Tuesday, August 8, 2023

They Went "Woke" (But Didn't Go Broke!)

 

The pink tsunami of female empowerment and healthy masculinity known as "Barbie" (the movie) appears to have overcome the backlash/ boycott ripple from far- right incels and misogynists =cough= Ben Shapiro =cough=, proving that you can have enlightened views about gender and society (i.e., "woke") and not "go broke."  In fact, they didn't "go broke" in a rather spectacular fashion:

Barbie has broken the US$1bn mark since its debut more than two weeks ago, with director Greta Gerwig breaking a record for female directors previously held by Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.

Warner Bros Pictures announced on Sunday that the movie took in $459m from North American theatres and another $572.1m overseas over the weekend, for a total of $1.0315bn (A$1.56bn, £800m). The figure was confirmed by media analytics firm Comscore.

“As distribution chiefs, we’re not often rendered speechless by a film’s performance, but Barbillion has blown even our most optimistic predictions out of the water,” said Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps, who oversee domestic and international distribution for the studio, in a joint statement.

The Margot Robbie-led and produced film has been comfortably seated in first place for three weeks and it’s hardly finished yet. It crossed $400m in the US and $500m internationally faster than any other movie at the studio, including the Harry Potter films...

Cry more, toxic males.

Also, in the least "woke" "sport" in the world, a driver still managed to FAFO:

Driver Noah Gragson has been suspended indefinitely and will not participate in NASCAR’s Cup Series race on Sunday due to his “actions” on social media, according to NASCAR and his team, Legacy Motor Club.

A screenshot circulating on social media purports to show Gragson’s Instagram account had liked a meme mocking George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a White police officer in Minneapolis in 2020. Neither NASCAR nor Legacy Motor Club specified the reason for the suspension and CNN has not independently verified the post.

Gragson apologized in a post on Twitter on Saturday.

“I am disappointed in myself for my lack of attention and actions on social media,” Gragson said. “I understand the severity of this situation. I love and appreciate everyone. I try to treat everyone equally no matter who they are. I messed up plain and simple.” 

Legacy Motor Club suspended Gragson indefinitely and said in a statement Saturday that his actions “do not represent the values of our team.” Gragson will be replaced by driver Josh Berry for this weekend’s Cup Series race at Michigan.

NASCAR “fully supports” the suspension of Gragson, it said in a statement, and added his actions on social media violated “the Member Conduct section of the 2023 NASCAR Rule Book” when issuing the suspension...

We don't think either the motor club or NASCAR are headed for bankruptcy for disciplining this clearly "un-woke" driver, so chalk up another one for the good guys.  Sorry MAGAts.

In fact, companies that have been targeted for boycotts by right- wing losers have not only survived, but prospered:

The 33 "worst of the worst" S&P 500 companies boycotted by the American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF) — including Target (TGT), Pfizer (PFE) and AT&T (T) — actually gained a collective $832 billion since being blacklisted. The ETF excludes these companies from its large-cap fund because it says they support "the liberal agenda."

It also seems these dolts love the same "woke" companies they want to see go broke:

... YouGov conducts regular polling evaluating the popularity of brands in the United States. I contacted their team for two pieces of information: What brands did Republicans view the most positively and, secondarily, what brands did they view disproportionately more positively than Democrats?

YouGov provided me with a list of 40 brands, 20 fitting each description. I searched the website of each, looking for corporate endorsements of diversity initiatives or, given the recent brouhaha over brands like Target, LGBTQ pride.

The result? Of the 20 brands with the most positive ratings from Republicans, seven had positions, news releases or other indicators of support for diversity. Four had statements or products offering support for pride or LGBTQ people. Eight companies had at least one of each.

Of the brands that Republicans liked more than Democrats by the widest margins, 12 had at least one of each, including fully 12 companies that had some indication of support for diversity efforts. Seven also had products or statements expressing support for LGBTQ issues or the gay community.

Oops!  Dare we say "Wake up!"