A Call for “Deescalation” Modeled by Minnesota Businesses’ Nonpartisan “Open Letter”

Mary Beth West:

In the wake of more tragic violence in Minnesota this past weekend, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce dispatched this “open letter” to the public on January 25, calling “for peace and focused cooperation among local, state and federal leaders to achieve a swift and durable solution” to contentious federal / state immigration-enforcement matters at hand.

Note: This letter didn’t mention the terms “ICE” or “immigration enforcement” once, nor did it directly reference the core conflict of federal versus state law enforcement efforts and public protests. The closest the letter came to calling out recent events in Minnesota was the phrase “widespread disruption and tragic loss of life”:

Without litigating the excessively toxic, partisan issues at hand in Minnesota relative to protests, etc., the public relations industry should at least take additional note of these other aspects of the letter:

1. First, the nonpartisan content and tone of the letter were – to some of us – a refreshing change of pace from prior years’ statements by some corporations during civil unrest. To other observers, however, the letter fell short of satisfactorily pointing fingers and naming names (although such an approach would hardly have modeled a “deescalation” ethic). The nonpartisan tact opted instead to signal a desire by Corporate America residing in riot-ravaged Minnesota to stick to universally agreeable points of core merit (in this case: “Stop the Insanity!”). It also underscored recent years’ backlash to “corporate activism,” which has left many big brands feeling burned, their reputations tarnished with half their consumer voting populations, and their own future political leverage in Washington, D.C., painted into a corner.
2. Secondly, the volume of recognizable brands / logos represented in the letter is impressive (and a good reminder of just how many big players are headquartered in the North Star State). It’s very difficult to get this many corporate boards across so many diverse industry sectors to all agree on a message. Kudos to the Minnesota Chamber’s own leadership and comms team, who I presume did the brokering here.
3. Third, the call-to-action is clear… to wit, “Get your act together, Government Leaders!” Regardless of which side of the political aisle those local, state, and federal leaders may reside, all are responsible for arriving at a solution to end the chaos and violence. They are the only ones empowered to do so via government authority, and this letter does a workmanlike job of making this point abundantly clear.

While I personally hold very passionate political viewpoints myself (as many of us do), I have been a proponent of corporate nonpartisanship for many years now.

Having seen the utter destruction to stakeholder relationships that overt or veiled partisanship especially can inflict, I think it’s far wiser and more effective for companies to find that middle ground of universal common sense and plant their flags there… instead of staking them out in the hinterlands of a perceived political fringe. And that’s doubly true, when such contentious matters at hand are already fraught with partisan animus.

In addition, it’s always very interesting to me how those who advocate most stridently for companies to get political with their brands are really only advocating for their own personal political viewpoints to be celebrated and validated by big corporate logos – not someone else’s.

Given the high stakes and the urgency for peace and public safety to be restored in Minnesota, this letter’s ethical mandate required a judicious, even-handed approach. On that point, this letter succeeds.

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Based in the U.S., Mary Beth West (X: @marybethwest) is founder of The #PRethics Community on LinkedIn – an informal gathering place for exchange of PR ethics issues, standards, case studies, and best-practice conversations.