We RALLY for What Matters
RALLY is a progressive firm. From the team we’ve built to the clients we’ve chosen to work with, our values aren’t hard to discern. We have chosen to agitate for true equity, to fight for environmental preservation, to defend the rights of women, and to protect immigrants — all values progressives proclaim to represent and defend.
But for every one of these affirmative decisions, there was also its counterpart: a decision not to do something. In our case that has meant not working with oil and chemical companies, gun manufacturers, or defense contractors, among others. Or to give a few timely examples, refusing to defend serial sexual harassers, members of the Trump administration in legal limbo, or entities working hard to undermine core pillars of our democracy.
On the surface these seem like straightforward decisions, and yet for many touting their supposed liberal credentials, it seems they aren’t. Working for “the other side” is often a lucrative endeavor, and so unusual partnerships between progressive firms and the very entities undermining progressive values are all too common. For evidence, look no further than “Company A” and “Company B” named in Robert Mueller’s indictments, or the headlines about companies and high-profile lawyers with progressive bonafides advising sexual predators.
Both examples are disappointing, but not unusual. What is unusual are the stakes and the consequences of that work in the context of today’s world. Helping to elect Donald Trump is just plain worse than helping to elect any previous Republican nominee. Continuing to support companies promulgating climate denial is just plain worse at a time when rising sea levels regularly put American cities under water, or when wildfires devastate American homes. Protecting and making it possible for predators like Harvey Weinstein to victimize women for decades is simply inexcusable.
To go a step further, we would argue these aren’t left/right, progressive/conservative decisions. We’ve arrived at a point in this country where good and evil, right and wrong are squaring off more than ever. The time has come to pick a side and grow a backbone. The future of our country is at stake, so why dance around it?
Whether you work in marketing or advertising, public affairs or public relations, for a company or a non-profit, all of us have platforms from which we can reinforce and support some basic values that can better our world. We all have opportunities to push back against narratives and claims that all people of good will know are false or damaging or worse. But we must use those platforms and we must decide what side of history we want to be on. No more dithering. No more hedging. And please, no more doing what you know is wrong because it’s easy or lucrative. Our country and our collective future depend on us to be better than that.
This remarkable moment we’re living in has given the RALLY team more cause to return to our North Star than we could have anticipated. And it has inspired us to articulate — and defend — our values clearly, unambiguously, and fearlessly. We are honored to work with clients who are doing the heavy lifting every single day. If you’re doing work on the side of justice, equity, love, and building a better, sustainable future, we want to work with you, too.
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RALLY is an issue-driven communications firm that takes on sticky political and social problems and finds ways to push them forward.
