Social media interns and executives are literally paid to identify trends in online culture and exploit them to get you to reblog/retweet/or otherwise spread their brand name. This whole recent outbreak of brands becoming “woke” or pro-LGBT is nothing more than corporations adapting to the new social climate. It’s marketing, plain and simple. I know this may be hard to hear but please remember these corporations are NOT here for you (and arguably, never were). They, as always, simply want your money and attention.
Don’t screencap their posts. Don’t repost that epic clapback. Don’t spread their brand for them. It’s literally all part of their game.
Confirmed from the inside.
But on a marginally less cynical note, corporations tend to employ one or two humans, and some of us genuinely want to leverage the weight of the company to contribute to the changing cultural tide. We’re so close to critical mass, and every company that (albeit cynically and selfishly) hops on board makes it harder for the tide to reverse.
So at least there’s that.
I feel like the sincerity of corporations and, in particular, the media, almost doesn’t matter, if they’re – on the face of it – doing the right thing. We can similarly say that right wing corporations and media are just profiting from conservatives and bigots, and don’t believe in what they say any more than the “woke” ones, but they still have an effect on society; I’d rather that effect be good. Because even if the people spreading the message don’t believe it, if it influences people into thinking and behaving in good and just ways, i think that’s fair enough, really.
suchasinistergame 