After George Floyd Was Killed, Retailers Pledged To Put Black-Owned Brands On Shelves. Here’s How It’s Going

Companies have made pledges and earmarked donations over the past year. Yet the expanding assortment of Black-owned goods on national retailers’ shelves and websites has become one of the most visible signs of change in the corporate world. Floyd’s murder one year ago Tuesday not only cast a harsh light on police treatment of Black Americans, said Americus Reed, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School. It led to a reckoning about how Black businesses have been boxed out of economic opportunities and reflected by offensive brands, such as Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben’s. By seeking more Black suppliers, retailers have combined “social change and economic savviness” and made a move that can boost companies’ reputations and sales, he said. “It’s an investment,” he said. “It’s a long-term play to signal to a community that ‘We’ve got your back.’” Read more at CNBC.