Only a couple of years ago, in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Amazon embarked on an antiracism advertising campaign, showing its support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) and vowing to advocate for police reform. Its support was visible on its homepage, streaming platform, Twitter, and elsewhere. As the image below, which featured on the company’s homepage, shows, Amazon was unequivocal in its support for antiracism. 

Antiracism is about bringing attention to privilige that is rooted in skin color and taking steps to dismantle systemic inequalities. Amazon communicates these values by showing that it will serve as a reliable ally to the Black community, using its corporate muscle to bring attention—and fight against—social injustice. Amazon’s reach makes it a formidable ally, as Amazon is a global company with resources that exceed those of even the wealthiest corporations.

Amazon also made a point of partnering with other antiracism organizations such as the MLK Memorial Foundation’s Social Justice Fellows Program. As part of this support, Amazon donated an unspecified amount of money to the Foundation, showing that it was willing to use its resources to help promote equality, inclusion, accessibility, and other aspects of social justice.

In word and in action, Amazon put its values on display, though we must be skeptical of these values when commercial interests dominate the corporate position on any issue. A single question to answer: Can corporations ever care about anything other than making money?

“Amazon Web Services (AWS) is supporting the Memorial Foundation’s Social Justice Fellows Program by providing participants with free training and certification in cloud and STEM training. AWS
is also providing mentorship opportunities—which is where you come in.”

In word and in action, Amazon put its values on display, though we must be skeptical of these values when commercial interests dominate the corporate position on any issue. A single question to answer: Can corporations ever care about anything other than making money?

Perhaps, but anyone with a smidgen of awareness knows that Amazon is a for-profit company whose devotion is to shareholders, not antiracism activists. When viewed through the prism of commercial interests, it is safe to say that Amazon’s antiracism campaign likely reflected its desire to demonstrate its social awareness and expand its consumer demographic to those wanting to see corporations use their power to address social ills. Amazon never really had any choice but to acknowledge Mr. Floyd’s death and take a stand against racism since doing otherwise would have elicited backlash, possibly causing it to lose old consumers and alienate new ones. Not a winning strategy for a capitalist company looking to continually boost its share price.

Let us also not forget the opportunity to market the movement, which Amazon was quick to do with BLM shirts, posters, music, and more. For some time, Amazon even carried shirts depicting Mr. Floyd’s crime. Eventually, the company removed them. It did not disclose how much money it made off their sale, however. In the meantime, it has kept up countless other items depicting BLM and Mr. Floyd, undoubtedly profiting from them.

Profits before people, the corporate mantra. It appears that nothing can flip this equation, not even the death of an innocent Black man whose windpipe was crushed by a rogue officer sworn to protect and serve. In the corporate quest for profits, however, it is sometimes easier to position people first, especially when corporations worry about how the public will respond. After all, no corporation wants to give off the impression that it is profiting off tragedy. Fortunately, they do not have to provided that they utter some choice words about antiracism and throw some money toward a social justice organization.

Then, profiting becomes much easier.