Americans Want Brands to Support Racial Justice

Americans Want Brands to Support Racial Justice

July/August 2020

The Black Lives Matter demonstrations in a very short time have changed Americans’ expectations of companies whose products and services they buy. Almost one-fifth (17%) of 1,500 consumers surveyed by Ipsos in June say one of the top three factors they consider in deciding whether to buy something from a business is its commitment to equality of opportunity for ethnicity and gender.

That’s up 35% from just two weeks earlier. And six in 10 consumers want a brand’s messaging to educate the larger public about systemic racism.

Other recent survey results reflect these changes — and consumers’ expectations.

• 66% of consumers feel good about brands that contribute to efforts to help underserved communities, according to a poll by media-marketing service company Engine, and 61% like it when companies require employees to undergo racial sensitivity training.
• 68% want CEOs to speak out on racial inequality, according to Morning Consult, with 69% saying how CEOs express themselves on such issues will affect their decisions to buy from the companies these CEOs lead — permanently.
• 81% want CEOs to affirm or reaffirm their commitment to making sure their own hiring practices are equitable.

And they won’t be hoodwinked. Consumers want such expressions of support to reflect genuine company commitment: 42% of participants in Ipsos’ survey say they have investigated the actual performance of brands they follow. Sixty-one percent of young adults say they have done their homework in this area, and 68% of African Americans say they’ve done so.