront with its values. It is a highly diverse corporation with a highly diverse market & audience. Its politics are pretty evenhanded.
It’s not very diverse at all. It talks the talk, but walking the walk is prevented by reality. Evenhanded Politics? I don’t think so. It’s the worst of contradictions. A socialist leaning corporation favoring the politics of those who would happily take every last cent they earn and squander it on war and ineffective social programs.
Your histrionics are ridiculous, TMac. I used to have some common ground with you on Apple technologies. But you are increasingly posting rather radical political comments. You have lost your way.
By the way, I find it interesting that a corporation deciding *not* to fund a political national convention is deemed more controversial and political than simply pitching in the cash and support as in years past.
Me too. Sadly it is now a Democrat lobbying firm.
I don’t even know or care if you have a point at this point, but I am impressed by your monomania and willingness to create new daily identities to keep up with your one note crusade as if people can’t figure your game out and so think you’re a legion of people.
MDN makes it easy for anyone to post anonymously under any name, even one assigned to a registered user. It won’t show up with the blue highlight and dot, but to many it will look the same.
Gee, you are incredibly intelligent, AnyAnonymousName! I agree completely with your viewpoints and would like to send you $5M to promote your cause. Consider this my formal and binding contractual commitment!
You can even roughly fake the MDN registered user dot with an option-R.
Many of us on this forum have suspected for years that one or a few vocal radicals post politicrap on this forum under a variety of names in an attempt to sow discord and promote their rather bizarre agendas.
Now you see how easy it is to do that. Despite repeated pleas, MDN refuses to limit posts to registered users, which would likely eliminate a substantial portion of the trash posts.
Exactly Ice Cowboy. This anonymous coward of many fake nicks is merely acting out against the things he hates about himself. Oh so typical human behavior.
AbsoLUTEly true- Timmy- STAY OUT OF POLITICS. Apple is not an LGBTQRS support group. I don’t really give a flying *fk* that you are gay but STOP pushing your PERSONAL agenda.
Computers should be apolitical. Please keep yourself above the fray Apple. You’re only cheapening your brand.
I have no problem as a customer and shareholder with Apple supporting issues like Marriage Equality, the environment, and other things that directly impact Apple’s workforce and the company. I do have a problem with them lending support to political parties.
There is an argument that playing the lobbying game gets you a seat at the table, but companies should not have to submit to a shakedown just to be heard. Apple employs lots of people and pays significant taxes- that should earn it a hearing on issues that impact business.
Finally, as to the whining about Apple supporting LGBTQ issues of equality, Apple has a significant interest in being able to recruit and retain the best talent. That cannot be done in a repressive backwards conservative legal environment where people can be openly discriminated against because of gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
Personally, I would like to eliminate *all* corporate money from politics. Corporations are *not* people, they cannot vote, and they should not be able to utilize the resources of a large and diverse group of investors to promote a political agenda defined by corporate management. This needs to stop now.
But corporations are taxed. Do you prefer taxation without representation? Any taxed entity has the right to lobby politicians and take sides. That’s why non-taxed 501C3s can’t take sides but only support of reject issues.
Is that a question or a statement? Or a questment? Are Koch’s politics hurting their brand. How about Hobby Lobby. The answer/response is probably Yes and No. Next issue/opinion.
Well, yeah, sure, keep it safe and keep your mouth shut. Or stand for something and speak up because you have a platform and the power to influence. Whether you agree or not, I respect and support one who stands for something and remains true to oneself. Let the sheep, ethically challenged and money-corrupt business ‘leaders’ stand for nothing and pretend they can isolate business from sociopolitical life. Jobs was not political in principle (republican or democrat) but never shied away from speaking his heart.
As a small shareholder it pisses me off that He is pushing his sexual bias on everyone. I dint go around throwing my hetro sexuality at every chance i get. Why is it acceptable to have this life style thrown in my face at every turn?
Let me explain (as one straight-as-an-arrow heterosexual to another). A white hetero man represents a majority, and as such enjoys all the privileges of the society. A gay man does not, and only because of the fact that he is gay. Much like the blacks of America marched and “threw their race in your face at every turn” (to use your own words) in the sixties, so are gay people doing now in hope of getting same rights and not being discriminated against. Nobody chooses to.become gay; it immediately puts you at grave disadvantage in life, not to mention physical danger (almost every single gay man had at some point in their life been physically assaulted because of him being gay). Quite many gays would love nothing more than to simply one day wake up straight, with all the life’s obstacles and threats against their person gone. It doesn’t work that way, though. Hey are stuck, for the rest of their lives, with what they are. And the only Hong left to try is to ask others to let them be. Allow them to live their lives like anyone else.
That is why they walk in parades.
So your position is that people in positions of power should broadcast their personal opinions to drown out the legitmate views of the rest of the citizenry? That in a nutshell is how a democracy erodes from within.
It comes down to the duty of the job he holds. If Cook cares more about social issues than Apple technology, then he needs to resign and apply his talents in his true calling. Using company resources to further personal agendas is not only wrong, it should be illegal — even if we agree on the righteousness of his cause.
No corporation (or leader thereof) should ever have the power to trump the democratic process, but that is exactly what is happening in America degree by degree. The fact that some people think this kind of corruption is acceptable is shocking.
Cook lives in a free country and he is legally allowed to express his opinion anywhere and in any way he chooses. Like you. Or me. We do it here. Some people hear us (and, judging by the star votes, agree or disagree), and some of them we sway by our arguments, if they are persuasive enough. Cook doing his job as the CEO, and Cook sharing his opinion with those who care to listen, are two completely unrelated things, and once law begins to tie them together, you lose free speech. His job performance is judged by the board of directors based on the metrics and criteria of their choosing. What he does as a pro at citizen may or may not be one of the criteria, but no law exist (or should exist) that would force the tying of the two together. If Apple board likes the way Tim Cook is leading the company, AND, if they like his personal quest for inclusion, they will let hem continue his job. If they don’t like any one thing about him, they will let him know, perhaps giving him a chance to change. And he will be able to decide if he wants to change or leave the company. But that decision will only be boards or his; not court’s.
If you’re called an idiot, better to keep your mouth shut than to say something and remove all doubt.
Mr. Cook is a brilliant and decent man but…
1. You cannot win what is effectively a cultural civil war in America. If you choose a side, you alienate 50% of the country on the other.
2. Your job is to make Apple succeed. Not to solve social problems for the country.
3. Dealing with politicians will only get you stabbed in the back and made to look like an asshole. It doesn’t matter which side they are on. They are scum. When you climb into their cesspool you get dirty. Consequently, stay out of it. If you cannot do this, you become a liability.
duh.
If Apple wants to make a real political statement they should start donating money to countries of the free and civilized world. Boy that would get repubicans and demoncrats going. Of course they won’t really do that, no one wants to run a business from Guantanamo on the Bay Resort, still open, still available, still a beacon, an icon of how to become a morally bereft nation.
Like the paper says: “Tim Cook has taken on the mantle of a powerful voice in the public affairs of the U.S. and the world,”
Yes people of the free and civilized world, it does sound like two different things doesn’t it.
Jobs didn’t include Newt Gingrich or Ayn Rand in the “Think Different” campaign.
Now, if Jobs had instigated a “Think Stupid” or “Think Hate” campaign…
Whether you like it or don’t, Steve told Tim NOT to just run Apple the way he would have. If the board thinks that’s awful, they’ll do something about it. All you who say the politics stink and use derogatory gay remarks, if it agreed with your positions, would you still be upset?