Fall is back, which means football is in full swing. This also means the return of some of our favorite commercial characters. The Geico caveman is back with a new attitude.
Jake from State Farm is still wearing his too-tight red t-shirt; and, of course, Peyton Manning is back with Nationwide Insurance in a pretty memorable “Paintin’ Manning” commercial.
The only problem for Peyton this year is that we are not buying what he is selling. Sure, maybe we can believe he is a great painter (what isn’t he good at?). But his insistence that Nationwide is “on our side?” We know better now.
For the better part of a decade, I’ve watched this “aw shucks” brand of Nationwide Insurance on Sunday afternoons and have been frustrated knowing the truth: that Nationwide is one of the most progressive companies in the country and is a driving force of transgender ideology in Ohio.
Enough is enough. For far too long Nationwide has gotten away with this double-speak, and it’s time to tell the truth.
I run Ohio’s largest Christian public policy organization, Center for Christian Virtue. Like Nationwide Insurance, we’re based in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
Unlike Nationwide, however, we believe boys shouldn’t play in girls’ sports, men shouldn’t be in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, and it’s not “good for business” to push divisive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies on our employees.
That’s why last week we rolled out our “Nationwide’s Not On Your Side” campaign at the Farm Science Review, one of the largest conventions for Ohio’s farmers. At the Farm Science Review, thousands of farmers and their families descend on London, Ohio to find out about the latest farming tech and products. This year, as they drove in, they also found out that “Nationwide Is Not On Your Side” through road signage, digital ads, and even a plane flying a banner overhead.
Just like Tractor Supply, John Deere, Harley Davidson, Lowes, Coors Molson and many others, Nationwide is a company with a strong conservative customer base. It’s actually the largest insurer of Ohio farms. Unlike these companies, Nationwide persists in pushing its DEI agenda on its employees and driving leftist politics in Ohio.
I bet many of the farmers insured by Nationwide would be shocked to know Nationwide has a top rating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, an annual rating of how pro-LGBT a corporation is.
The pushback against woke corporate America is one of the most important fights of our day. While much of our political attention is focused on the latest squabbles in Washington D.C., the reality is radical political agendas are being driven by some of the largest corporations in America at statehouses across the country.
Practically speaking, in a state like Ohio, where Republicans hold every statewide office and hold a super-majority in the state legislature, Nationwide represents a far greater threat to families and religious freedom than Planned Parenthood and the ACLU combined.
This may sound crazy, but think of it practically: Ohio Republicans are used to the absurd progressivism of the ACLU. When that group shows up to push crazy legislation like the Ohio “Fairness” Act, which would require businesses to allow men in girls’ bathrooms, Ohio Republicans pay little attention. But they are much more vulnerable to the pressure to support this dangerous bill when Nationwide Insurance, one of the state’s largest employers, shows up to a hearing in support of the act and makes the unfounded claim that the bill is “good for business.”
But that’s not all Nationwide Insurance has been doing in Ohio. It also gives money to an organization that hosts “drag queen story hours;” and just recently they signed up to be a sponsor for Equality Ohio’s upcoming banquet — that’s the organization that led the effort to defeat Ohio’s Save Women’s Sports bill, which protects female athletes from having the Riley Gaines experience.
Why isn’t Peyton Manning talking about this on Sunday afternoons? Maybe because Nationwide knows if the many families and farmers they insure knew this, they would figure out what we discovered a long time ago: Nationwide’s not on our side.
Ultimately, our hope is that Nationwide, just like Harley Davidson, John Deere and a growing list of other major U.S. companies, will see the light and get back to selling great products and stay out of the culture wars. That is the kind of bright future even Peyton Manning could paint.
Aaron Baer is president of Center for Christian Virtue.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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