Can humor truly open minds and hearts in the realm of political discourse? Discover how Craig Campo, the powerhouse behind Campos Campos, uses wit to champion his bold political stances and cultivate a more inclusive dialogue. Craig’s unapologetic stand for his beliefs, even at the risk of backlash, highlights the transformative power of authenticity in both personal and professional realms. This episode provides a riveting exploration of the importance of articulating one’s beliefs beyond mere slogans and the bravery required to uphold them against societal pressures.
Join us as we unravel Craig's journey of integrating humor with political activism, and the surprising business benefits that followed. From managing hate and support to the tangible impact on his business, Craig’s story is a compelling testament to the positive outcomes of staying true to oneself. You'll hear about the real-life consequences of his public stance and how his unique approach fosters a receptive environment for meaningful dialogue. If you’re curious about the intersection of business, politics, and humor, Craig’s insights will offer you a refreshing perspective on how taking a stand can indeed be good for business.
Can humor truly open minds and hearts in the realm of political discourse? Discover how Craig Campo, the powerhouse behind Campos Campos, uses wit to champion his bold political stances and cultivate a more inclusive dialogue. Craig’s unapologetic stand for his beliefs, even at the risk of backlash, highlights the transformative power of authenticity in both personal and professional realms. This episode provides a riveting exploration of the importance of articulating one’s beliefs beyond mere slogans and the bravery required to uphold them against societal pressures.
Join us as we unravel Craig's journey of integrating humor with political activism, and the surprising business benefits that followed. From managing hate and support to the tangible impact on his business, Craig’s story is a compelling testament to the positive outcomes of staying true to oneself. You'll hear about the real-life consequences of his public stance and how his unique approach fosters a receptive environment for meaningful dialogue. If you’re curious about the intersection of business, politics, and humor, Craig’s insights will offer you a refreshing perspective on how taking a stand can indeed be good for business.
Welcome back to stand here with Kelly and Josiah Chewbacca. We just finished our interview with Craig Campo and Fairbanks, who runs Campos Campos, c, o, m, p, e, a U Scom, where you can find all your power sports needs. So, josiah, I was super intrigued about Craig's approach to using humor to address his political positions, and one of the things that I really admired is how Craig is bold in taking a stand for what he believes, because that's what we're here to do. We're here to help make courage contagious, and first, I think it means taking a stand, actually being vocal about what you believe. Well, I think we have to back up and say before that what do you believe? What does taking a stand mean?
Speaker 1:
And I think maybe there's a little bit of a gap for that. A lot of people, it seems, when I talk with them or even just see stuff on social media, they are happy to be spoon fed and don't know what they believe. They just regurgitate talking points. So I'll give you an example. I recently saw a video of a young man walking around campuses saying are you interested in signing our petition to free Palestine? And of course, many of the students on campus were saying yes and he said great, I need you to accept these terms and conditions first. So freeing Palestine. When we say things like from the river to the sea, palestine will be free, that means we believe in the elimination of the Jewish population. Can you check here if you believe that? And all of a sudden these students you know were kind of stepping back saying well, I actually don't fully support that.
Speaker 2:
Genocide's not cool.
Speaker 1:
Right, I'm not 100% behind 100, behind genocide. Well, and then he said we believe in annihilating anyone in the lgbtq community because, of course, hamas does not support the lgbtq community. They think they will.
Speaker 1:
They murder those people total self-governance absolutely, and so can you check here. And of course they. Well, no, I'm not signing your petition. And he said well, that's what we believe when we say free Palestine, that's what that means. The people who are leading that cause, that's what they mean. So when I say first, taking a stand means what do you believe? You have to know what you believe, not the slogan phrase of the moment, the the fat of the moment that makes a good PR bit is not actually a belief system. In order to take a stand for something, it has to stand up to the terms and conditions, for example.
Speaker 1:
Then the second thing I appreciate about Craig is he's willing to pay the price for it. So he knows, by going public, as he said, he's gotten the phone calls or the keyboard warriors who've said you know, I'll never buy from you. It's easy to hate behind a social media avatar. I have a lot of hate botters. When you go in and you you actually explore, there's actually no profile and no, they just formed their Facebook account a minute ago. Thank you, hate bot delete. So he's willing to take the hate and he's willing to take maybe some customer attrition because of what he's doing or, you know, things could get worse, as he pointed out, it could even result in maybe complaints filed or lawsuits filed, but he's willing to incur the price. But, as he said, which I thought was but he's willing to incur the price. But, as he said, which I thought was interesting is he's actually gotten more business and more praise for his stance. And I've noticed that too, when you take a stand, those people, even after they pay the price, the benefit is on the other side.
Speaker 1:
But what I really appreciate. So, number one, he knows what he believes. Number two he took a stand for it. Number three willing to pay the price. Then, number four, something that's unique about him is he's integrated humor. He knows how to reach the heart. So it's a lot different to get up and yell at someone to berate them. I have a hard time listening to what some people would call the talking heads. I would think of them as the yelling heads on TV. Just the sound, it kind of grates at me. I don't know that anyone ever changed anybody's mind by yelling at them, but if you can get them to laugh, get them through irony, to see something differently go, oh, actually that's a good point.
Speaker 1:
And something I noticed about his ads is, while he might have a certain political persuasion, his ads are a little bit universally appealing. I think a lot of people have concerns about more people coming in through our border than was, did he say, the population of 36 states at this point, just in the last three years. That's what's happened. That's, I think, universally concerning. You don't have to pin the tail on the political spectrum to say I do or don't agree with that, that's just concerning. Or the issue about China spying on us universally concerning. Some of these issues he's making videos about are universally appealing. Or over government regulation it takes you more than a minute a gallon to empty a container, a fuel container, when it could be done in 35 seconds. Is government regulation? The over regulation of government is universally concerning. So those are some of the things I really admired about the positions he's taking and how he's approaching it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I really respect his courage for just being bold about what he believes and just saying I'm a conservative, this is what I believe and there shouldn't actually be any problem with me saying that. I think he's absolutely right when he touched on. You know, we don't laugh enough in this country. We've taken too much to division.
Speaker 1:
It's almost like it's offensive. Like you're, it's offensive. Yeah, you're a little scared to laugh.
Speaker 2:
Right. Well, it's offensive to just exist for some people. Me existing of one political persuasion offends half the country and me existing as the counterpart of the other half and I think we really just need to boil it down to it's.
Speaker 2:
It's kind of just like preference. It's kind of vanilla versus chocolate ice cream. You know, some people think government operates better when it's bigger. Those people are liberals. That's not an issue. Some people think government operates better when it's smaller. Those people are conservatives. It's. These are really just terms used by political science theorists to define different methods of operating government, which is entirely neutral.
Speaker 2:
But I just think that as a country, we need to be more supportive and inclusive in congratulating our very, very brave citizens for coming out with their true political identity. I think if you're in the closet red, you're, come on out. If you're in the closet blue, come on out, just be you boo.
Speaker 2:
I just want to see everybody come out and show their true colors, because what I really don't like is rhinos, and what I really don't like are people who are too afraid to take a stand. But just come on out of the closet. Let's celebrate everybody with their different political beliefs, because, at the end of the day, none of us actually are offended by how we think government best operates. We're really offended about the emotions tied into the social issues which government has the power to determine.
Speaker 1:
And I think there are some people who benefit from so much division in the country. So you know there's that, but I have a theoretical question that I've never been able to solve. There's that, but I have a theoretical question that. I've never been able to solve If a person who claims that they are Republican but actually only votes and supports Democrat issues and causes as a rhino? What do we call Democrats who are actually A dino. That's what I've wondered. Are they rhinos and dinos?
Speaker 2:
Rhinos and dinos, because both are extinct. One of them is nearing extinction. A lot of rhinos are extinct. My other question for you is, some dinosaurs still exist, just like rhinos still exist.
Speaker 1:
So Some dinosaurs A topic for another day. I know I think I stepped on a dinosaur at home the other day. That one is now extinct and also put a big injury in my foot. But a question idea, what that's supposed to mean a dinosaur toy, just like parents step on Legos, that's okay. It wasn't your dinosaur, that's your dinosaurs are long gone.
Speaker 1:
But a serious question for you, because you have these opportunities, you've had these opportunities to talk with these business leaders and you're looking at getting an MBA here soon. I wanted to kind of get your sense of what was a takeaway you had from your talk with Craig. What did you think differently after talking with a businessman who's taking a stand?
Speaker 2:
I thought that his business strategy is very well put together in that he knows his market.
Speaker 1:
Ah, good point.
Speaker 2:
That is absolutely the most anyone who's talking to you about business, especially when you're getting started in business. If they tell you anything other than market research, they're lying. Market research is like the most important thing.
Speaker 1:
Know your market.
Speaker 2:
know your consumer, because it's not your product. Your product doesn't matter. You're selling like you're not. You're not original, I'm sorry, you're not creative. You're selling something that's already being sold. You're just doing it faster, better or more efficiently, and you need to target people who either want it faster, better or more efficiently, or just rebranded. And he's really got his branding down where he says listen.
Speaker 2:
I know efficiently or just rebranded and he's really got his branding down where he says listen, I know who buys my products, I know who doesn't buy my product. The people sitting here complaining about my ads have never once bought a single thing from me. They also never will and never will, because they're a keyboard warrior right and dudes who live in their mom's basement as discord mods when they're 30. Don't hop on snow machines. I sell snow machines, right?
Speaker 2:
I'm gonna go and give a whole can of kicks and giggles to the guy who does hop on snow machines and shoots guns and is probably wearing a maga hat and probably watches stand yeah, actually a remarkably astute and situationally aware business model.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he's talking to people who think and act like him and has the courage to do it, even though there could be a price to pay which is so much better than just producing your AI generated ad.
Speaker 1:
That's something I was talking to.
Speaker 1:
I'm working on a website right now for another business that we have, and one of the things I'm working on with our website team as we're crafting this bundle of badness is we don't want a website that you could just pop into chat GPT and say generate for me another business website, because so many of these sites I go to you know our web developer is saying, hey, can you give me some sites that you like? So many of these sites I go to really look like just any AI generated machine could make this site. I can't distinguish what your company does from any other company, so I want the tone and the flavor of what we do to be different. That's what I hear you saying is something that's so important for businesses who value courage is having the courage to plant your flag in the sand and say this is what makes me different. I'm going to capture the market by capturing the hearts of my customers and clients, even if that means a good segment of the population isn't going to like me Right population isn't going to like me Right.
Speaker 2:
It's a very American and very Alaskan thing to do. To just be genuine and wear your heart on your sleeve.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, just be out there about it. Yeah, be you boo. All right, this is another segment of Stand. We'll be right back after this break. You're with Kelly and Josiah Chewbacca standshoworg. Make sure to hit subscribe during that break. Become one of our standouts. We'd love to have you join our standtastic community. See what I did there. Thanks, I appreciate the giggle. All right, we'll be back. Stand by.