2020 Brand Black Lives Matter Posts

Overview

The 2020 Brand Black Lives Matter Posts refers to a series of social media responses from companies and corporations about Black Lives Matter and the death of George Floyd. The tren became the subject of criticism and parody as many commented that while these companies state their support of the movement, they have made minimal action to support their words.

Background

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd died in police custody after a former Minnesota police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. In the days that followed, protests, riots and demonstrations were held throughout the United States. Over the next week, numerous brands began sharing messages of support for African Americans and Black Lives Matter on social media. For example, on May 29th, the shoe company Nike published the advertisement, "Don't Do It." The post received more than 700,000 views in less than two weeks (show below).

Developments

Moments of Silence

Some brands aired or broadcasted moments of silence in the week following Floyd's death. His death was acknowledged mostly through the length of the silence, 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time the officer kneeled on Floyd's neck. Such brands as Spotify ^[1] and Nickelodeon (examples below, left and right, respectively).

In addition to Nickelodeon, other Viacom channels broke from their broadcasting schedule to acknowledge racial injustice (shown below).

Many responded positively to Nickelodeon and Viacom's statement. Twitter user @Upmind_ wrote, "Nickelodeon. Growing up, they were pivotal in mine, and a whole generations development as children and adolescents. In 2020, they have proven that they aren't afraid to side publicly what is right. This video played on all of their channels for 8 minutes and 47 seconds. Wow." The post received more than 38,000 likes and 13,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

On June 1st, Redditor ^[6] Speedbird235 posted about the statement on the /r/nextfuckinglevel subreddit. The post received more than 185,000 points (86% upvoted) and 3,100 comments in less than one week.

Ben and Jerry's "Dismantle White Supremacy" Statement

On June 2nd, 2020, Ben & Jerry's ice cream tweeted,^[2] "The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy." The post linked to an extensive response about the death of Floyd. The post received more than 298,000 likes and 101,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below, left).

Many responded positively to the statement (examples below, center and right).

Blackout Tuesday

On Tuesday, June 2nd, many online posts black boxes on Instagram and Twitter in an event known as Blackout Tuesday. Many brands participated in the event, posting black boxes on social media to show solidarity with the African American community. However, some were the subject of criticism with many calling the posts an empty gesture. For example, when the Washington Redskins posted a black box, U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded, "Want to really stand for racial justice? Change your name." The tweet received more than 700,000 likes and 100,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below).^[3]

Criticism

Many online criticized brands for speaking about subjects of racial disparity. For example, advertising consultant Cindy Gallop responded to the Nike ad,^[4] "@nike, 'Don't pretend there's not a problem in America.' Not one Black person on your executive leadership team: https://about.nike.com/pages/executives for a company that's made billions out of Black sports people and consumers. Change THAT." The tweet received more than 560 likes and 190 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

Twitter user @PimpMasterYoda1 shared a video that criticized Gamespot for taking a 8 minutes and 46 second break in their posting, questioning the effectiveness of the post (shown below).

Parodies

On May 31st, 2020, Twitter^[5] user @Campster tweeted a mock statement from a fictitious brand, parodying these types of comments. They wrote, "We at [Brand] are committed to fighting injustice by posting images to Twitter that express our commitment to fighting injustice. To that end, we offer this solemn white-on-black.jpeg that expresses vague solidarity with the Black community, but will quietly elude the specifics of what is wrong, what needs to change, or in what ways we will do anything about it." The tweet received more than 47,000 likes and 23,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

The following day, YouTuber UrinatingTree published a video parody. The post received more than 145,000 views in less than one week (shown below, right).

Search Interest

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External References