In the Land of Corporate Virtue Signaling, LeBron James Is King

Forget the debate about who is the better basketball player. When it comes to politics, one thing is certain — LeBron James is far more vocal than Michael Jordan. While Jordan notoriously avoided getting involved in anything political during his heyday, James has taken to publicly criticizing President Trump.

James’ latest rebuke came alongside fellow basketball star Kevin Durant in a video co-produced by Uber.

This is part of a relatively new advertising campaign that features candid interviews with NBA stars in the backseat of Uber cars. The video is an example of how sports stars and corporations have become more political — the former by choice and the latter, some argue, under pressure from customers.

Consumer demand for companies to take a political stance has become especially acute in the battle between Uber and Lyft. (More on that below.)

Or just listen! I talked this all over with KQED Radio’s morning host, and North Carolina Tar Heel fan, Brian Watt.

There has been a shift in the world of sports and business marketing since the era of Jordan. Many thought the NBA star often shied away from politics because he didn’t want to risk his multi-million dollar endorsement deals.

Today, companies like Uber are using a heated political moment to provide a platform for sports stars, the most recent being the ad campaign with James and Durant.

Today, customers are increasingly pushing companies to take a stance, or “virtue signal,” that is, to appear to be on a particular side or represent certain ideals that consumers identify with. James is a particularly powerful signaler. He throws jabs at Trump on Twitter. He publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

Uber tapped into all that when it recently released the ad of LeBron James and Kevin Durant talking candidly about everything from basketball to being black in America. At around the 6-minute mark the pair start talking about President Trump, and what they had to say has garnered a lot of attention.

Here’s the backstory on Uber’s marketing move. Last year the company lost a lot of customers to its smaller competitor Lyft, in part because Uber failed to appear that it was distancing itself from Trump and his administration’s travel ban. In the moment, Lyft donated $1 million to the ACLU, and it launched an ad campaign with the central message “it matters how you get there.”

There’s an implication by these companies that the decision of which ride app to take is in part a moral choice. I produced a story about Lyft’s messaging and appeal to liberals, which you can read about here.

One important thing to remember is that Uber and Lyft often operate in cities, where there’s a large population of liberal consumers. In the age of Trump, these companies have to be particularly careful in how they craft their brand, and that crafting requires attention to politics and prominent social issues.

Uber has taken lots of steps to try and clean up its image since its disastrous year in 2017. It replaced its much criticized CEO Travis Kalanick with Dara Khosrowshahi, an outspoken critic of Trump.

Last July, Uber hired Bozoma Saint John as its first chief brand officer, with the goal of becoming the “official ride of pop culture.” And in October, the company started rolling out the NBA interview ad campaign, the latest of which has become fodder for cable news commentators.

Fox host Laura Ingraham said James should just “shut up and dribble.” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich, another vocal critic of the Trump administration, came to LeBron’s defense.

All of the media attention brought a lot of eyeballs to the video, many of them liberals who are drawn to the critical remarks these two prominent sports stars have to make about Trump.

In the end, the sports stars get a platform to air their political opinions, and a company like Uber tags along for the ride.