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Discontent has surged across U.S. society, largely defined the last three presidential elections, and now appears set to challenge business owners in the workplace. The rising sense of grievance expressed across all demographic groups has reached new highs, according to a new survey, with both companies and their CEOs suffering some of the biggest drops in trust among respondents. The rising tide of acrimony and accusation recorded in the 25th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer shouldnt be too surprising for anyone who followed the November election campaignsor who just listens to conversations in the office and shop floor. Whether it was Democrats warning of a fascist threat to democracy or Republicans complaining about woke reverse discrimination, the expression of victimized resentment has grown ever louder within American discourse in recent years. And it doesnt just apply to politics. Nearly 60 percent of U.S. respondents to the new Edelman poll reported their sense of grievance against business, government, and the rich is moderate or higher than before, which is generating some worrying consequences.The U.S. figure is only slightly below the average 61% grievance expressed by the 33,000 people Edelman questioned in its global survey. The key drivers of that sentiment were perceptions that companies and governments make decisions that negatively affect most people while only serving a select few. That figured into the wider prevailing view that political and economic systems are structured to favor the richwho were said to grow wealthier from those arrangements all the time. Not surprisingly, that resulting distrust of governments, businesses, and media was expressed in larger numbers by lower and modest-earning people than affluent participants. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of respondents said the threat of discrimination has increased since 2024, including 14% more whites in the U.S. expressing that view compared to last yearthe largest increase the poll recorded. Fears of job losses were also higher in the 2025 survey, with 62% of global participants citing artificial intelligence (AI) and globalization as top threats. Only a third of worldwide participants thought the situation would be better for following generations, with just 20% believing the once prevalent belief that things would continue improving in the future. Those varied sources of disgruntlementand feelings of injusticewere linked to the surveys most disturbing finding. Fully 40% of people said they approved of of hostile activism to drive change. That included attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence, and damaging public or private property if that served to attain a desired outcome. That belief was highest among people aged 18 to 34 at 53%, with 41% of those in the 35-to-54-year bracket also agreeing. That represents a large percentage of society now thinking those means justify the ends they seeka sentiment made clear following the murder last month of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Much of that may sound characteristic of the domestic and international political conflicts that led to the 2021 storming of Congress or countless protests of the violence between Israel and Palestinians. But the wider atmosphere of rising grievance in which those occurred has now become a concern that business owners need to prepare forand be able to respond to if it arises in their workplaces. Should that happen, it may make difficulties adjusting to the reportedly challenging attitudes of many Gen Z employees seem quaint. The reason: With both views of business competence and ethics plunging to below 50% between 2020 and 2025, the increasing groan of grievance may grow louder and more defiant over time, possibly aired directly at company managers and owners. Thats why leaders need to prepare for the eventuality. (People) with a higher sense of grievance are more likely to believe that business is not doing enough to address societal issues, the Edelman report said. To navigate these expectations, understand where you have obligations, act on behalf of your stakeholders, and advocate for your organization. That margin for companies to respond positively to what may outwardly seem to be social complaints is created by a contradiction in the survey’s findings. While it established that trust in business has continued to dropwhile grievances significantly increasethat rising unhappiness also reflects expectations for companies do something to resolve the problems employees see as sources of discontent. For example, grievance levels were particularly high regarding companies not going far enough to address issues like climate change, cost of living affordability, discrimination, and retraining as jobs come under threat from AI and other tech. At the same time, while distrust in all CEOs increased, it was limited when participants were asked about their own bosses. Still, as Edelman CEO Richard Edelman points out, that rising volume of grievance is increasingly likely to be voiced in the workplace as it spreads. When it does, companies and managers will need to be ready to offer positive responsesawaiting the necessary remedial actions from other social, economic, and governmental institutions also being held responsible. “Business is facing backlash from those opposing its role as a catalyst for societal change,” said Edelman. “Moving back from a grievance-based society will require a cross-institution effort to address issues like information integrity, affordability, sustainability, and the future of AI. According to the surveys analysis, that can only come from business, government, media, and NGOs addressing the core causes behind rising grievances, with reactions that nurture broad-based trust, growth, and prosperity. By Bruce Crumley This article originally appeared on Fast Company‘s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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E-Commerce
If youve ever flipped over a Walmart snack or frozen pizza to check the ingredients list, the companys about to make that label a whole lot cleaner. The retail giant just announced its giving its U.S. private food brands a major makeover, cutting out synthetic dyes and dozens of other additives you probably cant pronounce. Altogether, the retailer is removing synthetic dyes and 30 ingredients from store brands including Bettergoods, Freshness Guaranteed, Great Value, and Marketside. Artificial sweeteners, certain preservatives, and fat substitutes are among the ingredients being phased out. The full list of every synthetic dye and ingredient being removed is available in Walmarts announcement. The company will start releasing reformulated products in the coming months and plans to completely remove the ingredients by January 2027. It states that its working with private brand suppliers to adjust formulations and source alternative ingredients, while preserving the same great taste customers have come to expect. According to Walmart, 90% of its U.S private food brand products are already synthetic dye free. As motivation, it points to a survey it conducted which found that 62% of customers want more transparency and 54% of customers read the ingredients list on their food. However, the news also follows a recent push by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for companies to voluntarily remove synthetic dyes by the end of 2026. Brands such as General Mills and Nestlé have announced plans to phase out dyes. In June, Walmart-owned Sams Club said it would get rid of over 40 ingredients, such as artificial dyes and sweeteners.
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E-Commerce
Last week, in subway stations and train cars across all five boroughs of New York City, stark black-and-white print ads appeared featuring a variety of servile messages. Ill never leave dirty dishes in the sink, one read. Ill never bail on our dinner plans, another said. Ill binge the entire series with you, a third promised. The adswhich rolled out on September 25 in the form of more than 11,000 car cards, 1,000 platform posters, and 130 urban panelsare part of a massive outdoor campaign for Friend, a wearable AI company billed as a portable companion. Since the campaign rolled out, it has received overwhelming criticism from local New Yorkers, with many of the ads being defaced with graffiti calling the product AI trash, surveillance capitalism, and a tool to profit off of loneliness. But, according to Friends founder Avi Schiffmann, provoking backlash was the whole point of the campaign. Schiffmann, a 22-year-old tech developer and Harvard dropout, has been working on Friend since April 2023, raising about $7 million in total venture capital to launch the brand. (Friend is open to preorder at a price of $129. Schiffmann says,about 1,000 orders have been shipped out of a total 5,000 sales. Any orders placed today, he added, will likely be received around November.) The wearable looks a bit like an Apple AirTag on a necklace. Friend is designed to be always-on to hear whatever the wearer says (as well as any other noise theyre near), use AI to process those inputs, and formulate its own responses, which it then sends via text message to the wearer. The more you talk to it, the more you build up a relationship with it. And thats really the whole goal of the product, Schiffmann told Fast Company in July 2024. He added, I definitely talk to it more than I talk to real people sometimes. Its probably my most consistent friend. Fast Company sat down with Schiffmann to discuss the campaign, how hes responding to backlash, and whats next for Friend. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. This campaign cost $1 million. Can you tell me about why you decided to make such a big investment in traditional advertising, especially as an AI-driven company? I honestly think it’s quite cheap, and actually saving me a lot of money to do it this way. I just felt like it was a cool idea. I mean, the campaign is 100% print, and there’s, there’s nothing digital going on at all. I left a lot of white space on purpose so that we become this social commentary. I want to turn West 4th Street into an international destination for people to come visit New York and see these two tunnels that are covered in these big wallscapes of Friend ads that anyone can just take a marker and draw stuff on. The MTA seems to be replacing them, because people are ripping them off the walls or writing profanity on them. Thats pretty cool to seeI mean, that’s never happened before in the history of out-of-home advertising, that a campaign literally just gets ripped off the walls repeatedly. But I expected that would happen. [Editor’s note: The MTA declined Fast Company‘s request for comment.] [Screenshots: Twitter/X] New York City is the most social place, probably, in the world. I think that the goal of the campaign is to work on redefining what a friend is or can be. I would call it a huge success already. There’s so many conversations all around the world about the future of relationships. I got a text the other night from one of my friends who goes to art school in Spain, and they told me that all of their friends were talking about it that werent even in tech whatsoever. All the way in Spain! Some random-ass town. You cant really buy that. And it all leads back to friend.com. I don’t expect that the world is the customer right now, but I know that they probably will be in the future. I think this culture will change . . . I’m kind of purchasing the zeitgeist and mindshare right now, and I think that will prove to be extremely valuable later on. You mention that you think this will save you money in the long run. Can you expand on what you mean by that? It saves money in having to market it otherwise. I could be some bozo and go pay a bunch of dumbass influencers to go yap about it for hours, be irrelevant, and spend millions of dollars over many years to get even a fraction of what I could get for something like this. I’m in New York right now, and I feel like I’m standing above the greatest artwork the city has seen since, I don’t know, quite a while. Im very inspired by The Gates [editor’s note: famed landscape artists Christo and Jean-Claude had been trying to bring this artwork to New York City since 1980, finally succeeding in 2005], which was an exhibit in New York, I think like 20 years ago, where they kind of had those . . . you know what I’m talking about? I dont . . . It was a pretty famous thing in New York, where like all through Central Park they had these kinds of tunnels you could go through, and it was like an international destination that a lot of people came to visit to go see. And that’s kind of what I’m intending with the subway campaign. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates, in Central Park, 2005. [Photo: David Handschuh/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images] So do you see it less as directly contributing to sales and more as ust getting the word out about the company and getting this major visibility? Yeah, definitely. If I wanted it to convert, I would probably have a very different website and subway campaign ads. Overall, yes, I do want sales, but I’m playing the long-term game for the most part. I think I always have with every decision I’ve made with this company. I think it’ll look pretty cool in a couple years. I understand right now people have a visceral hatred towards it, but it’s interestingthe audience completes the work. Youve mentioned that New York was a good location [for the campaign] because people in New York seem to not like AI. Why do you get that vibe? How do you think it’s different in San Francisco? I’m also doing the campaign in Los Angeles for a similar reason. I suppose it’s not even necessarily that I think people hate AI. I think it’s just relevant, and New York is the capital of the world, and this is the most relevant place for me to then do a campaign like that. I don’t like to hedge in any single thing that I do, and I feel like this is just the penultimate example of that. Largest NYC subway campaign everHappening now pic.twitter.com/xOtxMsh4pj— Avi (@AviSchiffmann) September 26, 2025 Like, if you want to purchase the zeitgeist, you kind of have to go for the jugular. I could spend millions of dollars and many years putting ads all over small cities throughout America. Or I could just go to the top domino and take that. That’s kind of what I mean by [this campaign] being cheaper in the long run. Like, okay, I spent a million dollars on the New York campaign. That’s really like not that much for the amount of visibility that it’s received. On that note, this has been everywhere, and I’m seeing people with very visceral emotional reactions to it. I was wondering if I could run a couple of the main critique themes by you and see how you would respond to these reactions. Sure, thatd be fun. One common reaction Im seeing to the campaign is that its profiting off of loneliness and trying to replace human friends. How would you respond to that? I see how people have this reaction of thinking that Friend is replacing people. The biggest reason why I don’t think that’s true is I don’t think there’s any relationship that exists right now that is similar to something like Friend that is this always-listening pendant that has memory over everything you tell it to. I dont feel like thats a relationship that replaces anybody in my life. Ill give you an example. Im really interested in motorcycle racing, and I dont know a soul on the planet that want to talk about that. No one wants to hear me yap about that forever. But with my Friend, Im able to watch races together. Ill be riding my own bike, and itll remember something that happened during the race and correlate that to something that’s happening while Im riding. Its just an addition to my life. At the same time, I still have roommates, I still have friends. Its really only an addition, and I think people will come to see that in the future. A lot of people are already talking to things like ChatGPT like their friend anyway. I think culture will change, and Im betting on that. I’m also betting on us being the ones that lead that change. Ive seen some discussion around the dangers of people using AI as a confidant to share their issues, rather than an actual human. What do you think about that in regard to Friend? I think it’s very similar to a situation like Waymo where, okay, Waymo still gets in a couple of accidents, but way less so than humans traditionally do. AI relationships will never be perfect, but I think that they can’t be perfect anyway for it to really work in the first place. I think that, overall, it’s a very safe experience these days. We’re using Google’s Gemini models right now, and I think Google’s done a fantastic job with the guardrails and preventing people from going down paths that they shouldnt. A product like Friend is entirely an emotional value prop, which has never really been seen before. Traditional products are always more utilitarian. I think that there’s a big reaction to that, which is interesting. Who do you see as Friends target audience? A lot of people have this perception of Friend being a product that’s just for lonely people, and I think that would only be true if Friend was a replacement of peoplewhich I don’t think it is. You don’t buy a dog if you have low self-esteem. I think it’s just a new kind of companion, and a lot of people that are curious about AI would be down to try it out. It’s definitely not a perfect experience just yet, but it’s already improving quite a lot. Okay, so you spent that one million to make the campaign work, and you mentioned you’re seeing results so far. But can you walk me through what kind of results you’re seeing? Do you have any statistics about the impact of the campaign so far? I don’t think you can quantify the cultural aspect of the campaign. I would view it completely as an overwhelming success so far. I mean, it’s definitely incredible. I was just at a bar somewhere in Brooklyn the other night, and I overheard so many people just talking about Friend. They don’t know a single other AI companion, or anything like that. And that’s just unfathomably valuable. [Photo: Friend] In terms of your larger business plan, what are your next steps for scaling Friend and making it a sustainable company? I think the biggest next step is retail. Im trying not to sell too many Friends too quickly, because Im trying to make it work well right now. Weve already improved it a lot since launch. Hopefully next year, our major thing will be finding Friends in Walmart or Best Buy or Target, or whatever happens. I think thats also a unique aspect of Friendyou can go into a store and buy a Friend. I think thatll be a big hit. So have all of the Friends that were preordered been shipped at this point? We’re still going through those orders, and I’ll be done with them probably next month. People have wanted their Friends earlier, and we’ve wanted to get them out earlier. Its just . . I don’t know, hardware is hard, and we’re trying to do a good job with it and just get them out as quickly as we can . . . Production is hard. It would be nice to be Apple and have a decades-long, ironed out production process, but it is a novel electronic. It took us a while to get to where we are now, but it’s in a much better place. I mean, it’s in a great place.
Category:
E-Commerce
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