by Karry Schwettmann

After the worldwide upheaval ignited by George Floyd’s death, we saw many brands showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. While this is a good sign, their statements and actions also have gotten under increased scrutiny by consumers. New Balance was one of the brands that triggered a controversy. But what is it exactly that New Balance did, or did not?

I thought this is a good example to get started with our first colorwashing check!

The structure of the column is always the same. First we zoom in on the specific brand activity and then I’ll guide you through my thoughts and evaluations according to this framework before coming to a conclusion.

Let’s get started :)

BRAND ACTIVITY

On May 30th, New Balance posted a statement on its Instagram channel to their 5.5 million followers expressing their support for the Black Lives Matter Movement:

Now, according to the Transformation & Communication-/Action Alignment framework, the guiding question here is:

What does New Balance do to transform the system (internally & externally) and how does Communication and Action align?

To set the stage, in this specific case, the system to be transformed is systemic racism. At center, this is what the movement is calling out. How is New Balance addressing it, or not addressing it? Is New Balance brownwashing?

We’ll start with the obvious. In the Instagram post we see the brand making a statement of solidarity, encouraging partners and community to engage in peaceful action and to support the petition for Justice for George Floyd. Connecting a solidarity statement (message) with a call to actively support (action) is a good move and gives the post some gravitas. 

New Balance then even takes action a step further. Three days later, the brand posted another statement, saying it “will be donating 10.000 pairs of running shoes to Black community-based programs in the Atlanta area”. 

At first sight, the brand does well to communicate and act but how about the “transformative character” of these posts? Is their message an expression of an underlying intention to transform on systemic, institutional level? To fully understand whether the brand colorwashes or not, let’s have a closer look.

THE CLOSE-UP

For one thing, donating running shoes is more a marketing action than a transformative action. They make sure that another 10.000 people will run around in their branded shoes, spreading brand awareness. Through this activity, the brand will win new customers and they will buy a couple more pair of shoes over the course of their lifetime. This might even be a “profitable donation” in the long run.

These kinds of branded product donations are problematic because they appear like an act of goodwill when in fact the impact primarily happens on promotional level.

If New Balance were sincerely thinking about Black Communities and their needs, they would probably not be donating shoes. If they were asking the question where their resources was best spent in black communities, they might - for example - be donating to a NGO that does important work on a systemic level. 

Speaking of “systemic level”.

Jim Davis, the CEO of New Balance, is one of Trump’s largest donors [1]. So the CEO funds a president who has a history of speeches and actions that have been widely viewed as racist or at least, racially charged. This is a significant circumstance as there’s nothing more impactful than actions taken on the institutional, systemic level. As the saying goes: “A fish rots from the head.”.

Rightly, people have been calling it out on social media, posing uncomfortable questions. And until now, New Balance did not take position in this regard.

And how about actions New Balance we might be not aware of? It’s only fair to assume that a brand is taking action without actually displaying them towards the public. Prior to writing this article, I asked New Balance directly. I sent them a message asking if, apart from posting the statement and donating shoes to a Black community, New Balance is supporting Black communities and/or People of Color in other ways. They came back to me, timely, and said that they “unfortunately cannot give an answer right now as there is a restructuring process at New Balance”.

CONCLUSION

New Balance hasn’t remained silent as they have taken visible action. When taking a closer look, however, it becomes apparent that these actions are in fact capitalizing on a tragic event that could only happen in an inherently racist system, which is even being supported by the CEO. This needs to be addressed in the “restructuring” process, for which I would like to see a tangible action plan to which the brand can be held accountable.

KARRY’S COLORWASHING SCORE:

8/10

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Davis_(businessman)