Hey Brands! We Can't Read Your #BlackLivesMatter Statements
No one can read this.
Seriously, y’all. Why are you posting them like this?
Hey Brands,
Thanks for sharing your Black Lives Matter statement on social media. Some folks might be a little cynical about brands making these statements, but we need to use our platforms to take a stand in the fight against injustice. Also, you probably had to go through countless layers of approval, revisions, pushback from corporate leaders, and attorneys to get it done. Good on you for making it happen. Your voice is appreciated.
But...we can’t read the damn thing.
When you post your statement as a big block of text on an image, it’s next to impossible to read on my phone. You know, where most people spend their time on the internet. It’s small and the contrast of the image background makes it even harder to read without getting a migraine. You’ve also center-justified it making it even harder to read! On top of that, many of you have posted your statement in all caps like an angry 75 year-old Tucker Carlson viewer writing racist screeds in Facebook comments of his local news channel. Do you secretly NOT want us to read your statement?
Also, posting text as images is not accessible to the visually impaired who are using screen readers. Accessibility is important. Your statement on how you value diversity and inclusivity is kind of null if it isn’t truly inclusive of everyone. Your image needs alt-text and it’s likely longer than alt-text will allow.
But you argue “Twitter only allows 280 characters! How do we share our statement!”
You are a major brand! You have a website! Post it in plain text there and link to it! In fact, that would be easier and take less time than making your poor frustrated graphic designer try to figure out how to cram all this text into an image.
Again, thank you for sharing your support of Black Lives Matter, but please do so in a way we all can read.
Also…#BlackLivesMatter!