Brands can no longer stay away from social and political issues. We asked some of the biggest names in the industry how to do it right.

Consumers seem to expect brands to take a stand on certain social and political issues, but it can be disastrous for companies that do it wrong. We asked some of the brightest minds in advertising how companies should decide which issues to weigh in on and how brands should communicate their message. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Molly Battin — Chief Corporate Marketing and Brand Strategy Officer, WarnerMedia: Consumers in the younger generation expect brands to get in and have a say and have a point of view.

Marc Pritchard — Global Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble: Nine out of 10 people actually say that they feel better about a brand when it takes a social or environmental stance. More than half of people are making choices on brands based on shared values and more than half of people from Gen Z all the way to boomers really expect brands to take a stand on societal issues.

Fernando Machado — Global CMO, Burger King: The brands that I personally admire the most are brands that have a point of view — a point of view on what’s happening out there. Especially if you can link that point of view to the positioning of the brand.

David Droga — Founder, Droga5: I think they’ve got to do it in a way that is authentic to who they are and where they want to be. Not something that’s just topical, and they feel like it’s just going to tick some boxes for now.

Brad Hiranaga — CMO, General Mills: Sometimes brands can make the mistake of trying to take a stance on a bunch of different things that at some point you’re like, "Well, do I really care what a toilet paper brand thinks about this specific issue?" Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but I think there are certain things that brands have to fundamentally believe in and they have to take a stand on if it’s important for them.

Pedro Earp — Global CMO, Anheuser-Busch InBev: There are so many problems in the world that governments are not going to be able to solve by themselves. So I think brands and companies have a role to play.

But I think the most important thing is that the core business, of whatever industry you are in, or whatever company you’re in, it’s actually positive for people and for us, society as a whole.

So your business needs to have meaning and needs to impact people in a positive way. Because at the end, you spend — if you have social causes and you have activism — this is like 5%-10% of what the brand does. But I think consumers are really asking the question, "What is the other 90%? Your core business where you really spend the money and spend the time, is that good or bad for society?"

Tim Ellis — EVP and CMO, NFL: Millennials and Gen Z, they care a lot about what companies, what the people that work for those companies care about. That’s important to them. And authenticity is important to them.

Companies today — in particular, the NFL — we have such a big part in people’s lives, and we do have such scale that I feel like it’s not only an opportunity, but it’s really a responsibility to do things good in the world.

Alicia Hatch — Global CMO, Deloitte Digital: You know, the reality is business has become, again, in a connected world, incredibly powerful. Some of these large companies are like mini nation-states unto themselves, and they can influence more and drive more behavior.

Alicia Tillman —Global CMO, SAP: It is more about how do brands really innovate around the change that people want to see. I don’t think it’s really about picking a side if it’s political, but it’s more removing that from the equation and truly understanding the issue because chances are the issues are aligned around changes in the environment, things we need to do differently to better shape our economies, or to bring real societal change around the world in which we can all thrive.

Rich Silverstein — Co-Chairman, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners: Everyone wants to save the world and I get it. And sometimes it works really well. I think the Kaepernick thing is amazing because it was a perfect storm of an athlete who had a point of view, took a knee for the country, the president didn’t like it — Nike athlete. Perfect. But not very many people get a chance at that kind of perfect storm.

But for us, we believe brands should have a sense of humor. They should have a conscience — yes. But also humor allows people in.

Sara Silverstein — Interviewer: Is there a way to use humor as a part of social and political conversations or is that way too scary because it could go so wrong?

Jeff Goodby — Co-Chairman, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners: It’s used all the time as part of social and political conversations. People get their news, not from a straight news people anymore, but from people that make fun of the news.

Fernando Machado — Global CMO, Burger King: So if you do it right, if you are adding value the conversation, if you’re like putting yourself on the right side of history, if you can tie it back to the positioning of the brand, I think chances are that you are going to increase brand love, and over time that would probably translate into better business for your brand.

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