No matter what it is you believe in, Twitter makes for a great platform to express your passion. More and more, brands are jumping on the activist beat to make a progressive statement. Brand activism is not to be confused with CSR, or corporate social responsibility. CSR is a policy of self-regulation to ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards. Brand activism takes moral credibility a step further by actively involving your brand in awareness for a certain cause. Here are 4 examples of brands taking a new media stand for social justice.
1. Éclair Naturals, a skin care line that started selling products last year, initiated their campaign with the hashtag "NeverAny." This brand created a video to expose the horribly regulated skin care products on the market today. "Propylene glycol is in many bath and body care products. It's also the main component of anti-freeze," stated within the first 10 minutes of the video. Europe has banned nearly 1,400 chemicals from skin care products in the last 10 years. Canada has banned 600, and the US has banned 10. The "NeverAny" hashtag is designed to resist products made in the US which do not meet organic standards. The Organic Trade Association defines organic personal care products as "containing at least 70 percent organic ingredients," according to an article published by NYTimes.com.
2. Burt's Bees #SelflessSelfie campaign is designed with the planet in mind. For every selfie accompanied by that hash tag, Burt's Bee's will donate 5 thousand wildflowers to feed the bees. On their blog, you can check out all the reasons why this selfie is anything but selfish.
Take a #SelflessSelfie & we’ll plant 5k wildflowers to feed the bees and help bring them back. Get started: https://t.co/KHgc28ovAL pic.twitter.com/chcpvrClMX
— Burt's Bees (@BurtsBees) March 31, 2017
3. Adidas is launching their green initiative shortly after Earth day. The Parley x Adidas UltraBOOST 3.0 is made from recycled marine plastic, intended to do good for the environment. Sneakerhead's can get involved in environmental activism while remaining a fashion icon. An article published by designboom.com states that Adidas is doing their part in conservation efforts through use of appealing styles and unique marketing tactics. The article states:
"With statistics showing that one truck of plastic waste gets dumped into our oceans every minute, Adidas has set to use its global brand name to get behind sustainable manufacturing."
Adidas launched a video to promote their environmental awareness campaign:
4. Ben & Jerry's, one of the most famous ice cream brands, is well known for it's public outreach and political standpoint. The Ben & Jerry's website offers a look inside what issues they care about. Ben & Jerry's publicly stands for racial justice, democracy, GMO labeling, LGBTQ equality, climate justice, and many more. This brand makes a point to use Twitter every day to weigh in on controversial issues. Just recently, Ben & Jerry's posted this tweet in honor of Earth day's march for science:
After the #MarchForScience, it’s time to get political. @350 explains what it will take to solve the climate crisis. https://t.co/Yn5d2bpGsr
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) April 22, 2017