Brands using #blacklivesmatter

The Black Lives Matter campaign, one of the most famous civil rights movements of our time, has influenced many brands. The movement speaks out against racial profiling, racial inequality and systematic police brutality towards the African-American community, topics that have incited regular protests around the US.

Originally conceived as the hashtag #Blacklivesmatter, the movement has continuously gained momentum and various brands have since made an effort to support this movement. Creative Culture looks at those who have tried to harness the campaign and whether their efforts were successful or not.

Pepsi

Infamously used by the Pepsi and Kendall Jenner campaign, the brand tried to send a message of ‘unity, peace and understanding’. However, the brand pulled the widely criticised campaign due to implying that relations between protesters and police could be improved by protesters being more kind – as demonstrated by Kylie Jenner posing as a protester and offering a riot policeman a can of Pepsi.

Ports 1961

Another brand that struggled to harness the movement was Ports – the Canadian luxury fashion brand. As part of its show at Milan fashion week in 2017, the brand tried to acknowledge the movement through T-shirts and jumpers with slogans such as ‘Every Colour Matters’ and ‘Only Love Matters’. Unfortunately, the pieces were deemed disrespectful and undermining to the movement, given that the models wearing the pieces were of African-American origin.

Ben and Jerry’s

Ranging from LGBT rights to environmental issues, Ben and Jerry’s has consistently been showing its support for social movements and global issues. After all, since the brand’s conception during the 1970’s, their mission statement has been ‘to make the world’s best ice cream, to run a financially successful company, and to make the world a better place’. In support of the movement, the brand released a 7 point list which outlined the realities of systematic racism. The statement even successfully responds to the counter campaign ‘All Lives Matter’ saying ‘All lives do matter. But all lives will not matter until black lives matter.’

By Edward LeBoutillier