Do Black Lives Matter in Business?
C
olin Kaepernick. George Floyd. Defund the Police. In 2020, the debate on racial inequality has never been a more constant pressing issue in global society and one of the largest cultural debates of our me. However, while the focus is currently in America, the protests and social media response have made it abundantly clear this is a truly global problem. Wri en by Ma hew Meehan. Within the European business community, numbers of household names from every market sector as well as the regional and local companies have stated their support for the cause and even pledged money to help the Black Lives Ma er campaign or independent civil rights organisa ons in their pursuit of equality.
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Yet, racism is s ll prevalent in workplaces and industries even some 200 years after the abolition of slavery with some such supporters having had race-based issues within their own company culture. So, do black lives actually matter in business or is this simply a PR stunt at their expense? The sta s cs suggest not.
Image vs Reality The concept known as brand ac vism is be er understood as publicly suppor ng or denouncing a cultural issue in order to match the consumer behaviour of its audience, with independent studies highligh ng its eecveness as 64% of this group would
actively support companies who looked to make a difference in the world. For the benefits of driving up the corporate image and increasing percep ons of a brand in touch with its customers simply by making a public statement and twee ng out the relevant hashtags this is an incredible opportunity that costs nothing. The reality is that for all those companies who made this eort, a study by the University of Manchester showed that 70% of black/ ethnic minority workers have reported to have faced discrimination over the past five years, and of these people 40% claim to have either been simply ignored or now gain a nega ve reputation for causing trouble that
