Read more©Photo AFPIs Wokeism still popular? The attacks by the followers of cancel culture show no sign of stopping. Their sensitive readers, a veritable "sensitivity police" (1), are rushing to rewrite the classics of literature. Erasers have replaced pens. They track, erase, replace anything that could be felt as a microaggression. After the works of Roald Dahl in England, it is now in France that Le Masque publishing house has announced its intention to put the works of Agatha Christie through the ideological mill to make them more inclusive and less offensive. All this with the blessing of his great-grandson! As for Barilla, the Italian pasta brand, it has just redefining the recipe for the iconic spaghetti carbonara in a video. These "open carbonara" are now gluten-free pasta with celery, potatoes and saffron... forgotten the eggs, the pancetta, the pecorino, the taste of Italy, the tradition... Only the name remains, everything else has been cancelled in the name of sacrosanct inclusiveness. The machine is racing and nothing seems able to stop it! In the sequel to the adventures of Scooby-Doo, which has just been released in the USA, the authors have let loose. To fight against patriarchy, the new cartoon will focus on the adventures of Velma. Although the character has kept her orange sweaters and big square glasses, she is now brown-skinned, of Indian origin and a lesbian. Daphne, now Asian, leaves her blond Fred for the charms of the series' new heroine. As for Samy, he became a rasta. What about Scooby-Doo? Completely and utterly erased. But this escalation is not to the liking of viewers. "The ratings made by the public on the website IMDb, an online database on films and television series, are not very high. Episode one, titled Velma, received a rating of 3,6/10 and episode two, titled The Candy (Wo)man, received 3,2/10" (2).  Other initiatives have recently been even more severely punished. In the United States, Budweiser beer vice president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid explained that her "brand has been in decline for some time," which necessitated an evolution of its image: "That means changing the tone, having a really inclusive, lighter, brighter and different campaign that speaks to both women and men" (3).  To achieve this, she entered into a partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans influencer star on TikTok, whose photo was to appear on some cans. This has not convinced either his rather popular clientele or American conservatives, who have massively called for a boycott. The boomerang effect was massive. The Budweiser group lost nearly $5 billion in market capitalization in just a few days.  In the first half of 2022, Netflix had also lost more than one million subscribers. His woke tropism was then invoked to explain this disaffection. Elon Musk, speaking on behalf of many of the platform's customers, tweeted, "The woke virus is making Netflix unwatchable." Thanks to the power of its algorithms, the streaming giant understood that some of its subscribers were, in fact, abandoning its most woke content. In an internal memo, he immediately reminded his employees – some of whom were campaigning for the withdrawal of comedian Dave Chappelle's shows, which activists deemed transphobic – to order: "As employees, you must support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if you find that certain titles are contrary to your own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles that you perceive as harmful. If you're struggling to cope with our content offering, Netflix may not be the best place for you" (4). After this warning and some layoffs, the platform regained 10 million subscribers. In French companies too, workism is finding it increasingly difficult to convince. In March 2023, IFOP and Havas Paris conducted a study on the influence of these concepts within companies. A first survey was carried out in 2021. Between these two dates, their notoriety grew. “All of the concepts submitted to respondents garnered a awareness rate of at least 32%, compared to 27% in 2021. This is the case, for example, of “gender studies” (65%, + 12 points), “white privilege” (58%, + 11 points), “cultural appropriation” (56%, + 11 points) or even “toxic masculinity” (51%, + 13 points). Proof that vocabulary is becoming established in the landscape" (5). But popularity and adherence to concepts are not the same thing. “While cancel culture, inclusive writing and positive discrimination are gaining notoriety, their approval seems to be running out of steam. Indeed, the figures reveal that support for cancel culture has fallen from 43% in 2021 to 30% today, while inclusive writing and positive discrimination only garner 30% and 20% approval respectively" (6). Be careful, however, not to rejoice too quickly, because even if support for the emblematic measures of wokeism remains in the minority, it is not, however, marginal. Thus, 40% of those questioned said they were in favour of the possibility of choosing their pronoun (he, she, iel) for administrative procedures. As for the measures examined (including the installation of gender-neutral toilets, the writing of internal communications in inclusive writing and the creation of spaces dedicated to religious practice), these received around 30% approval. The lowest approval rate, at 20%, is for introducing recruitment quotas based on sexual orientation or ethnic origin. Other studies, such as those conducted by the Institute for Civil Dialogue and the Harris Institute in September 2021, show that there is a strong generational divide on these issues. Those under 35 remain, in fact, much more receptive to these concepts. So are these first signs of a decline in "wokism" in companies simply a sign of rejection by baby boomers alone, or of a much broader future questioning of public opinion regarding the excesses of the heralds of cancel culture? (1) Expression of Salman Rushdie. (2) https://lecollectif.ca/la-controverse-autour-de-la-reimagination-des-personnages-de-scooby-doonbsp/ (3) https://www.foxnews.com/media/bud-light-marketing-vp-inspired-update-fratty-touch-branding-inclusivity (4) https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/netflix-culture-memo-update-censorship-spending-1235264904/ (5) Le Point, April 15, 2023. (6) Ibid.

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