There has been considerable hand-wringing recently about the decline in global stature, anti-American sentiment, and boycotts of U.S. brands, all stemming from tariffs and the disruption of international trade. Which got me thinking, haven’t we infuriated the rest of the world before? U.S. foreign and economic policies have not always had a bandwagon effect. So, what might we learn from prior episodes of swimming against the global tide?
I plotted Pew data dating back to the start of this century, which confirmed my suspicions. Anti-American perceptions are nothing new. In fact, over the past 25 years, ratings of America by people in other countries have been lower when Republicans were in the White House (Bush and Trump) and higher, indeed, much higher, when Democrats were in the White House (Obama and Biden). It appears that the GOP governs in ways that don’t win global popularity contests. However, that doesn’t seem to matter one way or the other when it comes to policy and impact.
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So, I’m not sure what to make of recent headlines about poor perceptions or boycotts of American brands. Certainly, boycotts are not to be dismissed. They don’t often have an impact (the expert on this is Kellogg professor Brayden King, if you’re interested), but sometimes they do. Yet, based on past cycles of anti-American perceptions relative to who is in the White House, it appears that this was inevitable, even without tariffs. Obviously, tariffs have not helped and, indeed, have made things more complicated. However, it appears to be part of a cycle, rather than something permanent or destructive to the greater world order.
The market has been trending away from globalization as a unifying concept anyway. ‘Slowbalization’ is the idea now in vogue. Therefore, finding a local connection has been a priority for some time. Clearly, this will be a more significant issue going forward.
Meanwhile, we are sure to see a worsening of attitudes about America, as we always do during Republican administrations. Maybe that will matter to our brands. Maybe not. Perhaps it’s just part of the way public opinion cycles up and down over time. Perhaps it’s best to stay focused single-mindedly on adding value to achieve better brand solutions.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing at Kantar
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education
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