"Our Newest Culture Warriors: Activist C.E.O.s," 2 Mar 2018

In the wake of the school shootings...companies like Delta, Hertz and Symantec distanced themselves from the National Rifle Association by eliminating benefits to their members.Dick’s Sporting Goods...took it...further: The company announced that it had unilaterally raised the age limit for firearms sales and stopped selling the AR-15, the weapon used in Parkland and other...mass shootings. The C.E.O, Edward Stack, said...the company was “going to take a stand and step up and tell people our view and, hopefully, bring people along into the conversation.” They exemplify a recent phenomenon, “C.E.O. activism,” in which corporations and their chief executives pick a side in the culture war. Some companies have benefited, through gains in popularity or even sales, by taking such stands...but other firms have faced angry consumers and had to retrench. Like our politicians, corporate chiefs will have to quickly figure out what stand they should take on the issue of the day by reflecting on their core convictions and estimating how their (customer) base will react. The issues that divide us will keep being served up in relentless succession, forcing companies to take stands on just about everything. [Refers to Papa John's].