“Is 2025 the year the anti-woke trend reaches Sweden?”

New Republic Insight #3

Taking a stand and using certain concepts or words will be more difficult and require different trade-offs than before.

As the year draws to a close, news broke this week that SSAB is encouraging its employees to say “Happy Holidays” in addition to, or instead of, “Merry Christmas”. The global company, which employs people from different cultures, wanted to be inclusive but was met with a massive storm of criticism. By being perceived as “woke”, the steel company angered both the former Moderate Minister of Labor Sven Otto Littorin and the Sweden Democrat Party. SSAB's employees in Sweden also seem to have reacted negatively, reports SVT and TV4.

Although it remains to be seen whether the criticism will have any impact on SSAB's internal and external communication in the future, the media culture war that followed “good weekend-gate” seems to be a sign of the times. The Swedish Association of Communicators' new trend report states that 2025 will be the year when more people watch their tongues.

Taking a stand and using certain concepts or words will become more difficult and require different considerations than before. Like many other trends, this one comes from the US. Even before Trump won the US presidential election, several big brands had started to distance themselves from progressive marketing.

When Bud Light 2023 sent a can of beer to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, it culminated in a boycott that saw sales plummet 26% in just a few weeks. The company got cold feet, dumped the campaign and started sponsoring sporting events again. In November, Walmart announced it was winding down its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and reviewing its sponsorship of various pride campaigns under pressure from the conservative American right. Even Walmart's competitor Target reduced its range of pride merchandise this spring after intense criticism and threats to employees.

Perhaps the trend of right-wing forces making brands less woke is a natural backlash. For many years, the trend was the opposite, with left-wing activists “cancelling” companies and organizations that were not sustainable or equal enough. While it remains to be seen whether 2025 will be the year that the American anti-woke trend reaches Sweden, it is clear that companies need to take into account ongoing cultural currents and trends when developing their marketing and communication strategies. It will also affect how companies and organizations conduct political advocacy and opinion formation, as well as their willingness and ability to take political and commercial risks.

It will be exciting to see how many party and business leaders join Stockholm's pride parade in 2025.

Tobias Eke Vestergren

Senior Consultant, New Republic