Brands, afraid to offend, weigh in on content

Companies face a daily challenge as they grapple with boycott-ready consumers on the left and right

A production of Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ in Central Park featuring a look-alike of President Trump as Caesar. The host of an NBC News Sunday night show interviewing a conspiracy theorist who has claimed the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. Long gone are the days when an advertiser’s biggest concern was making sure it did not appear next to pornography online or during the ad breaks on racy TV shows. In this divided post-election world, brands are weighing in on theatre and news interviews, as they grapple with the rapidly spinning wheels of social media, increasingly polarised consumer groups