Corporate capitalism has hijacked activism

Healthy eating sponsored by McDonald’s. Female empowerment sponsored by Dove. Social justice sponsored by Pepsi.

Give us a break.

Corporations have no place in contemporary social movements. They are paradoxical.

Social movements are about progress and change and are often outspoken champions of the oppressed. When German sociologist Lorenz von Stein first coined the term “social movement,” he conveyed the idea of a “continuous, unitary process by which the whole working class gained self-consciousness and power.”

Around the same time, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto, further clarifying the term. They claimed that “all previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the immense majority.”

Corporations, however, abhor the idea of progress. They detest any change that does not advance their brands and they spend copious amounts of money to ensure the system continues to work in their favor. Corporations exploit the labor of the oppressed to the benefit of the privileged.

Some of the earliest U.S. social movements were in response to corporate abuse. One of the earliest recorded strikes in America occurred in 1768 when New York journeymen tailors protested a wage reduction. This is why the modern trend of major corporations sponsoring social movements is paradoxical simply due to the fact that social movements were many times born out of a need to oppose major corporations. They are the enemy and have always been the enemy and many contemporary activists need not forget that.

Powerful corporations have attempted throughout history to quell almost every social movement. Mass protests against an entrenched establishment is nothing new. Christianity started as a progressive social movement, as was the uprising that brought down the Qin dynasty in China.

Contemporary social movements, however, gained traction following the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Early protests fought hazardous working conditions. In 1909, more than 20,000 female shirtwaist makers in New York struck against dangerous sweatshop conditions. Their protests were ignored by their corporations. Less than two years later, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory caught fire, killing 146 workers.

In 1914 the Ludlow Massacre in Ludlow, Colorado moved corporatism into the realm of pure evil. A tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners from the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company were fired upon by the U.S. Army National Guard, killing as many as 26 people, including women and children. At least two women and 11 children were asphyxiated or burned to death. These were Ludlow’s own workers.

Government blatantly sided with corporate interests in 1981 when Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers who ignored his order to return to work. This reckless, vengeful act slowed commercial air travel, made flying less safe and left thousands of people without jobs. A spate of crashes left blood on Reagan’s hands.

“In carrying out his threat, Reagan also imposed a lifetime ban on rehiring the strikers,” wrote Andrew Glass of Politico. “The Federal Labor Relations Authority decertified PATCO (the union who initiated the strike).” Thousands of union members gave their lives for privileges many take for granted nowadays, including 40-hour work weeks, weekends off and overtime pay. Unions also ended child labor in America, improved safety and promoted civil rights.

Divisive politics have led to a rise in protest culture. Donald Trump’s election caused a flurry of protests all across the nation, garnering massive media attention. A Fox News poll said Trump’s approval rating plunged to a historic low of 38 percent in October. Corporations began to concoct strategies to make this profitable.

Marketing agencies realized it may be lucrative to bash Trump. They exploited an opportunity by pretending to be socially liberal and dupe liberal consumers into choosing their products. So large corporations started capitalizing on modern protest culture.

Pepsi recently released a sad, tone-deaf commercial featuring Kendall Jenner attending a protest in which she inexplicably ends all societal problems by offering a Pepsi to a police officer. Backlash was harsh. Pepsi management pulled the ad, oblivious to what it had done wrong.

“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding,” the company said in a statement. “Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize.”

PepsiCo’s embrace of unity, peace and understanding ring hollow. This is a corporation engaged in child labor, unethically low wages and worker exploitation in Indonesia.

Activists must remember that corporations are a wealthy and powerful force often in cahoots with the government. Corporate attempts to distance themselves from the Trumpian evil many citizens are protesting is becoming increasingly transparent. Frederick Douglass wrote, “power concedes nothing without demands.” Change will occur by continuing to call out these companies on their lies and manipulative behavior.