The Hollowness of Swedish CSR Policies
Last week a Chinese-American designer living in Stockholm posted a very brave, very disturbing Twitter thread about the racism and harassment she’s endured while living in Sweden.
Read the whole thread here.
The post quickly went viral and the reaction from the Swedish right was predictable — they responded with more racism:
On the one hand, it is surprisingly refreshing to see Kat’s story gain at least some media attention (although NOT in any of the major Swedish news outlets). On the other hand I’m severely disappointed in the lack of support shown by Swedish and Stockholm leaders to Kat’s, and others’ experiences with this much hatred. They are silent as mice. This devastating silence and acquiesce exposes a major weakness: most Swedish CSR policies are hollow, good looking but empty shells, not worth the they are printed with.
Over the last few years we’ve seen more and more U.S. companies take a stand against social injustices. Whether it’s campaigning against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, or promising to circumvent Texas’ anti-abortion laws, or any of the Black Lives Matter support, U.S. brands have become better at taking a stand in the face of hatred, racism and intolerance. The Swedish brands, not so much.
Take Spotify, for example. They recruited Kat to move here from the U.S. And Spotify has a great CSR policy. In their Diversity, Equity and Impact page, they say:
And yet, when it comes to one of their own designers (Kat no longer works there, by the way), I haven’t seen ONE WORD or ACTION in support of Kat on Spotify’s social media channels or anywhere else for that matter, no standing up to racism and hatred in Sweden. Nothing. The words above are cheap and disposable. It’s a hollow CSR policy.
Maybe Spotify is too cowardly to risk alienating their darling Joe Rogan, a serial spreader of misinformation and racism and who Spotify recently signed a $200M deal with for his podcasts. God forbid Spotify should offend the racists; it could be bad for business.
There has been nothing from Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify either. This is his baby, after all. But he hasn’t bothered with one word of support. My guess is that he is way too busy counting his Krugerands, watching Barcelona football while scheming how he can become a bigger oligarch by buying a major European football club.
Spotify’s CSR policy is really well written but, as the old song says, “Love goes out the door when money comes in your window.” It is hollow CSR.
Another company I thought would pipe up is InUse, one of Sweden’s best digital and design companies. Every year InUse hosts one of the best design conferences in the world “From Business to Buttons.” Every year they are able to get brilliant speaker from the U.S. to come to Stockholm for several days to inspire and workshop with Swedish designers. This last year, Kat Zhou was one of the keynote speakers, where she talked about:
“Designers should define and design ethical experiences”
InUse also has a solid CSR policy and they say:
And yet, like Spotify, I haven’t seen one word or action in of support for Kat Zhou or against the rising number of racism-related incidents in Sweden, not on InUse’s nor From Business to Buttons social channels. Nothing. You’d think that they would be a little bit more active and sensitive since their entire conference is based on attracting leading speakers from the U.S., where at least some people, maybe even a majority, take these things seriously. But again, words and pixels are cheap, but action takes bravery.
We are going to need Swedish companies and brands to act with much more bravery over the coming years, since the new Swedish government is in no small part directed by an extreme right wing party with Neo-Nazi roots. Things are going to get a lost worse before they are going to get better. And it is going to put Swedish CSR policies under a microscope, to show that they are indeed full of substance and not merely well styled hollow shells.
There are some very committed, mostly smaller Swedish companies who do actually walk the CSR walk. They are good role models but they are in the vast minority.
Swedish companies are facing what I call “The Groucho Marx Test.” In one of the old Marx Brothers movies, a bully threatens Groucho.
“Are you a man or a mouse?” the bully challenges Groucho. To which Groucho responds:
“Throw a piece of cheese on the floor and you’ll find out.”
For Swedish companies, the cheese is racism and hatred. Who will be brave enough to stand up and stop scurrying around on the floor?
p.s.
My former colleague Sara Hernandez, Business Developer at InUse, shared with me that a number of InUse employees had reached out to Kat to express their support.
It’s great that individuals show their support. But the corporate channels need to lead the way — it’s not enough to ask individuals to act bravely while the higher ups don’t. Hopefully InUse will act as well.
