As corporations market Juneteenth, some leave small Black businesses behind and risk alienating consumers, experts say.
Juneteenth, marketing experts say, presents tricky but predictable pitfalls for national brands: How do they serve consumers hoping to celebrate a culturally significant event without appearing mercenary?
President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in states that seceded during the Civil War, but it was largely unenforceable, and many enslavers fled to Texas to continue the practice. On June 19, 1865, the Union army took control of Texas and outlawed slavery. For years, Black families across the country, but most heavily in Texas and Louisiana, celebrated Juneteenth with family gatherings, events that have been marked with a tinge of sadness in recognition of years of oppression, said Pearl Walker, the president of the I Love Whitehaven Neighborhood and Business Association, which represents a predominantly Black section of Memphis.
“I think about it and hope that brands and companies realize that these moments and these holidays mean so much more to the community than just beyond the day,” Candice Benbow, a theologian who studies Black feminism, said during the webinar. “We’ve been celebrating Juneteenth for years.”
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T-Shirts? Ice Cream? Retailers Try to Capitalize on Juneteenth HolidayRetailers and marketers have been quick to commemorate Juneteenth with an avalanche of merchandise from ice cream to T-shirts to party favors.
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Companies Are Selling Juneteenth Branded Products. Here's Why That's A Big ProblemBrands and companies are working to remove their Juneteenth items from shelves, as experts say those who are selling Juneteenth-branded products are 'tone-deaf.'
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Juneteenth now recognized as paid holiday for RTA employees following union negotiationsThe Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority will recognize the Juneteenth holiday on June 19 for the first time ever in 2022.
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Why Juneteenth Should Be America’s Education HolidayJune, 19, 1865 One hundred and fifty-six years ago, enslaved people in Texas received official word that they were free.
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Federal offices close for Juneteenth, some states have yet to make it a holidayMany states consider the day a ceremonial holiday, but not one that prompts the closure of state offices.
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What is Juneteenth? The history and meaning behind the federal holidayJuneteenth is an annual celebration that commemorates the day many enslaved people in Texas learned they had been freed.
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