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While protestors took to streets this weekend in cities across the country demanding our nation understand one simple thing — Black Lives Matter — a number of businesses stepped up in solidarity with their consumers’ plight.
So often, Black civil rights organizations speak on the importance of allyship, while Fortune 500 companies and major businesses shy away from acknowledging the disenfranchisement of minorities for fear of “getting political.” During the past few days, however, the stakes have risen as we protest the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Auhmad Arbery; the decades-long murders of Black and brown women; and 400-plus years of mistreatment as citizens of the United States of America. In response, many major companies have unapologetically declared their solidarity with our fight and some even pledged dollars to a number of funds to aid our fight for justice. Here are 13 of them.
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Reebok
While many brands attempted support of an anonymous “you” in their social postings over the weekend, Reebok made it clear that the Black community not only built their brand but built this nation and that is why they stand with us.
Target
Many assumed Target would protest the uprisings, given the events that transpired at their Minneapolis store at the end of last week. Instead, CEO Brian Cornell wrote a letter acknowledging “The murder of George Floyd has unleashed the pent-up pain of years, as have the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. He also pledged to provide full pay and benefits to the 200 team members of their Lake Street store in Minneapolis in the coming weeks.
Glow Recipe
Clean skincare brand Glow Recipe called on its followers to educate themselves, recognize and acknowledge their privilege, and do their part to create change and correct injustice. Glow also announced a $10,000 donation to Black Visions Collective, a Black, Trans, Queer led organization working toward liberation on the ground in Minnesota.
Nike
When Nike released a shoe with Colin Kaepernick this past December, it was clear the brand intends to be on the right side of history when it comes to the Black plight in this country. On Friday, the shoe brand released a compelling ad, telling its consumers “For Once, don’t do it. Don’t pretend there’s not a problem in America.”
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ASOS
UK-based retailer ASOS acknowledged the brutality on American soil Sunday, specifically calling the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade. The clothing company also announced they’d be making a donation to an organization this week.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom demonstrated their attempt to “do the work” by sharing video from one of their “Courageous Conversation” sessions. The forums are set up by the brand’s Black Employee Network and Nordstrom acknowledged the importance of listening to its own employees to understand how to move forward and didn’t shy away from stating #BlackLivesMatter.
Urban Decay
Beyond telling its Black employees and customers they stand with them, Urban Decay put their money where their mouth is. Not only is the brand donating to Black Lives Matter and the Minnesota Freedom Fund, they also changed the link in their bio to https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co so their consumers can easily find ways to get involved.
Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder is the umbrella company over major beauty brands like MAC, Aveda, Clinique, Origins, Smashbox, and Bumble and Bumble. Yesterday, the cosmetics giant let it be known in no uncertain terms that they stand with us.
Beats by Dre
Though they haven’t yet specified how they will do more, Beats by Dre took the time to acknowledge how their brand came to be and urge their consumers to see the killings of Black people as the human rights issue that it is “whether you are personally impacted or not.”
Bloomingdale’s
Clothing retailer Bloomingdale’s made sure not to fumble the opportunity to step up this past weekend and specifically called out the violence that has been heralded against African Americans for decades on its Instagram page.
Netflix
Netflix hit the nail on the head when it acknowledged the Black employees and content creators that contributed to the success of the streaming platform and stated plainly: “To be silent is to be complicit.”
HBO
HBO changed their name to the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on Twitter and pinned this quote from James Baldwin to the top of their page, pledging solidarity to Black colleagues and storytellers.
ABC
While TV networks especially tend to shy away from “Black Lives Matter” statements for fear of alienating certain viewers, ABC stayed in line with its history of supporting Black showrunners, actors, and other content creators when the corporation posted this statement yesterday.
