Brands using their voice to speak up for situations around the world:

Trust is an intrinsic segment of human relationships. It is inflexible and once lost, hard to regain. Just not for their customer base, but for the entire environment in which they operate, brands should speak up for the situations that disturb their social and political stability. In early 2017, when the American government issued the travel ban, Airbnb founder Brian Cheskey took to Twitter and wrote that they would offer housing for free to the affected. They function by providing people roofs above their heads when they travel to new places. Their aspiration was threatened by the mandate. After a brief amount of time, they supported people displaced by war, political directions, and disasters. This memorandum sparked a lot of warmth and fondness for the brand and made people believe that not all brands are mercenaries.

Consistency in speaking up is equivalently significant and not many brands have been successful in this expedition. After the death of George Floyd, we saw almost every major brand speak up but not all of them were consistent and the instances were first-timers for most of them calling out systemic problems in society. Dissimilar to that was when the ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s wrote on its homepage, “We must dismantle white supremacy” and “Silence is not an option.” The founders of the brand have had a history of being vocal about issues relating to racism, hence this was not their first time. They were arrested when they had joined the “Democracy Awakening” protest in the United States, back in 2016. Still, they keep the valor in themselves to speak up against the wrong. And this should not be lauded, it is expected of them and of every brand, especially the ones that depend on the common man for their functioning.

If brands stay true to the cause and with the societal wrongdoings, they do not have to worry about the potential consequences of their words or actions. The society in which they operate will always progress and their doings will always be remembered.