Letter From the Editor: Smoke and Mirrors
Illustration by Carolyn Burt | The Corsair
Breonna Taylor - it's a name we’ve seen on protest signs, newspaper headlines, and NBA jerseys.
On March 13, 2020, two months before the infamous murder of George Floyd, Louisville Police Officers served a no-knock warrant on a home in relation to drug trafficking charges. Ms. Taylor and her boyfriend awoke to loud banging at the front door. The 26-year-old medical worker would eventually be shot five times and bleed out shortly thereafter despite being unarmed.
The national uproar over the death of Taylor has prompted an unprecedented cry for her killers, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hakison, and Myles Cosgrove, to be arrested.
More than five months later, the mounting pressure and growing size of the story hasn’t prompted criminal charges, but rather an unforeseen objectification. Breonna’s image has suddenly become victim to commercial greed.
FX, Hulu, and Vanity Fair are among those guilty. Breonna Taylor’s story has been featured on television in a recent installment of “The New York Times Presents,” and in the words of MSNBC, she has “graced” the cover of ‘Vanity Fair.’
The cover, a graphic of Taylor, was used in advertisements across social media platforms and websites, most of which were attached to a subscription link. The posts didn’t lead to a Black Lives Matter donation tool, or an activism page, but rather a credit card entry, where you could hand money to a successful magazine.
This begs the question - are multi-billion dollar corporations backing these movements because their moral compasses are pointing in the right direction, or is it because ad campaigns, research, and consumption patterns have shown it to be profitable?
In 2018, Nike released a controversial advertisement entitled ‘Dream Crazy.’ The video, featuring former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick, touted a diverse and racially-sensitive image. The 32-year-old is famed for kneeling during the national anthem at games to condemn racism and violence against Black Americans. The results were polarizing: many boycotted the brand altogether, while others rejoiced its display of diversity and social responsibility.
At face value, Nike seemed to be establishing itself as an organization willing to defend inclusive principles, even if it meant losing customers; however, the reality was much less honorable. Nike’s stock price exploded, the ad won awards, and sales rose higher than ever before. The smoke and mirrors painting the brand as progressive also hides their unfortunate reality: Nike has a disastrous track record of egregious human rights violations in its foreign factories.
Similarly, Apple came out against Trump’s immigration ban, which targeted predominantly Muslim countries in 2017. Unfortunately, the tech giant mirrors Nike’s long-standing human rights issues in their production facilities overseas. Suicide nets around their factories, gross underpayment of employees, and sexual abuse scandals are covered by snappy advertising and clean-looking products.
The activism that has been born from these tragedies gives me faith in our country and its citizens, but the idea that powerful companies are using the images of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and other murdered Black Americans, to hide their own crimes or turn a profit, is worrying.
Companies like Nike and Apple are banking on the fact that you won’t look deeper. They hope that when you see their liberal advertising and social media posts, you will label them as progressive. Vanity Fair, FX, and Hulu are monetizing the image of an innocent woman murdered at the hands of police officers, while being praised for their ‘support’ of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Now more than ever though, I am hopeful. This generation has taken to the streets in force. In times of national panic and tragedy, we have unified to fight for something bigger. These defining moments, as tough as they may be, are painting us as the group that will not stand for racial discrimination. We must remain informed, vote based on facts and reason, and give our money to companies that have the long-term interests of this country in mind.
For Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rodney King, and the thousands of other Americans who have fallen victim to police brutality, we must continue to fight.
