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Corporations Are Making Statements About Black Lives Matter, Should Consumers Believe Them?

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Josie Taris
Published June 26, 2020 at 11:38 AM EDT
The Aunt Jemima syrup brand will change its name and logo in 2020. This action is one example of efforts companies are making to address racial insensitivity.
The Aunt Jemima syrup brand will change its name and logo in 2020. This action is one example of efforts companies are making to address racial insensitivity.
The Aunt Jemima syrup brand will change its name and logo in 2020. This action is one example of efforts companies are making to address racial insensitivity.
Credit Mike Mozart
The Aunt Jemima syrup brand will change its name and logo in 2020. This action is one example of efforts companies are making to address racial insensitivity.

As the country reckons with the systemic racism upon which it is built, major companies are making statements of their own. Some address inequities and enumerate actionable steps to combat racism. 

Host Frank Stasio talks with Charlotte Business Journal staff writer Caroline Hudson and North Caroline Central University professor Yvette Bonaparte about how corporations are responding to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Others lay out plans to donate funds to organizations supporting Black individuals and communities. Other companies chose not to say anything. How are consumers supposed to navigate this sea of corporate messaging? Host Frank Stasio talks with Charlotte Business Journal reporter Caroline Hudson about how some of North Carolina’s largest corporations are responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. Yvette Lynne Bonaparte shares analysis on how consumers can discern genuine statements from hollow press releases. She is an assistant professor of marketing at North Carolina Central University.

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Josie Taris
Josie Taris left her home in Fayetteville in 2014 to study journalism at Northwestern University. There, she took a class called Journalism of Empathy and found her passion in audio storytelling. She hopes every story she produces challenges the audience's preconceptions of the world. After spending the summer of 2018 working in communications for a Chicago nonprofit, she decided to come home to work for the station she grew up listening to. When she's not working, Josie is likely rooting for the Chicago Cubs or petting every dog she passes on the street.
See stories by Josie Taris