The death of an unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, U.S last month has once again sparked a debate on how racial discrimination still prevails in our society. The death of Floyd has started a row of protests across the United States and people have now taken to the streets demanding justice and policies to put an end to the racial inequality globally.
Several big global organizations have now come in support of the protestors condemning the inequality. Tech companies like Intel, Netflix, Google, and IBM have all taken a public stance against Floyd’s death – calling out discrimination against African American citizens.
The corporate response to a wave of protests over the treatment of African-Americans has included pledges to increase diversity, donations to civil rights groups, and, in some cases, changes in policies or practices long sought by critics.
Here is what major corporations are doing for the cause:
Multinational medical care company Johnson & Johnson recently announced that it would stop selling skin lightening creams popular in Asia and the Middle East, acknowledging that some product names or claims represented fairness or white as better.
In a similar move, beverage giant PepsiCo Inc subsidiary, Quaker Oats said that it would drop the name and image of Aunt Jemima, acknowledging that the pancake mix and syrup branding was rooted in a “racial stereotype.”
PepsiCo further said it would spend more than $400mn over 5 years to support black communities and increase black representation at the company, with initiatives such as raising the number of black managers and buying more from black-owned suppliers.
Dreyer’s Grand Ice-Cream, the US-owner of Eskimo Pie is changing its name and marketing of the nearly century-old chocolate-covered ice cream bar, accepting that the term was derogatory.
“We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory,” said Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for its parent Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, the U.S. subsidiary for Froneri, in a statement. “This move is part of a larger review to ensure our company and brands reflect our people values.”
Music streaming platform Spotify has said it will observe Juneteenth, or June 19 as a paid holiday for its U.S. staff. The date commemorates the June 19, 1865 reading in Texas of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Declaration, which brought an end to slavery in the United States. Similarly, department store chain J.C. Penney Co Inc‘s CEO Jill Soltau in a blog said that it would make June 19 an annual company holiday. Payments giant Mastercard Inc too said that June 19 will be a holiday for its employees and would be designated as Mastercard Day of Solidarity. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter Inc and Square Inc, also announced that June 19 would become a paid holiday every year for employees of both companies.
Meanwhile, supporting employee activism, Starbucks Corp said that it would allow employees to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts and pins, rolling back restrictions on how baristas could show support for the social movement against racism.
Amongst tech companies, Apple Inc said that it will increase spending with black-owned suppliers as part of a $100 million racial equity and justice initiative, while Google’s YouTube video service said it will spend $100 million to fund black content creators.
Addressing the racial discrimination done by government authorities dealing with crimes and safety, Amazon.com Inc imposed a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition product, Rekognition, which critics say is more likely to misidentify people with darker skin and more likely to be used in minority communities. International Business Machines Corp said on June 8 it would no longer sell or research facial recognition tools that critics contend are biased against people of color.
Accepting its mistake, beauty product maker and seller L’Oreal SA rehired Munroe Bergdorf, a British black transgender model it sacked in 2017 after she described all white people as racist. The French cosmetics company also offered Bergdorf a seat on a newly formed UK diversity and inclusion advisory board, a role she accepted.
Meanwhile, after several people called out the Oscar-winning 1939 film “Gone with the Wind” for its racist depictions of blacks in the antebellum South, HBO said that it will pull down the movie from its streaming platform HBO Max. The Paramount Network, owned by ViacomCBS Inc, said it would discontinue the reality show “Cops” after 33 years of being on air. Critics say the show has glorified police violence.
Bank of America Corp on June 2 said it would spend $1 billion over four years to address racial and economic inequality. Similarly, investment management company T. Rowe Price and its Foundation also announced a $2mn commitment to organizations working to fight racial injustice.
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