How Black Lives Matter Utilizes the Community Based Social Marketing Model

The Community-Based Social Marketing Model is a five-step model that will be used and applied on the Black Lives Matter movement in order to help provide a social marketing perspective of the movement. The application of the CBSM model will also show the effectiveness of the Black Lives Matter movement and how it was able to gain traction and popularity.

The five steps of CBSM are as follows

1. Select Behaviour à Identify target audience(s) à Consider impact, and probability of the behaviour à Make sure behaviour is non-divisible

2. Identify barriers and benefits à Use lit review, surveys, focus groups, etc.

3. Develop strategy à  Enhance benefits, reduce barriers à Commitment prompts, norms, social diffusion

4. Conduct a pilot à Collect baseline measurements à Implement strategy à Collect follow-up measurements

5.  Evaluate broad scale implementation à Compare with baseline measurements à Communicate results  

How Effective is Black Lives Mater at Following the CBSM Steps:

Step 1: Select Behaviour

Black Lives Matter has been effective at selecting their behaviour, which is to reduce racial discrimination and violence towards the black community. The identified target audience(s) of this movement are primarily black people who are affected by the racial discrimination in order to empower them and the individuals who are being discriminatory towards the black community in order to take power away form them. The secondary target audience(s) include non-blacks and other races and the behaviour targeted towards them include equality and justice amongst all races. The non-divisible behaviour that is being promoted by the Black Lives Matter movement is the behaviour of ending racial discrimination towards the black community. 

Step 2: Identify Barriers and Benefits

The barriers that Black Lives Matter face as an organization are many, and they have identified these behaviours as the lack of education, the corrupt justice system, the social norms of society and so on. Individuals who are non black and who do not suffer discrimination from the police force or other members of society are not educated to the realities of life of different races. This lack of education leads to ignorance which leads to a lack of understanding and results in barriers due to certain groups feeling discriminated by the fact that a group such as Black Lives Matter even exists. These people feel discriminated by the group and do not understand that Black Lives Matter is not saying that Black Lives are more important then non-black lives, but that black lives need to have more importance placed on them than there currently is. This is explained by social norms theory, according to the social norms theory behaviour is influenced by perception of what is normal or typical. For the majority of us who do not live in these communities, we are not able to fully understand the relationship that police officers have with Black people, as we ourselves do not experience it and we do not have to deal with the same suspicions. Black communities and Black people are fed up with the way the system is set up and they have realized that the system is set up against them. They are tired of the solutions created by people in power and national leaders, as they are not aware of the realities in the local communities (Ransby, 2017). The benefits of the Black Lives Matter movement are reducing the racial discrimination of black people, stopping the deaths of innocent people, ending racism and promoting equality.

Step 3: Develop Strategy

The strategies utilized by the Black Lives Matter movement are wide-ranging and effective. These include the utilization of social media, in person protests, the creation and implementation of chapters within the movement which work as groups to establish and accomplish goals. Social Media was able to give individuals a voice that they never had before.  Social media has allowed for Black Lives Matter to break social, cultural and political barriers and create real life results. The utilization of social media has allowed Black Lives Matter to operate in an efficient manner to spread news, share ideas, and organize events.The voices of the voiceless were able to be heard loud and clear in a form that could spread much further then other methods. Social media helped individuals overcome geographical and physical barriers, by allowing them to connect with one another and unite over their common experiences. The Black experience in the United States and western nations in general, is a unique one, due to the historical plights experienced by black people in these countries which still manifest themselves to this day, most notably in interactions with law enforcement. These strategies have enhanced benefits, by promoting black empowerment and creating a stronger sense of worth for black people and making sure others recognize it as well. This has also resulted in a reduction of barriers, as Black Lives Matter has shown that they are capable of making a change and reducing the barriers for Black people in the United States.

 

Step 4: Conduct a Pilot

The pilot strategies conducted by the Black Lives Matter include the initial protests that were set up after the deaths of innocent black people at the hands of police and others. The usage and creation of #BlackLivesMatter was in response to the death of Trayvon Martin and was first used by one of the Black Lives Matter founders Alicia Garza. After her initial post which read as “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter.”, the hashtag was able to gain traction on social media by other activists, which resulted in the hashtag being used over 2 million times during the Black Lives Matter protests in North America. The protests that occurred following the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The deaths of these innocent men resulted in nationwide protests across multiple cities in order to bring justice for these individuals and to raise awareness of the racial and systemic discrimination of black people in the United States. The aftermath of the protests and the widespread usage of the Black Lives Matter hashtag resulted in the formation of the group, which eventually resulted in the movement spreading nationwide, then globally as the plights of black people in the western hemisphere are very similar. This resulted in the formation of Black Lives Matter chapters internationally which act as groups that arrange and conduct protests, meet ups and many other actions to raise awareness and empower black people.  

Step 5: Evaluate Broad Scale Implementation

The broad scale implementation of the movement has been very effective as the movement has been able to gain traction globally and has been able to create action and raise awareness through the use of social media, and the utilization of protests which have gained media attention and reached international headlines. International protests for the movement have been held in countries such as Ireland, Canada, Britain, Amsterdam, Germany, South Africa, and Australia. This broad scale implementation has occurred simply through reactionary responses from others around the world in order to show support and solidarity for the movement and to increase black empowerment as well. There are currently only chapters across North America for the movement, however the movement has shown that it does have the ability to make an international impact. 

 Black Lives Matter Protest in Ireland

Black Lives Matter Protests in London, England 

Black Lives Matter Protests in Amsterdam 

  

   Black Lives Matter protesters in Berlin, Germany

   Black Lives Matter protesters in Cape Town, South Africa

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T     he movement has also been able to gain the support of many celebrities, especially Black celebrities who understand the importance of the movement and who are fed up with the systemic racial discrimination of blacks in the United States. This has allowed the movement to be spread to a wider audience and allows the movement to be more accepted, as it is widely accepted by the ‘social elites’ of society.  

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Overall the broad scale implementation has been very effective as the chapters of the movement are still young, however they are growing in size and becoming more and more powerful through their actions. Although the deaths of innocent black people in America are still occurring, for example the recent death of Stephon Clark. Stephon Clark was at his grandmother’s home where he resided, when the cops arrived looking for a suspect who was breaking windows across the neighbourhood. Stephon Clark ran away from the police, however the police shot and killed Stephon Clark, firing 20 rounds after believing that Clark had a gun on him, which turned out to be his cellphone. His death has resulted in mass protests across the city of Sacramento. One week after the shooting, NBA teams the Sacramento Kings and the Boston Celtics wore shirts with Clark's name and the words "Accountability" and "We are One" during warm-ups and the national anthem.