Is 2020 The Year of Brand Activism?
Once the COVID-19 pandemic had halted life as we knew it, companies raced to get out their conscientious messaging. Another surge of feel-good statements flooded TV ads and social media amid the eruption of antiracist protest activity. Both the ongoing pandemic and protests have been optimistically dubbed “inflection points,” moments that precede a reckoning with who we are that would ultimately spur transformative change. The socially responsible statements brands offered up largely struck that optimistic chord as well.
The preferred story of America has been one detailing a resilient march along the long path towards freedom and progress. We may hit darker days, but our better angels will always prevail. The country’s bedrock values are the beacon that will guide us toward that promised tomorrow. In a sense, “America” is the biggest brand there is, loaded with cultural capital and a storybook moral arc that is internationally recognizable. We know the beats, the platitudes.
It’s why the down-home, Americana Covid-19 ads could easily be flattened into a montage of tropes and clichés. Somber piano music to set the emotional stakes. Liberal use of the phrases “hero” and “family” and “together.” Short on cash and unable to film new material, what ended up getting cobbled together fed off our need for something reassuring and familiar in “uncertain times.”
And while there is no YouTube supercut spotlighting BLM advertising I’m aware of, from the recurrent motifs I’ve noticed I would imagine much of the other messaging follows suit. Sure, nothing noteworthy has been as offensively tone-deaf as the notorious Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad per se. What is present is an overabundance of symbolic gestures. Interrupting broadcasts for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. Leaning in to listening and emphasizing empathy. Dramatizing the daily slights Black Americans face in the hopes of implicating the audience and prompting reflection. Vaguely grasping towards a fairer future, the actual steps forward remain unclear.
Brands looking to double down on their purpose have launched initiatives in response to these crises. Lyft launched the Essential Deliveries program to serve healthcare organizations and nonprofits. Swim Across America teamed up with Speedo USA to send goggles to hospital medical personnel. Google gave educators free access to G Suite for education software.
In the agency realm, 2020 might as well be dubbed the year of brand activism. I think this is a misnomer. Messaging built on moral suasion can certainly be powerful. But trying to change minds isn’t activism. Donating $1 million in smoothies to “front-line” workers or stocking beauty stores with products for all complexion shades might make someone feel more included. But listening and giving back isn’t activism.
Among the most popular books of this moment is Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be An Antiracist.” To quote Kendi, “An activist produces power and policy change, not mental change. If a person has no record of power or policy change, then that person is not an activist.” That means a track record of a company using its financial and social capital to hold political stakeholders accountable in pursuing socially progressive legislation, for example. That means supporting campaigns and voting initiatives, that means taking sides.
Language matters in brand communications. Slapping the “activism” label on brand efforts to stay socially conscious comes across as insincere. There are already critics and cynics dissecting companies’ current efforts for flaws and tired thinking. And there should be. Reaching out to audiences means be willing to fail and learn in public.
Much needs to be done for brands to figure out how to be a lone, pioneering voice in a crowded field. For starters, perhaps messaging should focus more on mobilizing their consumers in some way. Reassuring them that things will be fine or that a company comfortably falls in line with a popular rallying cry placates viewers. “No need to cancel my brand fave,” they might think. But driving increased action, in voting booths, in the streets or online, says something much more impactful: “We believe in a better tomorrow, but that doesn’t happen without you doing something today.” There is certainly risk attached. Other consumers might feel alienated. A true trailblazing brand puts its money where its mouth is, and finds a way to do so that resonates with their core purpose. To quote Unilever’s chief executive Alan Jope, “Principles are only principles if they cost you something.”