The news that Brad Banducci is stepping down as CEO of supermarket giant Woolworths is to be warmly welcomed. This decision follows what has been described as a ‘shocker’ of a ‘train wreck’ interview he gave to the ABC Four Corners program this week. In reality, there was nothing particularly shocking about the interview other than it highlighted yet another business leader behaving in a manner typical of so many of today’s elites: thin-skinned, sneering and arrogant.

When confronted with criticism of the dominant duopoly of Coles and Woolies, Mr Banducci – or ‘Brad’ as he preferred to be known to his staff, a one-word name akin to ‘Elvis’ or ‘Madonna’ – dismissed critic Rod Sims for being ‘retired’ before having a hissy fit, playing the victim, asking for his snide put-down to be deleted from the interview and then storming out, only to be persuaded by his PR team to return and continue the interview like some spoiled child.

A genuinely shocking interview would have been one in which a CEO of Woolworths or Coles owned up to their poor treatment of suppliers, low-quality grocery products in a country blessed with quality farming land, outrageous pricing structures and treating consumers like sheep as we are forced into increasingly onerous methods of paying. The typical supermarket these days is largely staffed not by helpful, friendly and efficient checkout chicks but by automated tills patrolled by one or two officious types herding ever-lengthening and disgruntled queues of customers into self-serving payment pens. For all the phony advertising campaigns about friendly supermarket staff, it is clear that the future we are being ‘nudged’ towards is one of fully automated stores devoid of staff where we pay for the privilege of doing all the work ourselves. No thanks.

Indeed, the Amazon stores of Britain are literally staffless, and rely entirely on digital identification linked to bank accounts. The customer enters the locked store by being scanned, takes whatever products they want and the total is deducted from the individual’s bank account. These innovations have been predominantly driven due to the out-of-control shoplifting plaguing many modern cities; itself driven by leftist anti-law-and-order policies and high immigration. Although this high-tech approach may appeal to lazy inner-city wokesters and Millennials, it doesn’t take an episode of Black Mirror to imagine how dangerous this dystopian world will surely become. To be sure, if this is what consumers really want, then let them have it. But what is clear from repeated visits to our supermarkets and other retail giants is that we are increasingly being coerced or tricked into adopting this digital/surveillance model, more for their bottom line than for our convenience. Facial recognition technology is now used by many large retailers.

Meanwhile, in the fake world of ESG economics, driven by monolithic hedge funds such as BlackRock and Vanguard, companies artificially inflate their share value by pandering to leftist ‘social justice’ causes rather than through the old-fashioned idea of keeping the customer satisfied. Thus, building brand value nowadays is done by running ads supporting the Voice, gay marriage or climate change instead of attempting to build a brand by offering loyal customers better service and/or better products.

It is most likely that the fiasco for which South African ‘Brad’ will always be remembered – cancelling Australia Day at Woolies – was driven by blindly adhering to the ‘Reconciliation Action Plan’ that Woolworths and most Australian corporations have naively signed up to, rather than the slippery argument posited at the time about market forces. (Supermarkets discontinue unprofitable lines and products all the time, normally without any fanfare at all. To make a public announcement about Australia Day merchandise being discontinued due to poor sales was clearly virtue-signalling of the most dim-witted kind).

As with Alan Joyce before him, and no doubt many more to come, ‘Brad’ is a victim of his own hubris. In the end, customers get fed up with being treated like mugs and vent their displeasure in the only way they can – by shopping elsewhere. In what has become known as the ‘Bud Light’  or ‘go woke, go broke’ phenomenon, consumers are now reacting to the patronising left-wing political preaching of corporations which does not align with their own values. This is to be encouraged. Whether it’s the aisles and aisles of LGBTQ rubbish filling up crowded racks during ‘Pride’ week or month, the pushing of ‘sustainable’ products for which their is no natural demand (plant-based meat, anyone? Nope) or the endlessly irritating intrusion of identity politics into everyday life (‘We acknowledge the traditional owners of this airport terminal/reclaimed runway/office building/shopping mall/cinema chain, etc, etc.) consumers must use the only means at their disposal to say when enough is enough. Go somewhere else.

Good riddance, Brad. Good riddance, Alan. And let woke corporate Australia be warned: consumers are watching and if you don’t change your tune rapidly, you will be next.