Given the atmosphere in which Juneteenth finally became a federal holiday, it was all but inevitable that corporate involvement would be high. In the summer of 2020, several companies started to endorse “Black Lives Matter,” using the phrase that corporations had previously avoided as too controversial. Many companies adopted Black spokespeople to represent their products. While there may have been genuine motivations behind these moves, they also represented attempts by brands to reach out to customers, especially younger ones.

The speed with which companies pounced on the opportunities of Juneteenth is notable. But no one is surprised, considering businesses view the holiday as a trade opportunity since this has happened with Black holidays many times before. Kwanzaa, created in 1966 to celebrate Black culture, long remained a holiday centered in the Black community. But as corporations eventually became aware of the Dec 26-Jan 1 celebration, they began to find ways to incorporate it into the more extensive “holiday season” alongside Christmas and Hanukkah. By the early 1990s, Hallmark and other companies were selling Kwanzaa cards and stores like Woolworth’s were stocking Afrocentric merchandise, among other corporate promotions.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a long-fought commemoration of the civil rights leader and movement, is now synonymous with sales weekends at retail stores and ski weekends at resorts. Black History Month has been incorporated into the marketing strategies of various large corporations, ranging from African-print Nike shoes to discounted Uber rides to Black-themed museums. Juneteenth itself has long been commercialized locally in Texas, where the holiday began; Donald Norman-Cox has documented Juneteenth sales being held by Texas businesses since at least the early 1900s.

commercialization

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