In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, some credit beauty and fashion influencer Jackie Aina as the catalyst that saw corporations and brands all over the world scrambling to release statements of solidarity on their social media platforms.
In a series of videos posted to her Instagram Stories, Jackie called out brands she had previously worked with for their public silence on the events around George Floyd’s death.
“There are a lot of brands who love capitalising on black culture – black music, black aesthetic – but are dead silent when it comes to talking about black issues and black struggles in our community,” she said to the camera.
Following her videos, Fashion Nova and Pretty Little Thing responded either publicly or privately to varying degrees of success, and soon white-text-on-black-background statements began flooding other brands’ social media accounts. But many onlookers grew more and more sceptical of the statements, with former – and sometimes current – employees speaking up around the gap between public statements and corporate culture.