The Black Lives Matter Movement: A Systemic Crisis that Expands Crisis Response Theory

Relevance to Marketing Educators, Researchers, and/or Practitioners – In response to George Floyd’s death, a variety of organizations posted messages against racism and some began to openly support Black Lives Matter, often by name, in their corporate communication initiatives. With promises of financial commitments to uplift Black communities, calls for action, and initiatives to support internal change—large and small companies, non-profits and universities—could be perceived as courageous for establishing new protocols to support such a warranted change. However, in the era of “woke washing,” or inauthentic social justice messaging, the need to assess the authenticity of corporate statements of support to social justice causes has become increasingly imperative to support both social justice causes and corporate outcomes