Who, and what, are you loyal to when the pressure is on?

There are words and ideas we use so often we have worn out their meaning. I think loyalty is one of them. Companies want loyal employees and loyal customers, brands want loyal followers, we want loyal partners. I suspect that if we were to empty the bag of "go to" words of just about any brand agency "loyal" will be there. If we go back to the word's roots, it comes from "legal obligation", and "conforming to the laws of honour".

Not at all soft and fuzzy. It also, of course, cuts both ways. The bank that wants loyal customers wants them on its own terms, and will abandon them at a moments notice when the heat is on and it's forecast profits look as bit wobbly. The same of course applies to employees - not a lot of hard moral duty or laws of honour there. As is often the case, few express it more succinctly than Dilbert.