The New York Times recently shared a list of words that are disappearing in the new Trump administration. The list consisted of hundreds of terms associated with “woke” initiatives, including words like diversity, equity, and inclusion, as part of Trump’s broader effort to reshape the federal government’s language and policies.



The removal of terms associated with ‘woke’ initiatives in the Trump administration reflects a broader cultural tension around words for actions or choices that communicate moral values, which sometimes leads others to feel judged or defensive about their own behaviors.



Consider someone who is a vegetarian. When someone doesn’t eat animals, they can signal to others that while they aren’t eating animals, they are doing the moral, good thing, and if you eat meat, you’re doing the immoral thing. Even though they are not saying this, this is how it might come across.

 This phenomenon is known as “do-gooder derogation.” It occurs when a person’s morally motivated behavior leads to them being perceived negatively by others. The term “do-gooder” refers to someone who deviates from the majority in their behavior due to moral convictions.

The resistance doesn’t just occur on a conscious level—it also manifests physically. Social psychologists state that when confronted with such moral challenges, heart rates increase, blood vessels narrow, and the body locks up as if responding to a threat. It feels like an attack on one’s moral self-identity. So some people might feel that they are being attacked by vegetarians (to put it very blundly).

So, what can you do as a brand that wants to address a topic that carries moral weight? Research shows that sometimes saying the same thing while using different words already makes a big difference. One study in the US looked into wordings and how people would rate that company. For example when a company would say that they are to ESG, this would lead republicans to see that company as less positive, less likely to be a good employer and less likely to succeed financially, while when that same company would replace ESG for responsible, the company would rank way better on all topics (the same tendency was found among democrats however they were already more positive about ESG and the change when using the word responsible, would lead to less big of a positive difference). Similar tendencies are found in research by YouGov (UK), which found that many people have positive attitudes that women should have equal rights, status and treatment. However, when they were asked if they were feminists,  this led to aversion.