The Impact of BLM on Businesses

By: Lauren Vergos

The killing of George Floyd on May 25th was the catalyst for new conversations and change surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. Social media is flooded with posts raising awareness, protests are occurring across the country, and change for the better is starting to happen. The world has been greatly affected by the movement in the last month, both socially and politically. Businesses, both large and small, have been particularly impacted.

Many large corporations have expressed their support of the BLM movement. More often than not, major businesses choose not to express their views regarding sensitive topics in fear of offending their customers. Despite this, companies like Netflix, Ben & Jerry’s, Nike, Twitter have aligned themselves with BLM. Other companies have received backlash after releasing statements regarding the movement, such as YouTube. They promised to spend $1 million on social justice initiatives, but then quickly faced criticism that their moderation against racist content has consistently been weak. Clothing brands that capitalize off of black culture like Fashion Nova have been urged to weigh in on BLM by social media influencers. Jackie Aina, with over 3 million subscribers on YouTube, asked for these companies to use their platforms for the movement. “When it comes to relevant things happening, things you can’t ignore like the Black Life Matters movement, police brutality or murders in our community, it’s crickets, and that’s unacceptable. If you are capitalizing off of a culture, you’re morally obligated to help them.”

On the other hand, many people have taken to social media to list businesses that do not support BLM in order to boycott their products and services. Activists have organized Facebook groups to vote on and decide which companies to boycott that have either expressed anti-black values or remained completely silent in these times. Carmie Basnight, the co-organizer of Boycott for Black Lives,  said that “Our hope is that companies will acknowledge the strength of Black people’s buying power, as well as our collective buying power with our allies.” These same groups are also encouraging people to buy from black-owned businesses. Their efforts will aid in closing the racial wealth gap as well as strengthening local economies.

BLM is not a simple trend that will go away anytime soon. People will not rest until the goals of the movement are achieved, which could easily take years. Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to make their intentions regarding the movement clear. Otherwise, they will be subjected to boycotts and criticism, and rightfully so.