by By Emily Bedard
Cancel culture is not only a topic we’ve talked about in class, but also a common aspect of everyday social life. Cancel culture has impacted the ways we view and interact with social media, and many argue that this has taken a turn for the worst. Cancel culture is defined as a way to publicly boycott, withdraw support or produce public negative views about individuals or groups. Cancel culture often stems from one community not agreeing with the views of another community or individual. In addition, many people have participated in cancel culture to boycott a brand or organization that performs actions that are disagreed with or socially unacceptable.
Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have played a huge part in the spread of cancel culture. Almost every person in our society spends at least an hour scrolling on socials like TikTok. Times that by 300 million, and you have people from all around the country participating in the same scrolls and interactions. Imagine you’re scrolling through TikTok and come across a video with 100 views describing that your favorite fast-food spot, Chick-Fil-A, is supporting organizations opposed to LGBTQ+ rights. Then the next day, you see post after post and tweet after tweet angrily boycotting Chick-Fil-A for their views. Not only this, but people have tracked down the organizations, the people involved and even their addresses. Chick-Fil-A is losing thousands of loyal customers while being completely attacked online. Another example is when H&M advertised a photo of a Black child wearing a hoodie that said, “Coolest Monkey in The Jungle.” This caused an eruption between people all over social media, and H&M faced a huge amount of backlash for this advertisement. The brand had to publicly apologize and still faces issues navigating racial insensitivity.
These are only a couple of examples of how quickly cancel culture can spread a common belief or opinion. I believe that the issue of “doomscrolling” and being chronically online has played a huge part in cancel culture. This has affected social media, businesses and politics on a level that has never been seen before. We are all online so often and influenced by so much, and it’s hard not to fall into the strong community that stands online. In the PR world, cancel culture is something to keep track of and pay attention to. One comment can spread like a wildfire, and we need to be aware and ready. In addition, paying attention to how an audience will perceive and react is key to promoting a brand and keeping a strong reputation.
Hi Emily!
I really liked this post. You explained cancel culture in a clear and relatable way. It’s crazy how fast one post can spread online and completely change how people see a brand. I agree that PR professionals really need to pay attention to how quickly opinions can shift on social media.
Hey Emily, great work on this. I liked how you included the numbers on how we spend an hour on tiktok a day, and multiplying that by 300 million is crazy to think about. I personally feel like cancel culture has gone slightly too far, obviously it depends on the circumstances though. Sometimes people have done something so wrong that they deserve it, for example losing their job. But a lot of times I think it gets blown out of proportion and completely ruin lives, past the point where they would even be able to learn from their mistake.
Good work on this! I liked the angle that you took to talk about cancel culture as something to be aware of in the PR world in order to know how to mitigate situations as well as avoid them. It is interesting to think about cancel culture today and how it has become less and less about accountability and more about ruining someone for mistakes. There are totally situations that I think can warrant that type of response, but generally, a lot of the situations we see are blown out of proportion, and apologies tend to be dismissed. It makes me think about the seemingly never-ending cycle- I think people don’t want to accept apologies because it feels forced or unnatural, but it feels forced and unnatural because of the culture that has been created.
Hi Emily, I liked your article! When you broke down the examples, I really thought about how different the times are now from even a few years ago. Loved the way you took a different angle on this issue.
Hi Emily!
I really enjoyed your post! I agree that cancel culture can definitely get out of hand sometimes, especially when mistakes or misunderstandings are blown way out of proportion online. At the same time, I think it can be helpful in holding celebrities and brands accountable when consequences don’t always seem to apply equally. You did a great job showing both sides and explaining why it matters in the PR world.
I appreciate your view on this! I think cancel culture is a tricky topic to cover, because on one hand, people and brands are being held accountable for inappropriate behavior, but on the other hand, are we jumping to cancelling brands too quickly? I also appreciate your elaboration on how doomscrolling can feed into cancel culture, as when you see people following a trend/boycott, it makes it easy to just hop on and assume they’re following for good reason.
Hi Emily! I enjoyed reading your post. I think in recent years cancel culture has gotten out of control, and I agree it’s due to people being chronically online. Sometimes I feel like people on the internet are looking for a reason to cancel influencers. It’s gotten to the point where influencers will be cancelled, but then the internet just uses it as an excuse to bully them. It’s gone further than educating people, I think people have decided cancel culture gives them a reason to say whatever they want on social media, and that doesn’t benefit anyone. Good job!