Stop Using Minorities as a Marketing Campaign
Supporting trans people isn’t just a statement.
--
Big corporations and companies have never been particularly supportive of any historically oppressed groups of people. They’re usually silent on social justice issues such as those surrounding race, class, and oppression, because anything they say might discourage their customers from buying their products. (Not that they really need the money, anyway.)
The Oreo cookie brand has typically not been an exception to this unspoken rule. However, just about a couple of weeks ago, Oreo tweeted out a statement that simply read “Trans people exist”. Now, there’s nothing objectively wrong with this statement. Trans people do indeed exist, because one of them is writing this article!
It was definitely surprising to see such a big company saying something as “controversial” as the fact that being trans is a thing. (I can’t believe people are still debating over whether or not we actually exist).
As a trans person, this made me feel just a tiny bit more accepted and heard. The fact that this brand publicly came out in support of trans people is certainly something that should be acknowledged, in comparison with the majority of companies that keep their mouths firmly shut.
However, the fact still stands that this statement is the absolute bare minimum that this company can do. Saying that “trans people exist” does not actually do anything to help the LGBTQIA+ community. It’s just a statement meant to appease us and stop us from speaking out further on the topic.
It can also be considered as the brand’s way of reaching out to the younger generation, which a lot of people see as more openly queer. (In reality, the only reason more young people are coming out nowadays is because the world is a more accepting place than it was just a couple of decades ago).
Unfortunately, Oreo’s attempt to appease its young customers and appear to be supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community is not an outlier.
Many companies are using this approach to appeal to minorities and their allies
It’s not uncommon for big, public-facing companies to use words of support as a way to attract customers. A study done by Cone Communications in 2017 found that a whopping 87% of U.S. consumers would buy a product if the company selling it supported the same issues that they did. In their marketing efforts, companies are addressing these newfound consumer concerns and acting adequately in the public eye.
On June 4, 2020, in the wake of the protests for George Floyd, Apple tweeted that they would be donating to organizations fighting against systemic racism. But the huge company didn’t actually give the amount of exactly how much they’d be donating.
As of last year, Dell’s company website talked about diversity and inclusion within the workplace. But the company doesn’t actually do much in terms of diversity, specifically regarding the LGBTQIA+ community. The company was silent in discussions about the Equality Act, which would end discrimination against LGBTQIA+ Americans based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
And in 2018, Nike created an advertising campaign with Colin Kaepernick after he was fired from the NFL for taking a knee during the national anthem. But although the general public was shown that message of diversity and the fight for equality, Nike wasn’t doing much in that fight behind closed doors. As of 2019, only 10% of the company’s international vice presidents were Black.
So many major brands, companies, media, and more have expressed their support for social justice issues in this way. And it’s been working for them.
We cannot allow this to be normalized.
Companies should not be able to just make a statement about an issue and be revered as having triumphed over oppression. It’s not enough to say that you support something and then do virtually nothing about it.
In this new age, where social justice is becoming increasingly important to many consumers, companies are taking advantage of that fact to literally monetize injustice. They’re saying that they support a certain social justice movement, or they’re taking a stance against oppression.
But they actually don’t really care about making a difference for marginalized communities, as exemplified by the statistics above, which show the lack of diversity in company leadership and lack of monetary support for oppressed groups of people. They’re just doing it for money. And they’re actually succeeding.
Many people see the statements put out by these companies and truly believe that they care about the issues. And so they support them by purchasing their products. It’s not the consumers' fault that they’re buying from these companies. Many of them sell products cheaper because they get huge tax cuts from the government and are able to make a large profit off of it. And what they say in their statements about social justice can be genuinely misleading for many consumers who don’t know any better.
But we cannot allow this to go on. It’s not okay for companies to literally make money off of injustice. Many people are facing discrimination, oppression, and the loss of their rights. People die every day because of the social inequalities in our society. That should never be a marketing campaign.
