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As a Black Social Media Influencer, I Won’t Work With Tone-Deaf Brands
It’s scary to speak up, but there’s too much at risk to be silent
I’ve been a blogger, content creator, and influencer for nearly 10 years. That’s longer than any of my past hobbies, desk jobs, or relationships. I started blogging when blogging was still a thing. As the years progressed, I worked with more brands, I met more business owners, and I shared more stories. As a proud Black and Filipino woman, I never ran into a situation where a brand’s values didn’t align with mine, or where I was asked to compromise my own values in order to take on a brand as a new client.
That is, not until recently.
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As more brands began to feel pressure to respond to the outcries of the community surrounding Black Lives Matter, one brand I recently worked with also decided to use its platform to share its thoughts. Oak Farm Vineyards, a winery in Lodi, California, posted a vague, clip-art-esque post with a typo stating that they “hope & pray for an end to all off [sic] this division & racism.” The winery stamped its post with a quote by Dr. King and called it a day.
I sat conflicted for over an hour, wondering how best to address the discomfort I was experiencing from reading the winery’s post. Its statement, while well-intentioned, was problematic in that it did not materially help to solve the problem and seemed thoughtlessly dashed off. I felt angry, uncomfortable, offended, and hurt. I wanted to be thoughtful about my response. I worried that if I commented on the post right away, I would let my anger take over and my message would be lost. I wrestled with how to articulate just how personally I took the post. How do you help someone understand how to empathize with you if they’ll never experience what you are feeling or going through?
Last fall, Oak Farm Vineyards invited me to learn more about and help promote its wines as an influencer. The company gave me products in exchange for…
