get woke, go broke

English

Alternative forms

• go woke, go broke

Etymology

Attributed to American author John Ringo.

Proverb

get woke, go broke

1. (informal, neologism, politics) Businesses that focus on social activism to align themselves with social justice are liable to lose customers.
   • 2018 April 17, Jon del Arroz, “Author John Ringo Responds to SJW Assault That Led to Sci-Fi Convention Ban”, in Dangerous‎^[1], archived from the original on April 17, 2018:

     According to Ringo, the convention then pushed its conservative members out of its planning committee, attendance dropped over years, and it’s now defunct. “Get woke, go broke,” he says of any organization who bows to SJW pressure.

   • 2018 May 19, David Prentice, “Code Red: The Coming Eruption”, in American Thinker‎^[2]:

     Get woke, go broke isn’t just about money, it’s about credibility and truth. These people have been broken by their own pride, their sense of entitlement, and their own disdain of anyone who does not agree with them.

   • 2019, Alexander Adams, Culture War: Art, Identity Politics and Cultural Entryism‎^[3]:

     This led to the biting critical slogan “Get woke, go broke” to characterise the commercial failure of “woke” (“politically enlightened”) policies in an open marketplace.

Antonyms

• go fash, lose cash

Translations

businesses that attempt to align themselves with social justice causes are liable to lose customers

• French: éveillé mais fauché, devenez éveillé et soyez fauché, trop de politiquement correct c’est économiquement incorrect
• Italian: fai il risvegliato e sei rovinato
• Portuguese: quem lacra não lucra
• Spanish: hazte progre hazte pobre, hazte progre y vuélvete pobre, ponte pobre hazte pobre