Personally I hate company swag, generally I just don’t like wearing heavily branded clothing it’s tacky. However what I’ve been doing for years is accept all swag that comes to me. I then give it to homeless folks. I’d be really impressed by a startup that instead of spending on swag gives toward solving homelessness.
Wow what a hero
This is an all asshole safe space
I like swag, when company logo swag design and the clothing is nice I like to wear it. I don't think that makes me an asshole. I find it admirable that you share your company swag with people who need it. Finally I don't think it's mutually exclusive, companies can give swag to employees AND help their communities in multiple ways, usually swag is not as expensive to prevent a company from doing both.
Long time ago I was expecting a promotion but all I got was a lousy (actually the fabric was great) company branded hoodie. I gave it immediately to a homeless guy along with some cash. Seeing him around the office in the next couple of months wearing his warm hoodie was priceless. The guy was good - never bothered anyone, always preferred food or clothes over cash.
Did he help launch rockets too? Imposter syndrome at its finest.
That was 15 years before SpaceX in my home country. I don't think the guy ever realised he is wearing swag from the company next door, it was a small office without any signs. I guess he appreciated a brand new well fitting attire and may be wondered why some people give him strange looks. My boss was definitely pissed but it was bellow him to actually ask the guy where he got the hoodie.
Zuck and others were talking about Universal Basic Income. Until that happens, individual actions should help.
Zuck’s talk and actions are inversely related