Our Woke Rating

We have researched some of the main commercial businesses operating in New Zealand. We looked for some key examples of woke policies and activities, including:

  • Virtue signalling, especially in ad campaigns and marketing activities.
  • LGBTQIA+ activism and marketing, Rainbow Tick certified, financially supporting LGBTQIA+ organisations and causes (e.g. Pride Pledge).

  • Supporting gender transitioning (including surgery). For example, some businesses will give employees paid-leave to undergo gender transitioning.

  • Committed to 40:40:20 gender split (40% male, 40% female, 20% other gender/non-binary), yep this is really a thing.

  • DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion) policies and gender recruitment targets.

  • Supporting abortions. Woke businesses will often reimburse some costs for employees who need abortions.

  • Integrating Te ao Māori (the Māori world) and Māori spirituality into everything (especially when the majority of their customers are not Māori).

  • Evidence of Critical Race Theory, including training courses on “unconscious bias” etc.

  • Evidence of Ant-Semitism. 

  • Pushing “Climate Alarmism”, and committed to stringent emissions reduction targets. Support for Agenda 2030.

How do we rank each business?

The traffic light system is easy to understand and self explanatory:

Not Woke
Woke Lite (moderate)
Woke
Extreme Woke

This simple rating system is obviously subjective, but it’s our best attempt at giving consumers the insight needed to avoid businesses that don’t align with their personal values. 

  • All
  • Extreme Woke
  • Not Woke
  • Woke
  • Woke Lite
Woke Lite

Paper Plus

Paper Plus (of the Paper Plus Group) is New Zealand’s largest book and stationery retailer. Its stores are 100% locally owned.
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Not Woke

Pascoes the Jewellers

Pascoes the Jewellers is a family owned jewellery store founded in 1906 by James Pascoe expanding from one store in Auckland to now 40 stores ...
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Restaurant Brands NZ Logo Woke Lite

Restaurant Brands NZ

Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited operates the New Zealand outlets of KFC, Pizza Hut and Carl's Jr.
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Rip-Curl-Logo Woke Lite

Rip Curl

Rip Curl is manufacturer and retailer of surfing sportswear and accompanying accessories. Rip Curls is owned by by KMD Brands Limited (the parent company of ...
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Not Woke

Rodd & Gunn

Founded in 1946, Rodd & Gunn is a New Zealand fashion brand specialising in high quality menswear, initially specialising in outdoor and hunting apparel, to ...
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sbs-bank-logo Woke Lite

SBS Bank

SBS Bank is a 100% New Zealand owned registered bank. It was founded in 1869. In October 2008 it gained bank registration and the Southland ...
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SparkNZ-Logo-Thumbnail Extreme Woke

Spark NZ

Spark NZ is New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company. Spark has 63 retail locations around New Zealand. It was formerly known as Telecom ...
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starbucks-thumbnail Extreme Woke

Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2022, the company had 35,711 stores in 80 countries, 15,873 of which were located ...
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Not Woke

Stirling Sports

Stirling Sports is a retail company that primarily sells sporting goods and sportswear. The first Stirling Sport store opened in 1964 on Dominion Road, Auckland ...
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Woke Lite

The Coffee Club

Opened as a single café in in November 1989 in Brisbane and has now over 250 cafes throughout Australia and 65 in New Zealand.
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warehouse_logo Extreme Woke

The Warehouse Group

The Warehouse Group (TWG) was established by Stephen Tindall in 1982 and is the largest retail group in operation in New Zealand. It is a ...
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Woke Lite

TSB Bank

TSB is a 100% New Zealand-owned bank. TSB Bank Ltd (originally known as the Taranaki Savings Bank) trading as TSB, is a New Zealand bank ...
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Most Woke and Least Woke Businesses

Woke Businesses in NZ
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Most Woke Businesses in NZ

Here are some of the most woke businesses currently listed on this website. You can decide for yourselves who to do business with and who ...
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Woke Free Zone
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Woke Free Businesses

Here's a list of some of the least woke businesses in New Zealand. You can decide for yourselves who to do business with and who to ...
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So what is wrong with Businesses being Woke?

Most people just want to purchase products and services, then get on with their lives. They don’t want businesses shoving woke beliefs down their throats.  Businesses should stick to business, not telling customers what to think about social issues.

Any wokeness and virtue signalling detracts from a business’ core purpose, and ultimately passes on unnecessary costs to the customer. 

Businesses are free to support causes they believe in. We just believe that consumers should know what those causes may be. 

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