Amid pricing challenges, economic turbulence, and political crosscurrents, executives face mounting challenges in communicating operational strategies while maintaining stakeholder confidence.
Gravity Research analyzed transcripts from more than 70 Fortune 100 earnings calls held between July 15 and August 21, 2025 to examine how companies addressed pricing, tariffs, AI, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, and cryptocurrency. As proactive corporate commentary on societal and political issues has declined, these quarterly calls now provide a critical window into executive sentiment and strategy. Our research found that executives chose to focus on innovation and customer-centered approaches, sidestepping pitfalls and direct citations of political pressures.
Key Findings
Pricing dominated the conversation, but was carefully framed. 77% of analyzed firms referenced tariffs, with nearly half of mentions surfacing in response to analyst questions. Only consumer goods, airlines, and machinery companies detailed tariff-driven pricing, underscoring sector-specific exposure.
Investors pushed firms to prove AI’s value. In the nearly 70% of calls that included AI mentions, executives often spoke optimistically about innovation but avoided detailed discussion of market positioning, leaving analysts to press back with questions around ROI.
Sector-specific issues were framed as consumer-first, not politically driven. Food & beverage and healthcare companies attributed changes in ingredient reformulation and drug pricing to market responsiveness without naming MAHA movement pressures. Similarly, financial service firms addressed cryptocurrency adoption, but few spoke to the Trump administration’s recent stablecoin policy.
What to Watch
Consumer affordability, investor demand for AI’s ROI, and the Trump administration’s policy agenda are likely to drive communications challenges in the months ahead, with holiday shopping periods and the 2026 midterm elections nearing as potential reputational flashpoints.
Download the full report to learn more about how leading firms are messaging around reputationally sensitive topics.
