Companies, public figures called out for superficial activism on Black Lives Matter
As the world took social media to express their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, some companies and public figures find themselves in hot water over their behaviour towards the black community.
Lea Michele lost an endorsement deal after her former Glee co-star Samatha Ware called her out on Twitter. Michele tweeted support for George Floyd incident and the BLM movement. Ware replied, “Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell? Cause I’ll never forget” in all caps.
Michele’s former Glee co-stars Alex Newell and Amber Riley acknowledged Ware’s statement. Riley posted a GIF of herself drinking tea. Michele instantly appeared on Twitter trending topic.
The movement unveils layer of hypocrisy in the fashion and beauty industry. It restarts the conversation about diversity issue in fashion industry.
Shortly after beauty conglomerate L’Oréal posted ‘speaking out is worth it’ on Instagram, black transgender model Munroe Bergdorf called out the company for racial hypocrisy. The company fired Bergdorf from its True Match make-up campaign in 2017 for speaking out about white supremacy and racism on Facebook. L’Oréal has not responded to Bergdorf’s claim.
There is also Louis Vuitton. A couple of days before the BLM protest took place, the company launched an influencer campaign to promote its latest LV Pont 9 bag. The company received criticism for not aligning BLM message through its campaign and supporting BLM cause while being able to donate €200 million for Notre-Dame cathedral refurbishment and pivot its factory to produce hand sanitiser.
Virgil Abloh, menswear designer for Louis Vuitton, faces backlash for criticising the looting of Louis Vuitton store in Portland. He was also criticised for his $50 donation to protesters’ bail fund via Fampower while his brand Off-White is selling hundreds dollars worth of merchandise. On a lengthy Instagram post, he addressed his initial remark and announced $20,500 donation to help protestors.
Celine, a LVMH-owned fashion brand, shared on Instagram a picture with a black background that read, “Celine stands against all form of discrimination, oppression and racism. Tomorrow’s world will not exist without equality for all.” Hollywood stylist Jason Bolden commented on the post, stating that the brand doesn’t dress black celebrities unless they have a white stylists.
Former Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld shared an image of herself embracing black model Anok Yai in solidarity for the BLM movement. She wrote in the comment ‘Anok is not a black woman, she is my friend, I missing!’
The post has now been deleted but Roitfeld’s comment garnered a lot of backlash for not recognising a black person in her own skin colour and ethnicity.
Kendall Jenner, who’s a repeat black culture offender, surfaced among the sea of criticism. Jenner was criticised for only showing support by reposting an Instagram text chain as part of a challenge. One comment on Diet Prada wrote, “Imagine mentioning the BLM movement only because someone on social media challenged you to do so.”
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The protest also sparked a conversation in Indonesia. More Indonesian are turning their eyes to Papua. Like the black community, Papuans have been marginalised and often called ‘monkey.’ #PapuanLivesMatter is tagged along with #BlackLivesMatter. Some are voicing their criticism towards people who support BLM yet never speak up about Papua.
The most problematic thing of all is it took countless of deaths and police brutality, riots, looting and worldwide protests in order to charge the perpetrator of George Floyd case with second-degree murder, a sentence that was only lifted after the officials received pressure for charging Derek Chauvin with third degree murder.
It also took a worldwide protest for Indonesians to start questioning the country’s burgeoning issues surrounding Papua, beauty standard and skin tone. The question is, if the protest stops, will the fight against systematic oppression and racial discrimination stop as well?