PR Firm Warns Corporations Not to Speak Out About Abortion — Sort Of

It looks like the corporate world might be learning a lesson or two from Disney’s mistake of weighing in on the side of wokeness. Someone in our company discussion board here at PJ Media dubbed it “the DeSantis Effect.”

The latest battleground that could potentially tempt woke CEOs is the forthcoming Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the urgency of which has been exacerbated by the leak of a draft decision that Justice Samuel Alito wrote.

We’ve seen the fearmongering, hissy-fit-pitching, and other forms of bad sportsmanship from the left, and it’s worth watching Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) go on the warpath one more time:

THIS is the energy every single Democrat should be bringing to the fight to protect Roe.

End the filibuster. Codify Roe. pic.twitter.com/bYjuDz6XG7

— BoldProgressives.org (@BoldProgressive) May 3, 2022

You tell ’em, Tramples Over Shrubbery. (Excuse me for a second while I wipe the spittle off my screen.)

It might be tempting for corporations to use the leaked draft and the upcoming Dobbs ruling as an opportunity to virtue signal on abortion. After all, we’re about to spend the entire month of June having LGBT Pride shoved in our faces, and Disney demonstrated its far-left bona fides in the wake of Florida passing its Don’t Say Gay Parental Rights in Education legislation until Gov. Ron DeSantis smacked Disney down with an emphatic “No sir!”

One renowned public relations firm is sounding a warning to corporations not to give in to the temptation to wax leftist on abortion.

“Zeno is a multinational company with almost $120 million in annual revenue and a roster of blue-chip corporate clients including Coca-Cola, Salesforce, Hershey’s, Netflix, and Starbucks. Zeno is also a part of Edelman Holdings, the world’s largest public relations conglomerate,” writes Judd Legum at Popular Information. “According to Zeno CEO Barby Siegel, the firm’s mission is to ‘champion the courageous to achieve something better for humankind.'”

Zeno is telling its clients that mum’s the word when it comes to Dobbs — sort of.

Related: CEOs See Disney Vs. Florida as a Warning

(Legum gets wrong what the Dobbs decision could do. He says that the Supreme Court could “end all constitutional protections for abortion rights” rather than simply return the debate over abortion to the states — whether he wrote that way on purpose or not, it’s proof that the media is twisting the potential ruling as often as they can.)

Zeno’s executive vice president for media strategy, Katie Cwayna, sent an email template to the company’s staff to share with their clients advising them to stay on the sidelines in this debate.

“Do not take a stance you cannot reverse, especially when the decision is not final,” the boilerplate email reads. “This topic is a textbook ’50/50′ issue. Subjects that divide the country can sometimes be no-win situations for companies because regardless of what they do they will alienate at least 15 to 30 percent of their stakeholders… Do not assume that all of your employees, customers or investors share your view.”

It’s brilliant advice, straight out of the Michael Jordan “Republicans buy sneakers, too” playbook. But not so fast. Zeno wrote Legum to clarify what the email meant to convey.

“The email you reference does not accurately reflect Zeno’s position or the range of counsel that we are providing to clients,” their message to Legum reads. “It was meant to advise clients within the first 24 hours of breaking news, and its intent was to counsel clients to be measured in their immediate response to a complex developing story.”

And, of course, Zeno includes the typical left-speak disclaimers about the firm’s belief in “equal access to healthcare for all, and a woman’s right to make decisions about her healthcare.”

It’s still wise counsel to advise companies to avoid knee-jerk reactions to news items like the draft leak, but these companies should also heed the advice to stay out of hot-button issues in which a strong stand in one way or another could alienate significant portions of their customer base.

We’ll just have to see if corporations will stick with that counsel.