Performative Corporate Activism: Are We Being Taken Advantage of by Corporations?

What is Performative Corporate Activism? 

Performative activism, by definition, is when activism is done for the purpose of receiving a positive response and to increase social capital rather than actually caring about the issue at hand. Performative activism can be easily spotted during social movements such as Stop Asian Hate, Black Lives Matter, and even the LGBTQ+ rights movement. 

Now you might be thinking, why would any of these companies owe the public any kind of fidelity? After all, some people think these corporations are raising awareness just by bringing up the issue. Making a public statement makes people start thinking about the problem and want to help, and wouldn’t that be enough? Yes, in a perfect world, it would be enough, but to believe that it actually happens is unrealistic.

One of the main issues with performative corporate activism is how big of a negative impact it can have on the minorities that are actually being ‘fought for.’ They are looked past and instead seen as a way of making money, therefore defeating the purpose of advocating for them. It would be different if companies donated the money to organizations that are dedicated to helping the causes, but most times that is not the case. 

Putting a Meaning Behind Their Words 

 Performative corporate activism is no more than a misleading corporation gimmick, but it also happens to be a great way to increase sales for businesses. One company that comes to mind is Amazon. Amazon, like many others, released a supporting statement about the Black Lives Matter movement “Black Lives Matter. Amazon stands in solidarity with the Black community.” And while many looked past this as just another company putting out their support, some were confused and more so raged. Amazon has a long past of creating and selling tech products that targets Black and Brown people. And on top of that, Amazon has never even apologized or even acknowledged this when called out. 

Amazon is not the only company that received public backlash after BLM started to attain more attention, and rightfully so. Another one was the software company Slack. In late May of 2020, just recently after the tragic death of George Floyd, Slack deleted a post about how their app can be useful for local police officers. Airbnb also faced criticism when they posted their support to the Black community but they played a part in pushing black families out of their homes and contributed to the gentrification of predominantly colored neighborhoods.  

It’s important we educate ourselves properly and look into the past of a company before buying from them straight away just because they have ‘BLM’ as their profile picture. Sure, it’s a small sign to show support– but with only a few minutes of research I can guarantee you will find if they actually care about supporting the BLM movement or not. 

The Brighter Side

One business that isn’t looking to increase sales just by being performative is the widely known toy company, Legos. Legos is a great example of a company that puts their money where their mouth is. They consistently share their takes on current social issues. Whether it’s sending out letters to adults about it being okay for kids to break gender norms with their toys, or pulling any lego sets with police officers in them during the BLM protests and then donating 4 million to social justice organizations. Not only would that cost them a lot of money, but it shows the public how it isn’t hard to put some actual meaning behind your words.

I think we can all say that the year 2020 was a tough year for everyone. It was definitely memorable, but nonetheless it was hard for many people. For a lot of non-Black people, it was a wake up call. A call to educate ourselves and not only that but realize the privilege we have walking out into this world freely and unafraid. So when businesses think it’s acceptable to take an opportunity to use the deaths of thousands and thousands of Black and Brown people over the course of hundreds of years to be money-grabbing and putting out purposeless statements, it needs to be called out and talked about more. We cannot expect anything to change if we don’t want to discuss performative activism or even bring it up! And yes, businesses that profit off glorifying social movements are never going to show perfect activism. But we can ask: is the information you’re putting out valuable? If you’re going to talk about an issue, then do something about it!