It is no secret
we are at a pivotal point in human history; the events of this year have uprooted our way of life, challenged our ways of thinking, and poured unparalleled uncertainty into the world.
While, arguably, it feels pretty apocalyptic right now, there is some good crawling out from under the rubble. Recently, brands have recognized the need for progressive social awareness and began making symbolic power moves by leveraging their influence for change. Several brands including Coca-Cola, Honda, and Hershey paused social media advertising to support the Stop Hate for Profit campaign.
This campaign asks brands to increase corporate responsibility for advertising through mediums rife with misinformation and hate speech. Considering the state of the economy, this is not an easy decision for brands to make as revenue may be lost from lack of ads. Nevertheless, it has become clear that brands have awakened to the need to put pressure on platforms that are not proactive about quashing users who are causing problems.
Brand Awareness
Several other brands have awakened to a corporate responsibility to go beyond the issues with Facebook and look within. Increasing social awareness focused upon racial injustices in the United States has served as a catalyst for brands such as Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben to look at the deeper meanings of their brand history, brand imagery, and subsequent consequences.
Unilever promised to change the language on personal care products such as cleansers and lotions touting “whitening” benefits in efforts to stop glorifying the unequitable beauty ideal of having lighter skin.
While the word “whitening” seems innocuous, as you probably wouldn’t bat an eye at it on a Tide box, for a beauty product the word inadvertently expresses that lighter skin is required to meet an acceptable standard of beauty. Even the NFL realized that accountability can no longer be swept under the rug of tradition by retiring the Redskins name and trademark. These instances exemplify the need for corporate responsibility down to the finest minutiae of each and every product in a company's portfolio—from the sourcing and manufacturing down to the casual insinuations embedded in each brand name, image, label, or advert.
While some brands are stepping back to do a little self-reflection, others are stepping up. This summer, American Express announced they are offering their cardholders $5 credits for shopping at small businesses to help buoy mom-and-pops during the COVID crisis. This gesture of goodwill is reflective of how a brand can drive values for good. Essentially, AMEX is influencing how people are spending their money to allow small shops an opportunity to nurture a relationship with consumers who have no reason to think outside the ‘big box’. By doing this, they are encouraging mindful spending habits geared towards community versus routine or convenience.
New Corporate Responsibility
The takeaway is that, now more than ever, brands must examine products through the lens of social awareness and identify what cultural ideals they are messaging to consumers, then determine if any aspect of their brand communications contradicts the more progressive values of our long-term social trajectory. But the buck does not stop there. Organizations must also commit to corporate responsibility to ensure that corporate culture, structure, and practices align with the values of tomorrow—not merely today. Companies have the opportunity to direct their energy and resources for true positive change. Simply put: the consumer market is a function of society, and as society evolves, brands and companies must evolve with it.
The operative component for corporate evolution is the reassessment of values. Historically, the prevailing measure of a business is it’s profitability where the modus operandi is to keep costs low and profit margins high (hopefully) resulting in a great monetary wealth. But just because a brand is wealthy doesn’t mean it has value. A corporation that only values money will devalue their employees and their social responsibility, which results in lower employee morale, wealth disparity, and tone deaf products.
We live in a world of finite resources, and people, for better or worse, are interdependent upon one another. Any actions taken by a business will have a consequence, intentional or not. Brands, whether they know it or not, have influence on what consumers view as important and thus must be intentional in their actions. The first step to intentionality is to ask the hard questions such as: if you took a class picture of your employees, what would it look like? Is it teeming with diversity or is it homogenous? If it is the latter, perhaps it’s time to retrain your HR team to eliminate bias. What are the hidden costs of your supply chain? If your materials are sourced from places that have devastating pollution problems, you are a contributor to the problem. Does your product reinforce gender tropes or stereotypes? Reconsider how your business and products can be more inclusive. These questions are a great starting point for any company to foster change. Organizations no longer have the luxury of maintaining the status quo as information can travel fast and far over social media which inexorably links corporate responsibility to social awareness.