In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, many consumer-facing brands, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bank of America, and Starbucks, announced (or reaffirmed) that they will pay for employees to travel in order to gain access to an abortion. 

CivicScience conducted new surveys and utilized existing brand data to understand how consumers feel about these decisions and how they could impact brand favorability.

The overall perception of these decisions by brands varies. In May, after the initial SCOTUS draft leaked and some companies, like Amazon, made announcements regarding employees, initial survey results showed that the majority of consumers disagreed that companies should pay for travel-related costs associated with an abortion. 

Now that the Roe v. Wade has officially been overturned, support for companies who will help employees this way has grown considerably, but the issue is still split. More than a third of respondents (39%) agree that companies should reimburse abortion-related travel costs. Still, 40% disagree with companies doing this.

The Impact on Brand Favorability

Will some consumers go out of their way to spend their money with these businesses that will financially support travel-related costs associated with an abortion, or on the flip-side, avoid them? According to the results of a separate survey, 37% of respondents say they are more likely to support companies that hold these policies, however a strong contingent say they are less likely to as well (28%).

Utilizing the CivicScience database to understand perception among consumers of specific brands, we see that overall, for existing favorable consumers of Starbucks, Dick’s, and Nordstrom, perception is quite positive. Especially Starbucks. As a reference point only, compare that to a brand like Carhartt* (*Carhartt did not make an announcement regarding reimbursing abortion travel costs for employees) and you notice a big difference.

What does all of this mean in a world where socio-political issues and brand marketing are now one and the same? CivicScience tracks everything all the time to understand how these issues are impacting consumer decisions. Learn how we can work together.