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Hello and welcome to the programme.

Now, if you had cycled through Piccadilly Circus yesterday,

you would have seen the huge illuminated screen devoted to promoting Coca-Cola

being used by Coke to offer a kind of history of the different pride flags, the rainbow flag, the lesbian

pride flag, the trans pride flag, etc. Coca-Cola clearly spending money to publicly show its

attachment to LGBT plus rights in that way. Now for many, that's a sensible thing to do. It's all

about the appeal to younger target consumers,

many of whom consider those issues non-negotiable. For others, though, it's just one of the myriad

examples of corporations going woke, parading values that are little to do with the product,

but just as a way of showing off the business's compliance

with the progressive worldview of young social liberals who often inhabit Twitter.

Well, we thought we should talk through the business of taking a political stand.

There was a good example a couple of weeks ago, Halifax promoting on social media

its pronouns policy,

putting the preferred pronouns of staff on their name badges so that there's no confusion

as to the way the trans staff should be addressed and also as a way of normalising the idea

that gender can't be assumed. Halifax allying itself with the trans community.

Now in that case, in response to those who dislike the practice,

the company literally tweeted the suggestion they could take their business elsewhere.

If you disagree with our values, you're welcome to close your account, they said.

Is that good business?

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