Are Companies Using ‘Black Lives Matter’ for Marketing Purposes?
The moral and ethical implications of a corporate stance.
The moral and ethical implications of a corporate stance.
The world is consumed by the Black Lives Matter protests, but are companies benefiting from this inequality?
After witnessing the senseless killing of George Floyd, people from both sides of the political spectrum were united with one opinion… That was murder.
However, as the discussion mutated from ‘police brutality and reform’ to the racial inequality that black people face globally, corporations found themselves on a tightrope.
Say nothing. You’re racist.
Over-compensate. You’re guilty.
Support BLM. Now you’ve inadvertently alienated those who don’t understand or oppose the movement.
There wasn’t a win-win. So many waited to witness the fallout from the first to take a stand and copied the successful approach.
Companies are virtue signaling
Some of the actions taken by brands could be considered as using the movement for monetary gain.
“100% of profits go to Black Lives Matter Sale — Now on.”
“Buy something from us and we’ll match your donation.”
By running sales, making public donations, and vowing to have more equality in their hiring process, companies are showing the world where their views are. To stay on the right side of history… But is it pure? Is it authentic?
Firstly, there’s a big difference between profits and proceeds. Profits are what’s left after expenses and costs are taken out. Whereas proceeds should be the full gross revenue.
Both are tax-deductible against the business.
It’s basically saying, give us your money and we’ll donate it for you. Buy our slow-moving stock, reducing our warehouse expenses (and asset-liability going into a potential recession… actually don’t get me started on this) and let us prosper.
Now the praise (for the money raised) and the tax benefits will go to the company.
Call me cynical, but this approach is open to being exploited for Corporate PR reasons.
People want to know where their money is going
It’s not good enough for a company to be a faceless entity anymore.
Spending your dollars is a daily vote that happens millions of times per hour. Each transaction is an advocated approval for your product or service.
If that product or service is sold by an individual with questionable, racist, xenophobic, or radical views, you may not want your money going into their pocket.
Never has this been more obvious than the recent mass disaffiliation of Crossfit-gyms worldwide.
On June 6th, now-former CEO, Greg Glassman wrote on Twitter “It’s Floyd-19”. His tweet was in response to the ‘Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’ stating that racism was to be considered a public health issue.
His misplaced quip did not go down well.
In the days that followed at least 1,200 gyms publicly announced they were pulling their affiliation with Crossfit.
Each affiliated gym pays $3,000 per year to carry the Crossfit name, so that’s a $3.6million hit to the organisation's bottom line.
However, as the story gained traction in the Crossfit community, it only got worse. Rogue, Reebok, and some other high-profile sponsors also pulled their support from Crossfit — and a few Crossfit Games’ athletes withdrew from this year's competition in protest.
This financial pressure forced CEO, Greg Glassman, into early retirement after publicly apologizing for his comments.
Although under new leadership, Greg still owns the company — albeit as a silent owner now. So it’s too early to tell if people’s trust can be re-earned.
Crossfit’s community as a whole has yet to support this move, calling for more to be done. They were expecting a pound of flesh, but they’ve all gone hungry.
Are public donations and promises actually doing good things?
It’s very easy to ridicule the efforts of those that have tried, but is there some benefit to companies virtue-signaling and publicly raising money?
Their main intentions may be or may not be pure, but without a doubt, there is a positive impact on the sheer volume of funds being raised right now.
Companies are using their popularity and platforms to spread this message of equality. That’s good. They’re also using this time to educate customers and staff alike. Again, great news.
The result is like ripples in a lake. The main splash is made, but the waves emanate outwards and have their own effects in varying intensity over time.
Exposure isn’t a remedy on its own. Money isn’t a remedy on its own, but the public perception is changing and brands, in general, could be an important contributor to the social movement we’re experiencing right now.
As a marketing professional or business owner, you too could be looking for what the right thing to do is. Honestly, there is no right answer.
As a rule, many brands should never get involved in either Religion or Politics. However, what we’re seeing right now doesn’t fall into either category, it’s about human rights and equality.
With that said, for me, private donations and public support is the preferred balance. I think it’s unethical to promote charitable work as a means to gain more customer approval or sales — but it’s a purely subjective move.
In this instance, there is a positive impact to a company’s pursuit of praise.
Perhaps the real answer is perception. People see what you want to see. Either greed or generosity. It doesn’t mean they’re right.
You just have to decide what action aligns with your views and don’t ‘try’ to be right. As a company, just be you, authentically and if it’s not enough, your customers will let you know.