By Leah Larson, Guest Writer
FCKH8 is a company that is notorious for putting together quick and funny videos about various activist causes and selling shirts to raise money for those causes.
Unfortunately, thatās also a really easy way for a company to make a lot of money.
FCKH8 is a for-profit company. The money they make off their T-shirts or from the advertising on their YouTube videos goes directly toward various employeesā paychecks.
Ultimately, FCKH8 has successfully raised almost $6000 for various charities with their anti-racism gear. Those $6000 will go on to do great things, but FCKH8 still falls short in its advocacy.
FCKH8 claims that money from their T-shirts go toward various activist causes. Recently, they produced a line of T-shirts with phrases like āRACISM ISNāT OVER BUT IāM OVER RACISM.ā They said that $5 of each shirt sale go toward nonprofit groups like Race Forward, among others.
But that isnāt true. On their Facebook page, Race Forward made a post in September which states,
āIt has been brought to our attention that outlets have been reporting our affiliation with Synergy Media and FCKH8.com. Race Forward has never received any money from Synergy Media nor do we have an agreement with the company or FCKH8.com campaign. To be clear, Race Forward would not accept any proceeds from this effort.ā
In short, FCKH8 lied about what was happening with the profits made off of various T-shirts.
While they no longer claim that they donate to Race Forward, the fact that they spread false information about their finances is still unethical and should not be ignored just because they say theyāve given money elsewhere. They lied in the first place and could easily lie again.
āFor FCKH8 to say that theyāre giving money to charities that arenāt accepting the money is fraud, pure and simple,ā said junior Angela Tinker. āLying like that shows theyāre a business where a portion of the proceeds may go to charity. Itās like when you pay an extra five cents at Starbucks to donate to the Red Cross. That might help, but really itās still about making profit.ā
In response, FCKH8 later released a statement saying that Race Forward is a homophobic organization that trivializes breast cancer awareness.
Admittedly, Race Forward is an organization that combats racial injustices and is not in the business of battling homophobia or breast cancer.
Even if FCKH8 wasnāt lying about what they do with their money, their organization is still an amazing example of slacktivism.
Slacktivism is a type of activism which encourages activities like buying a T-shirt and then doing nothing else. Itās similar to when your Aunt Kathy changes her Facebook profile photo to a picture of a cartoon character to raise awareness for children who experience abuse. Itās a nice thought but nothing actually gets done.
āFCKH8 focuses on gimmicks, like little girls cursing, and doesnāt have any real means of advocacy,ā Tinker said. āThey distract from the real issue. Itās like Kony 2012, everyone was talking about it because it was a gimmick, but all that it produced was slacktivism.ā
That sort of activism does very little.
āIn order to be successful, activism needs to have goals it can meaningfully and measurably achieve,ā Tinker said.
Effective advocacy means engaging in thoughtful discourse with people around you, even if itās just on Facebook. It means boycotting businesses and writing letters to politicians.
Making brightly colored T-shirts and gimmick-laden videos does not fit into the model of effective advocacy.
FCKH8 does start conversations about LGBT issues and only LGBT issues, as their merchandise section for queer individuals is labeled āLGBT Equality.ā
Thatās a step. Itās important to start conversations about the experiences of queer people and all oppressed people. But itās not enough of a step.