Black Lives Matter protesters gather down 16th St. NW and Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. (Source: Shutterstock)
A new consumer study of women across age groups and countries addressed how a brand's reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement might affect purchase decisions.
The survey of more than 9,000 women in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom was conducted by the branding consultancy A&C Inc. in Toronto, Ontario, and Butterly, a community-building platform for consumer brands.
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Forty-one percent of women between the ages of 18 and 40 said how a brand responded to Black Lives Matter would affect future purchasing decisions, according to the survey. Lesser percentages of Gen X and baby boomers said their purchasing decisions would be influenced by how a brand reacted to Black Lives Matter.
"Understanding the nuances of a particular consumer sector — where they get their information, where their values lie and where their heads are at — will directly impact how we recommend brands communicate with their targets," Darren Roberts, vice president of creative strategy at A&C Inc., said in a statement. One key to communication is "authenticity," Roberts added.
Ali de Bold, founder and CEO of Butterly, said in a statement that the "data shows it is critical for brands to stay abreast of and demonstrate support for important social issues to maintain loyalty with one of their most important customer segments."
Other findings in the survey included: Nearly 50% of respondents said a company's diverse hiring practices would engender loyalty. The survey results also showed that brands can show solidarity through volunteering, donations and influencer partnerships.
The COVID-19 crisis did not appear to have influenced how consumers were thinking about national social causes. "We would expect that brands across the globe might find themselves under less scrutiny for the way they choose to respond to the BLM movement during the pandemic, but that is not the case," Bonnie Hillman, president of A&C, said in a statement.
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Mike Scarcella
Mike Scarcella is a senior editor in Washington on ALM Media's regulatory desk. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @MikeScarcella. Mike works on a slate of newsletters: Supreme Court Brief | Higher Law | Compliance Hot Spots | Labor of Law.
