Being great at what you do in your job or for your business is one thing. Behaving in an unethical or a bigoted way is another.
And find out why this matters — and can affect your job, career and/or even your business.
This was exactly how I went from being obsessed with the Harry Potter book and movie series since childhood — to not wanting anything to do with JK Rowling again, including not purchasing anymore merchandise or books relating to Harry Potter or by anything by JK Rowling after she made a number of transphobic tweets and had amplified transphobic content on social media, most notably, Twitter.
Unfortunately, Rowling is not the first — or the last — or the only person to undermine and harm her job with her conduct and poor ethics.
Take a look at other brands and individuals for example. Dolce & Gabbana, who designs really neat, artistic fashion pieces going from hundreds to over thousands of dollars, have ruined their own reputation by being homophobic, transphobic and racist, despite being a gay couple themselves. Celebrities, including Elton John have boycotted Dolce & Gabbana as a result. To more local businesses, I will talk about Pebbles Hooper, the daughter of Denise L’Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper, who are the founders of WORLD NZ, a New Zealand luxury brand with stores in multiple locations across the country, including one in Ponsonby (the area that Pebbles likes to verbally attack online). Pebbles Hooper has repeatedly engaged in abusive behavior online, and has been removed from Instagram 20+ times now. Twitter (and other platforms) have also taken action against her. She is also facing court — and legal action after defaming an Auckland baker, with the result that the Auckland baker had faced death threats from Hooper’s fan base and supporters. While there has been no boycott movement to date relating to WORLD NZ, I, for one, will not be buying any items from that brand until the founders condemn the behavior of their daughter, take steps to make sure that she has nothing to do with the brand, and issue an apology and distance themselves from Pebbles. Bullying and online bullying is a serious issue in New Zealand, and having being a victim of online harassment before, I will not tolerate any individual or business who engages in bullying. However, people have condemned her online, with many calling her out for her conduct and hypocrisy.
Another one — Sia, is a celebrity who is well known for her pop music, some of which I have on my spotify playlist, such as Thunderclouds, chandelier and Elastic Heart. However, just last year, she produced a movie called “music” — which is an ableist movie about a young autistic girl known as “music”. The movie also contains racial and gendered stereotypes, and trivializes people with alcohol and drug addictions. The movie also contains intensive strobing, hazy and flash light effects, which could trigger a seizure in people with photosensitive epilepsy (other movies use intensive strobe effects, such as Cruella and Star Wars, but they implement a warning before the film starts). Being on the spectrum myself with mild Asperger's, I find the whole storyline offensive, and the way the characters were portrayed in both Sia’s music videos and the film does not represent autistic people at all. The songs are quite good, and are cheerful, actually, but the music videos aren’t due to the character portrayals. Furthermore, Sia continued to defend herself and the movie on Twitter. This is another example of unethical and bigoted behavior undermining Sia’s reputation as a singer.
Alcohol Healthwatch, while not a business or an individual, is an organization who is taking action on alcohol harm. But, Nicki Jackson and the entire organization is not only going about it the wrong way by wanting alcohol laws to be tightened — rather than funding rehabilitation and other support services for people with alcohol and drug addictions, but is actually undermining their own work, from amplifying tweets by the WCTU (which historically has had ties to the KKK), to using gendered language and to victim blaming while calling out Steinlager as a “colonial” business, which is the epitome of irony. Racism, sexism, transphobia and irony all in one go.
It doesn’t matter that you’re a fashion designer, like Dolce & Gabbana. It doesn’t matter that you’re an immediate family member of someone who is a founder of a famous fashion brand or other well known businesses, like Pebbles Hooper. It doesn’t matter that you’re a famous book author, like JK Rowling — or a singer, like Sia. You can be good at your work, or at what you love — and undermine all of that with your bigoted views, unethical behavior or unethical decisions, or bullying etc. You might as well not have a job, or do what you love — because you won’t be making much of a profit when people boycott you. If you’re working for a company, you could lose your job as your boss has the right to sack you for violating their company rules — and holding hateful views. Also, online commerce companies like shopify, finance platforms like PayPal and social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook could de-platform you for violating their Terms of Service. And when that happens, that could have a huge negative impact on your business, as many business rely on social media and advertising to help increase profits. In the most extreme cases, businesses whose founder and owner engages in the behavior described above have been forced to close their doors.
People don’t want businesses, influencers, celebrities and other public figures to be bigots. People want to support businesses, influencers and celebrities who contribute to society and are a setting a good example to others, especially young children. Pebbles Hooper being a cyber stalker and an online bully sets one of the worst examples for young children and teenagers, and teaches children and teenagers that it is OK to engage in this kind of behavior — when it is not.
Simply put, if you don’t want to face boycotts, or get de-platformed from any social media, finance, commerce or any other site or platform, be forced to close your business permanently or face legal troubles that could result in you going to prison with a criminal conviction, or worse, there is one simple thing that everyone should remember: Don’t be a bigot or a bully, and don’t behave in an unethical way. It’s not worth the criminal convictions, loss of profits, or being life banned from a platform. It’s not worth losing the ability to go overseas, or finding it hard to get a job or even being banned from creating or owning a business, or being unable to obtain a liquor license if you want to sell alcohol. Also, if you run a restaurant and get convicted for hate crimes, online harassment or unethical behavior (or any illegal or harmful offline behavior), you could lose your liquor license.
Be nice to others. Treat others the way you would want them to treat you. And this applies to all business owners and creators. One lesson to learn from: Don’t be a JK Rowling, or Dolce & Gabbana, Sia, or Pebbles Hooper. And for organizations — do your research, especially if you’re against racism and colonialism and people’s health, and don’t be like Alcohol Healthwatch.
