As some employees push to wear Black Lives Matter at work, it comes down to what a brand thinks authentically works for its customers
As the Black Lives Matter movement reemerged into the national and local spotlight following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by white police officer Derek Chauvin, business owners have had to choose whether or not to display support of the movement.
Multinational businesses have publicly grappled with allowing employees to show support for Black Lives Matter — Whole Foods Market was sued July 20 by employees who accused the upscale grocery chain of punishing workers who wear Black Lives Matter face masks on the job, while Starbucks quickly reversed its decision June 12 to prevent employees from donning material in support of Black Lives Matter and said they’d provide 250,000 Starbucks-branded Black Lives Matter shirts for employees who want them.
The Whole Foods lawsuit names 14 employees at stores in California, Massachusetts, Washington and other states, but not yet Oregon. Other plaintiffs are expected to join. The employees also filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, charging Whole Foods with interfering with their right to engage in concerted activity to improve the conditions of their workplace.
In Lane County, some local and Oregon-based businesses have been a topic of discussion and even protests for their choices. While about 30 grocery store employees at Market of Choice walked out when they were barred from wearing masks with the words Black Lives Matter, Cornbread Cafe announced its restaurant in Eugene would be reopening with a picture of employees uniformly dressed in Black Lives Matter shirts.
“I feel like the shirts are the very least we can do,” Sheree Walters, owner of Cornbread Cafe, said. “We go beyond that, but this is the very least we could to to show our support.”
Walters said all 15 of her employees were excited to wear the shirt, which is now part of several uniform options they have. She said that in addition to giving shirts to employees, she looks forward to selling them and donating proceeds to the local NAACP, pending a conversation with them. The cafe also has donated food to free lunch programs during the pandemic.
Walters said the cafe hasn’t received much negative feedback, which could partly be because the the vegan restaurant’s customer base is receptive to the message.
“Veganism is about more than food, it’s about people and standing up for what’s right,” Walters said. “And the majority of our clientele, they agree with the statement Black Lives Matter.”
Working internally
In contrast, Dutch Bros Coffee’s corporate leadership had Black Lives Matter signs removed from all of their coffee shop locations earlier this month.
“We removed the signs not because we don’t support the Black Lives Matter movement,” said a news release from the company in an email to The Register-Guard. “We’ve chosen to focus on taking massive action internally to ensure we’re making extraordinary strides in diversity, equity and inclusion. Part of that choice, for now, includes continuing to only post brand and product signage created by Dutch Bros.”
That action includes working with diversity, equity, and inclusion experts and creating an internal committee.
Market of Choice’s corporate leadership has stood by its decision to ban all non-uniform additions to employees’ outfits, including masks that have Black Lives Matter on them.
The company’s CEO put out a statement on social media in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on June 12. The chain has 11 locations in Oregon, including five in Eugene, and employs more than 1,200 people, according to the company’s website.
“It’s important to us that we create a safe and neutral place to work every day,” Dana Turell, a Market of Choice spokesperson, said. “So the dress code practice in general, and specific to this particular issue of Black Lives Matter mask, is meant to support that safe and neutral space for the team members to work.”
Turell added that company leadership doesn’t want employees to feel pressured to wear anything other than their uniform, so they are focusing on systemic company changes, including working with local vendors to have more Black-owned products in the stores.
“In today’s society, I can’t imagine any place that’s neutral,” Kim Sheehan said.
Sheehan is a professor at the University of Oregon and the director of the Advertising and Brand Responsibility Master’s Program, a unique degree that prepares students interested in pursuing a career guiding companies as they take a stand in areas such as sustainability, privacy and data protection, social justice and diversity. She describes the components of brand responsibility as authenticity, courage, empathy, resiliency and commitment to social good.
“Brands are actors in society,” Sheehan said. “Brands have an amazing power to enact social change.”
She added that the NFL team formally known at the Washington Redskins was met with public protest for decades before changing the name, but it took pressure from team sponsors, brands such as FedEx, Amazon and Target, to make the change. These brands are hoping to align themselves with consumers. Sheehan said many consumers feel better about buying brands whose values match their own.
Local businesses who have branded themselves as being local and community-based may be held to higher standard by a consumer base that increasingly wants their values reflected in the business they patronize.
“In some ways, (local businesses) have sort of opened themselves up to being much more in tune with what the community says they want,” Sheehan said. “They are treated differently and reviewed differently, but I think part of that is the values that they’ve already put out there.”
Authenticity key
Brand responsibility goes beyond a shirt or a sign, according to Sheehan.
“One of the most important things is authenticity,” Sheehan said. “There has to be an authentic reason that a brand is going to align with any type of cause, including Black Lives Matter.”
Kendall Hocking is one of the more than 30 Market of Choice employees statewide who walked out in protest of the policy. She said the masks are an important starting point to conversations about equity in the workplace.
“It’s essential though that we dig deeper so we make sure that we’re not being performative on our part,” Hawking said.
Performative activism is the idea of activism done to increase a person’s social standing rather than authentic belief in a cause.
She and other Market of Choice protesters are calling for other companywide changes, including more diversity of its “diversity team” and increased efforts to recruit diverse employees.
Spencer Smith, a founding member of BLAC Led Action Coalition, one of a few local Black Lives Matter-related activist groups that have become prominent in recent months, echoed Hawkings thoughts on performative activism.
“Anyone can say their an anti-racist, that doesn’t mean they are anti-racist,” Smith said.
Smith said he has been working with different local businesses to discuss how they can be anti-racist in action and not just appearance.
As far as employees fighting to wear Black Lives Matter signage, Smith also said it’s a good starting point.
“I think that’s awesome employees are fighting (to wear Black Lives Matter material); it shows you where your business stands,” Smith said. “It’s awesome and you need to do more.”
Contact reporter Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick at [email protected] or 541-338-2454, and follow her on Twitter @TatianaSophiaPT. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
