Advertising Age published a lengthy report on Black creators and influencers experiencing a significant reduction of brand partnerships for Black History Month. This phenomenon underscores two key points related to the systemic racism in Adland.
First, the commitment to diversity among the ruling majority—i.e., White men and White women—is seriously waning and historically short-lived. Hell, much of the interest was/is performative box-checking bullshit anyway.
Second, Black creators and influencers are facing the same thing affecting minority-owned advertising agencies. Specifically, Adland segregates professionals according to race and ethnicity—and the global hierarchy determines the amount of respect, authority, and revenue one receives. Multicultural marketing gets low priority and low payment. Crumbs serve as the currency of color.
White advertising agencies and White brands love to declare clichés like, “Black History is American History,” and “Let’s celebrate Black history in February and all year long.”
The talk does not match the walk. In Adland, Black History and Black History Month are history by early February.
Black Creators Are Finding Fewer Brand Partnerships For Black History Month
Several creators told Ad Age that the influx of opportunities from brands they have seen over the past two years has all but vanished
By Gillian Follett
Over the past two years, freelance marketer and creator Jayde Powell has worked with brands such as beverage brand Sunwink and L’Oréal’s former hair color platform Color&Co on Black History Month campaigns and events spotlighting Black creators—both from the brand side, as a former social strategist, and as a creator herself.
But for Powell, and many other Black influencers, the rush of opportunities to partner with brands for Black History Month initiatives—many of which emerged within the past two years, following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the racial reckoning that also reverberated through the advertising industry—appears to have faded.
“I was talking to several of the Black creators I know, and I was like, I have not heard from any brands this year,” Powell said. “And even creators and influencers who have bigger audiences and more experience than me in this space haven’t been reached out to, either. Which is crazy to me, because I remember last year, and especially in 2021, all the brands were hounding us.”
On Jan. 23, Powell shared a tweet remarking on the pattern she and other Black creators were encountering, hoping to bring visibility to the issue and gauge how widespread this absence of brand outreach was among other influencers. Within hours, it became clear that she and the handful of other creators she had initially broached the topic to weren’t the only Black creators who hadn’t been contacted about partnering with brands for Black History Month.
raise your hand if you’re a Black creator who has not yet been reached out to for Black history month campaigns. 🙋🏾♀️
— jayde i. powell (@jaydeipowell) January 23, 2023
Dozens of creators quickly responded to Powell’s request to “raise your hand if you’re a Black creator who has not yet been reached out to for Black [H]istory [M]onth campaigns” with raised-hand emojis or replied to the tweet with comments expressing their frustration in the lack of influencer campaign opportunities related to the annual observance.
Other creators messaged Powell directly, saying that they, too, had encountered little to no brand outreach in the weeks leading up to Black History Month. One influencer wrote to Powell that a brand that had contacted them about a Black History Month initiative had recently rescinded the offer, telling them the brand had “decided to go in a different direction.”
To Powell, and several other creators who spoke with Ad Age, the diminished interest from brands looking to work with Black creators for Black History Month indicates a larger reduction in brands’ diversity efforts—especially when it comes to influencer marketing—as the “pressure to be held accountable for advocating for anti-racism” that followed Floyd’s murder and the subsequent explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement has diminished.
LaToya Shambo, CEO of influencer marketing agency Black Girl Digital, said her agency has only worked with one brand on a Black History Month pitch this year. And, although the brand initially reached out to the agency expressing its interest in working with Black creators, it did so in late January and had yet to respond to Shambo’s proposed influencer campaign, as of last week. This seeming absence of interest from brands for Black History Month campaigns centering on Black creators is a stark contrast to Shambo’s experience over the past two years, where her agency worked with brands such as Walmart on Black History Month events and initiatives.
Beginning in 2020, Powell had seen an “aggressive push to find Black and Brown people to work with” from brands, both for Black History Month and for influencer campaigns in general. She expected that trend to continue into this February—and as she planned out her availability for 2023 brand partnerships in December of last year, she told people she “was going to be very busy in February, because that’s when the brands reach out.”
“We expect, as Black creators, to be reached out to for Black History Month or Juneteenth,” she added. “2020 was kind of when the alarm bells were set off, and then 2021 is when we started to see brands actually putting things into action. But it feels like it's gotten a little quiet, and I think that’s partly because [brands] are not receiving the same pressure as there once was.”
Reduced opportunity
Brands haven’t completely put a stop to creator-oriented campaigns revolving around Black History Month. For example, Target launched a Black History Month product collection in January, continuing its 2022 “Black Beyond Measure” initiative to showcase products designed by Black creators or produced by Black-owned businesses; and MAC Cosmetics partnered with Women of Color on Broadway, a non-profit theater organization, to sponsor a music video promoting the organization’s latest production.
Some social media platforms, too, have announced programming for Black History Month, with TikTok spotlighting 15 Black creators on the platform with its “Visionary Voices List” and launching a hub within the app that “will feature inspiring stories from creators and Black-owned businesses,” among other initiatives, per a press release.
However, the overall scope of Black History Month opportunities for creators is much narrower this year for many Black influencers. Last February, Steven Sharpe Jr., a fashion and lifestyle influencer and founder of influencer agency Nobius Creative Studios, worked with outerwear brand Save the Duck on a social media campaign to promote a clothing collection created by Black designers. He was also invited to participate in a panel discussion about the challenges faced by Black creators, hosted by creator marketing platform #paid.
But this year, neither Sharpe nor the creators his agency represents have heard “a single peep” from brands about Black History Month opportunities, he said.
“Every single Black creator that I’ve spoken to—because I’ve brought this up several times, whether online or offline—all of them are like, ‘Yeah, I was kind of expecting this,’” he said. “None of them have gotten anything. And this is across the board, from micro-creators to creators who have hundreds of thousands of followers. It’s truly baffling.”
“I’ve gotten more inquiries about Valentine’s Day [campaigns] than I have about Black History Month,” he added. Brands have also contacted his agency about partnering with Black creators this February for other influencer campaigns not specifically tied to Black History Month, he said, but haven’t acknowledged the significance of the month in those requests.
“I’ve talked about this with my friends, and I'm like, ‘I feel crazy. Am I being too proud and just expecting these things, or is this really a problem?’” Sharpe said. “It really feels like a problem.”
Powell took part in the same panel discussion as Sharpe did last February—and in 2021, while working as head of social media for beverage brand Sunwink, she spearheaded a Black History Month influencer campaign that highlighted Black wellness creators and Black female business owners. Though she has an ongoing partnership with Procter & Gamble’s “My Black is Beautiful” platform, and recently completed projects with brands such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, no brands have reached out this year for Black History Month campaigns or other opportunities.
Lifestyle and body positivity influencer Karly Polkosnik echoed Powell’s experience. Last year, TikTok featured her—along with other Black creators—on a billboard at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto as part of the platform’s 2022 Black History Month initiative, which “was a huge opportunity,” she said. She was also invited to speak on a different panel about her experience as a Black creator and how Black creators often struggle to secure as many brand deals as their non-Black peers. But, this year, those opportunities have largely fizzled out, she said.
“I think that we had a couple really good years—maybe like, a year and a half—of brands being really aware [of Black creators] and actually putting their money where their mouth is and being very supportive, Polkosnik said. “But I don’t think that has really been translated into this year.”
On the other hand, Joy Ofodu, a voice actor and comedy creator who has created content for entertainment, streaming and beauty brands such as Netflix, HBO Max and Dove, has seen an uptick in requests for Black History Month partnerships. But, she noted, many of the opportunities she’s been offered for this February likely stemmed from active outreach to brands on her end—such as sending pitches for Black History Month campaigns to brands’ DMs on social media and “leverag[ing] my professional network, as well as previous clients”—rather than brands sharing opportunities unprompted.
No longer a priority
This delayed, haphazard approach to partnering with Black creators for Black History Month is nothing new, even amid the upswing in brands actively seeking out Black creators for the past few Februaries, Black Girl Digital’s Shambo said. But brands have no reason to hastily assemble a Black History Month campaign just before the month begins, as Black History Month is an annual occurrence, she added.
“It is disrespectful and very annoying that brands are kind of waiting until the last minute to lock in their Black History Month initiatives,” she said. “These cultural moments—you know they come every year. We are also Black all year. And the shift that I’m trying to push a lot of the brands into is, ‘Let’s just lock in the whole year. This is what we’re going to do for the year.’ [Brands] pulling in creators last-minute to beat and meet this cultural rush—that’s not cool.”
In past years, brands have contacted Powell about Black History Month initiatives in the last few days of January or even during February, she said. Sharpe has had brands approach him in late January without a set budget for a partnership, and Ofodu recalled a handful of brands asking her to create a video for a Black History Month initiative in just two or three days—even when she was working a full-time job and creating on the side, which meant she was “using evenings, lunches and free time to create that content.”
“I would say the turnaround is quickest during Black History Month, because companies scramble and realize that they need to do something or say something,” Ofodu said. “Now that I'm self-employed, I can meet those [deadlines] much easier. But not every creator has the benefit of creating full-time.”
However, Shambo also noted that the spate of layoffs and slashed marketing budgets impacting many agencies and brands may be partially responsible for delayed outreach this year, as fewer brands may have the resources to devote to extensive influencer campaigns for Black History Month.
In Powell’s eyes, however, the fact that fewer brands appear to be investing in Black creators this February is a simple matter of shifting priorities. With spending on influencer marketing at an all-time high—increasing 23.4% between 2022 and 2023, according to data from Insider Intelligence—many brands likely have the flexibility in their budgets to partner with Black creators, she said. They just aren’t interested in investing that budget in community-building initiatives focused on Black creators or consumers, she said.
“I’ve been in many organizations where I've been the only Black person or person of color on a team,” Powell said. “And oftentimes, if I'm not the one advocating for diversity—and not even just for the Black community—no one will say anything, because it's just so programmed. [The team] is just like, ‘Oh, these are creators and influencers I follow.’ And if your organization is predominantly white, you're likely going to be also following white creators and influencers.”
When it comes to planning Black History Month initiatives, “people aren’t naturally thinking about it,” she continued. “And if they are, it’s very last minute. Black History Month takes a backseat to the campaigns that are more focused on bringing in revenue."
Part of a larger issue
For the past few years, creators like Sharpe have relied on the increased brand partnership opportunities that have come with Black History Month. Influencer marketing remains plagued by a racial pay gap, with Black creators earning an average of 35% less than their white counterparts, according to a 2021 study from MSL and The Influencer League. Black History Month campaigns had helped narrow that gap slightly and give Black influencers recognition they are often denied during the rest of the year, Sharpe said.
“We’re not asking for, like, a Tarte trip to Dubai. We’re just asking to be highlighted and represented,” he said. “[February] is like the only month that it’s okay for Black people to just exist, and to participate in the campaigns and the opportunities that our white counterparts get throughout the entire year.”
Though Polkosnik said a growing number of brands began reaching out about partnerships beginning in 2020, when many made their initial pledges to commit to championing diversity initiatives, those promises “to commit money and resources to Black creators are not being as felt this year,” she said.
Even smaller signs of support have been largely absent this year, she said, pointing to how she noticed fewer brands uploading Instagram stories or posts acknowledging Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year than she had encountered over the past two years.
Powell agreed that brands have made progress in incorporating Black creators into year-round influencer marketing pushes, and that including Black influencers in campaigns throughout the year—rather than confining them to Black History Month partnerships—is crucial for brands. But, she worries that the reduction in opportunities for Black creators this February may be part of a larger departure from brands’ 2020 promises to support Black creators and influencers.
“I think for Juneteenth, it’s going to be the same conversation again,” she said.
“Juneteenth is another time where a lot of brands are like, ‘Okay, we need to say something,’ which oftentimes, I feel, is the larger issue. Brands feel like they have to say certain things because of the outward social media pressure. However, if you’re just doing programming with diversity in mind all year-round, that won’t be an issue.”
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