Published on September 14, 2020
Social media has put the brutal deaths of African-Americans in sharp focus. Since 2013 the Black Lives Matter movement has been persistent in using social media to respond to police discrimination and police brutality. However, with the litany of deaths in police custody–George Floyd in Minnesota, Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky–a chorus of hashtags has united followers in their call-and-response cries for social justice.
Hashtags open social media conversations to a wider audience and distill messages to their essence. Here are our top 10 choices for the most powerful crowdsourced marketing hashtags spreading the #BlackLivesMatter message.
The United States isn’t the only country aware of the Black Lives Matter movement. A Korean pop group called BTS produced a meaningful tweet, which stated “we stand against racial discrimination” in Korean and English. The single powerful tweet spread across multiple platforms and then became a hashtag to counter the “white lives matter” rejoinder. took over the #WhiteLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags to support the movement.
Little black boys will not be little forever. This trendy hashtag featured black parents sporting and showing off their handsome baby boys with the hashtag “AmINext.” The hashtag gave voice to their fear that something tragic will happen to their sons when they grow into men.
Professional athletes are among the biggest role models, and their marketing-savvy support for the Black Lives Matter movement showed why. The athletes took advantage of their platform and status to band together as Black men and encourage other African-Americans to uplift each other during these hard times, hence the phrase “stronger together.”
A submissive gesture does not pose a threat, right? Since 2014 after the death of Micheal Brown this hashtag was used across the nation. Unfortunately, it’s still relevant today. Social media users would post the hashtag with a picture of themselves with their hands up. During protests over George Floyd’s death, “hands up” become a trending topic once again.
COVID-19 put a damper on everything these past 4 months. As protests took place during a global pandemic, those who wanted to stay home safely repeated the street slogan “no justice no peace” on social platforms, while protestors quickly shared videos of the protests on their social media with the hashtag.
Billboards, buses, social media posts, and companies recited a litany of t those whose lives fell short due to unjust circumstances, including Michael Brown, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Breonna Taylor—a practice adopted in the marketing and public relations statements that followed Floyd’s death.
