Brand activism takes the advertising world by storm

Tucked away behind the familiar mountains and sunset of Patagonia's logo, “vote the assholes out,” is sewn in bold letters into the clothing tags of Patagonia’s blue 2020 cargo shorts. The brand was sending yet another message to its consumers to support the environment and vote to protect the earth. Nike, Johnnie Walker, HBO, and other companies quickly followed with advertisements encouraging consumers to vote.

In an exceedingly competitive advertising world, brands have to find creative ways to grab consumer’s attention. Brand activism, when a brand uses a social cause to sell its products, has become an increasingly popular way for brands to reach Gen Z and Millennial consumers. Once an experiment used in Nike’s take a knee NFL Colin Kaepernick campaign, brand activism has become the go-to trend to reach a new generation of consumers who care about companies’ values.

Communications professor at American University and public relations specialist, Scott Talan, suggests that brand activism has become a trend because companies don’t want to be left behind. The new advertising trend “increases this age-old marketing, advertising, and branding challenge of standing out,” Talan explained. However, brand activism gives companies a new avenue to reach consumers rather than the customary functional or lifestyle appeal of a product. “Now they’re saying ‘hey we’re woke, we’re aware, we’re supportive, we get you,’” Talan said.

Among global consumers, 66% are willing to pay more for sustainable products along with 73% of Millennials, according to a study by the marketing research firm Nielsen. “They want to get you young, and they want you to grow up with them,” Talan said. “They’re acutely aware of the demographics of the younger generation and what they value.”

New York University student Bella Florence, 21, finds brand activism exploitative. Florence explained that she frequently hears stories about how companies don’t incorporate diversity into their staff or leadership boards while touting diversity and inclusion in their marketing.

“To me, the very idea of brand and ad activism leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I automatically assume that it can’t be authentic,” Florence said. “Both pride and Black Lives Matter get kind of plastered onto things. Nike is the first thing I think of, but you also see it with Verizon, Gap, and just living around Union Square, you see it all the time.”

A member of the LGBTQ community, seeing companies profit off of Pride month, felt impersonal and dishonest, Florence said. Florence would prefer that companies donate some money to Pride or make Pride products half off instead of profiting off the month. When it comes to buying products, however, Florence says that looking into a product's background feels like looking at food ingredients, “there are too many words,” just like there are too many products that she rarely has the time to take values and practices into account.

“I try to buy from small businesses when I can. I feel guilty every time I use Amazon, but I’m not great about doing it,” Florence said. “In theory, I would like to be someone who shops sustainably and looks into companies, but when it comes to my day to day, it ends up falling low on the priority list in the spare of the moment.”

New York University student and political science major Zach Lee, 22, believes the new advertising trend effectively gets his attention, but not his money. Similar to Florence, he does not always consider what a brand says they stand for before buying a product. “At the end of the day, when I’m buying a product, I’m looking for quality,” Lee said. However, Lee does care about a company’s labor practices.

“If the CEO is a Republican, I don’t care if the company makes good shirts,” Lee said. “If you’re harming the environment or using child labor, that’s a big deal to me and would make me reconsider buying the product.”

Lee still remembers a 2014 Super Bowl halftime commercial that Coca-Cola produced, based on the song “America, The Beautiful,” sung in multiple languages to celebrate America’s multicultural and ethnic heritage. Although the ad got a lot of backlash “among people who weren’t so excited about that sort of America,” Lee said, the ad made him like CocaCola more.

“As a consumer, I don’t drink Coca-Cola, but I gained respect for them when they did that,” Lee said. “I still remember it because those are values that I care a lot about.”