How can brands support Black Lives Matter? | [A collaborative piece]

A collaborative piece by Mitzi Wilson and Maria Eilersen.

We recognise the Black community is hurting. As two White women, we recognise our privilege and inherent bias in a society that perpetuates White supremacy, and are continuing to educate ourselves on how we can help dismantle systemic racism and be better allies to the Black community and People of Colour. We believe racism has no place in the world we want to live in and that Black Lives Matter, not just today, but everyday. 

Note: this article is split between two sites - this is part one. We appreciate you reading.

In the last week since footage emerged on Facebook showing the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, we’ve seen the online and offline media sphere completely change. Goodbye COVID, now the social injustice of police brutality against Black individuals and Black communities, and the systemic racism that perpetuates it is front and centre. 

The discourse on social media has flipped around, fast. Brands were pushed to respond with a wave of ‘silence = complicit’ memes.  Next, a social blackout went viral, cloaking our feeds with quite literally, millions of black squares. This led to siren calls to remove those 28 million (at the time of writing) black squares from Instagram and the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag from posts so to protect the information and resources protesters, activists and anti-racist allies depend on. Muted and listening became the new ‘say something’. 

This revealed one thing - brands weren’t really sure what to do in this situation.

Some were met with praise, others with backlash. Their sudden panic to respond quickly without critical thought resulted in dilution of brand messaging and unfortunately, meaningless noise.

In this article, we’ll explore our observations and analyse tactics available to brands - from going out hard and aligning your messaging with meaningful action, to just sitting back and listening. 

Drawing from the best practices of crisis communication, brands can choose to respond to significant situations in two ways: reactively or proactively. 

A proactive response involves active communication - often with the help of multiple departments. This approach usually consists of a brand statement conveying your position on the matter, what action you’re taking and where people can find more information, get help or at least speak with your company directly. A reactive response is exactly the same thing, but you don’t use the statement unless prompted to externally. 

In response to the devastating murder of George Floyd and the call for justice across social media, we’ve seen brands adopt the following proactive responses:

1. Jumping on the bandwagon with a minimal or stock response

We’ve seen a lot of brand accounts post the black square, often with limited copy and the #blackouttuesday hashtag, many of which also included #blacklivesmatter, diluting the feed of important information and resources for protestors, activists and anti-racist allies.

Some have even confused the sentiment of support with  ‘All Lives Matter’, again displaying the rush to respond. 

Minimal responses do come across as less meaningful and sincere when compared with brands who chose to elaborate on their stance and the actions they plan to take.

2. Responding with your brand values and reasoning as to why this movement is important

Brands like Ben & Jerry’s, disrupters and masters of activism, responded with a bold statement that doesn't skirt around the issue. Here we can see they’ve taken responsibility by addressing police brutality, white supremacy and systemic racism and that they’re committed to fight against these injustices. You can see they’ve also capitalized Black - and are clear when addressing Black individuals/communities or POC.

bjstweet.png

“Brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Netflix and American Express’s messages to the black community are deeply appreciated because, outside of crisis, they demonstrate consistency and acknowledgement, which makes their words now authentic and empathetic,“ says Belinda Smith, global diversity ambassador at the World Federation of Advertisers in an interview with The Drum.

But this only works if your brand truly stands behind the Black Lives Matter movement; living and breathing the anti-racist work needed to enact change.  Enter L’Oreal, whose past racist actions came to light after their brand response, revealing that they had fired model Munroe Bergdorf from a campaign after speaking out against the racism she experienced. They’ve since reviewed internally, spoken personally with Munroe Bergdorf and have publicly resolved the situation, even receiving praise from Jameela Jamil who spoke out early on.

3. Providing information to show alliance and educate followers - showing actionable change

Brands like Netflix and Glossier have joined the ranks of brands choosing to educate rather than overstate during this time. By linking to resources and showing action, these brands enforce their authenticity and support for the cause.

glossier statement.png

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