Some big brands have taken big steps backwards with their images, just as they thought they were jumping on a bandwagon of progressive thought and inclusivity.

It's not progressive if it's fake. Companies are getting found out if they embark on a campaign that looks inclusive, sustainable or body positive, but is insincere.

Sustainability, inclusivity, gender equality and body positivity. They're the topics du jour that companies and brands have been quick to jump on.

The Black Lives Matters movement sparked the rebrand of famous products like Eskimo Pies, Uncle Ben's Rice and Aunt Jemima's maple syrup, and body inclusivity saw brands like Victoria's Secret scrap its famous angels.

Reading the room can be great for business, but today's episode of The Detail discusses what happens when a company or a marketing campaign goes from woke to woke-wash, and just how easy it is for a brand to be 'cancelled'.

University of Auckland marketing professor Mike Lee tells Wilhelmina Shrimpton that while the phrases 'woke' and 'woke-washing' are relatively new buzz words, their meaning isn't.

He says while consumers used to protest or boycott what they didn't like, now in the day and age of social media, they 'cancel'.

"People have always had a political lens by which they view business and companies and corporations. So consumer activism and people, protesting to boycotting, has been around a lot longer than the term 'woke' has been."

But the online world has now made it a lot quicker and easier for people to respond to a brand's moral compass campaign, especially when it goes badly.

"It's much easier to protest when you literally can do it from your phone and just type in a couple of characters and be sort of anonymous. It's also very easy to jump on a bandwagon and cancel someone if you already see the conversation going that way."

Lee says it can be tricky to know when a company is being genuine or not, but believes it's a lot tougher to convince an increasingly cynical customer base.

"I think there is definitely the potential that we are more cynical, because there's just so much more information out there these days. It doesn't take too many swipes to get to the information that you're trying to confirm."

Consumers were cynical about the Victoria's Secret body positivity rebrand, a move that went down so badly that the company decided to backtrack.

"I think backtracking is really the only option for them, particularly because their brand was known for that certain look anyway…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details