Remember the days before Coronavirus when you carried a keep cup? Or a chilly bottle? And I bet before the pandemic you dutifully took your well branded tote bag every time you went to the local shops. But go on, admit it. You would still fly away on holiday, although you were trying to do less of it; you’d hop in an uber or drive a car. And, yes, you believed in supporting your local High Street shops, but you booked your supermarket delivery, ordered too much food, and ended up throwing stuff away because it went out of date. 

Well, hello my friend. You, like me, and many others in our pre-COVID lives were a latte activist. Good intentions, strong beliefs and values, but bad habits, and frankly, when life got too hectic, those good intentions went out of the window. Let’s face it, very few of us are committed enough, virtuous enough, or free enough to dedicate our lives to a cause.  

The Latte Activists are an audience archetype we developed back in 2019, when we were working with the ethical soft drinks company Karma Cola. The insight was that as a business with ethical credentials in their DNA, Karma drinks could be the visible antidote to counteract all of the contradictions and hypocrisies of modern life. The executions featured comic strips of climate change activists hopping on a plane for a stag do, complaining loudly about gentrification whilst walking into Shoreditch House, farting in a yoga class, or failing to go on a morning run. In truth, it was an audience we all readily identified with.  

Contradictions make us human

Whilst it would be easy to pass judgement on these contradictions, they are what make us human, and interesting, and most importantly, rather than just being a gesture, they are also the catalyst that can spur us on to make deeper change. 

Brands can be latte activists too. Over recent years, awards shows have been littered with work featuring outward displays and gestures of a brand’s good intentions. They have been click-bait for juries who rewarded them with a healthy haul of gongs. Aligning with a cause and finding your purpose as a brand to get standout and attention became de-rigueur. The industry was at first enamoured with it but has since become cynical towards outward displays of wokeness from brands.  

But, to offer up a different perspective; rather than dismiss it as tokenism, perhaps we should embrace it as part of a journey. What starts as tokenism can become totemic and drive bigger change. When I worked with Skittles on the rainbow-less packs for Pride, the brief started off as opportunism. But what began with us mocking up press packs, and thinking about the headlines, was embraced by the Mars organisation. An experiment, greeted with a little taste of success, quickly became a meaningful commitment to a cause, rolled out across multiple markets. It also happened to be good for sales.

From tokenism to totemic

In the current pandemic tokenism is derided, whilst genuine commitment is applauded. Witness the difference between LMVH and BrewDog. Both offering the same assistance in the form of hand sanitiser; two radically different approaches. Seventy-two hours after the French government issued a request for businesses to help supply key medical equipment, LVMH went into production of hand gel. They produced 12 tonnes by the end of the week, and only talked about it once it was in hospitals. 

BrewDog took the latte activist route. They issued a mock-up of their bottles before they started production. Sadly, their first batch had to be rejected by the NHS for not being medical grade. The cynic might lambast the brand for being seen to help rather than genuinely helping. But the latte activist actions of BrewDog are leading to them doubling down, going back to the drawing board and focusing on producing a product that does fit the required standards.  

Outward displays of values, however tokenistic, drive innovation and drive change for good. They raise awareness of issues amongst an audience, spark debate, and put budgets behind under-represented causes. Most businesses and organisations believe opportunism needs to be backed up. They don’t want the bad headline of a token gesture, such as Iceland’s palm oil backlash or BrewDog’s rejected hand gel. So, although it may start off as a token gesture, any smart brand signing up to be a latte activist will make sure that they back it up with substance, even if they don’t get it right first time. 

When life eventually returns to a new kind of normal, no doubt people’s balance of behaviour and values will once again return to be inherently flawed and ‘human’. So, let’s embrace and celebrate the people and brands who are latte activists, rather than dismiss their token gestures. All these good intentions and small changes can add up to something bigger, even if they are accompanied by bad habits, and the odd fart in a yoga class.