Social media is an integral component of any successful marketing plan. It helps generate leads and enhances customer service.
Brand awareness and increased sales can also be achieved with social media – but it’s essential that you use it correctly.
Marketers must understand the best platforms to utilize, their target audience and what messages resonate with them. Successful campaigns are creative and tailored specifically for each audience.
The Central Park Karen
Last year, a video of a white woman calling the police on an African American man for asking her dog to be leashed went viral and ignited social media outrage. The term “Karen” was coined to describe her actions which were widely condemned and quickly became emblematic of an entrenched and racially charged stereotype.
Karen may be a derogatory term for white people who take advantage of Black people, but Andre Brock – an associate professor at Georgia Tech who studies race and technology – believes it has no place in the 21st century. According to Andre Brock, associate professor who studies race and technology, “Karen” is actually an insulting term meant to denote white people’s demands for power and control over Black people.
The term has gained increased visibility thanks to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which gave it a voice and increased its awareness. But even before social media existed, names like “Karen” or “BBQ Becky” were commonly used.
In 2020, Amy Cooper, a white woman, called the police on a black bird-watcher and thus earned herself the moniker “Central Park Karen.” But what has transpired with her and other white women who have been labeled as “Karens” isn’t just one woman’s mistake: It speaks to larger issues regarding racial justice and how white privilege has come to shape our society.
As previously reported by Blavity, the Central Park Karen case has reached such a crisis that people have been sending messages to other women with the name “Amy Cooper,” mistakenly believing they are related to the one who made the call. These include friend requests, angry phone calls and social-media posts from men who claim not to know that these other Amy Coopers aren’t actually that Amy Cooper.
Cooper claimed in her federal lawsuit that Franklin Templeton and its CEO Jenny Johnson perpetuated her image as a “privileged white female ‘Karen'” through public statements regarding her termination. Additionally, Cooper asserted that three male employees involved in misconduct such as insider trading or domestic violence weren’t fired despite being warned. But US District Judge Ronnie Abrams on Wednesday dismissed those assertions.
The Texas Karen
One of the most enjoyable and engaging aspects of my job is evaluating social media campaigns against real estate industry rivals. One effective approach to stopping them is creating a hyper-targeted microsite where real estate professionals can voice their comments in an anonymous forum. This method has allowed me to identify and address real estate issues more strategically while creating superior customer experiences for all parties involved.
The Texas Karen, while not as prominent as its California and New York counterparts, remains a fixture in Austin and nearby. She has been employed at Transwestern offices since 2007 as Senior Director of Marketing with responsibility for overseeing advertising, market research, public relations and marketing activities as Chief Digital Officer. Furthermore, she leads an experienced team of marketers to guarantee Transwestern’s Central Texas Region stays abreast of emerging trends and best practices.
In short, she’s the star of the show. Her accomplishments include creating and implementing a hyper-targeted website where real estate professionals can post their comments in an anonymous forum. This approach allows me to identify and address real estate issues at a strategic level while creating better customer solutions for everyone involved.
The California Karen
Over the past two years, “Karen” has become a widely used label to identify white women who are engaging in harmful racial or gendered transgressions. This sex-based label has gained cultural acceptance due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as discussions surrounding race and police brutality that have taken place around the country.
The term has also helped to clarify the complex position white women occupy as victims, possessors of privilege and perpetrators of racism and other forms of discrimination. It has become a powerful tool for social justice activists to dismantle these norms and confront persisting discriminatory practices in public view.
As a result, California Karen has become an iconic cultural icon that has been seen across America, prompting several successful social media campaigns against her. One recent example is an effort against a television commercial depicting Karen Bass – the incoming mayor of Los Angeles – as an anti-racist and hater.
This commercial, airing on Los Angeles-area stations during the city’s mayoral race, falsely claims Bass has voted to appropriate taxpayer funds for a university in Washington D.C. However, Bass insists she has never done this and has no plans to ever do so.
Her lawyer informed Insider that the ad was misleading and defamatory, and she plans to pursue legal actions against those responsible. Despite these complaints, Kaufman noted, the commercial is still airing across California to millions of viewers.
Thankfully, there are steps we can take to combat the growing popularity of the “Karen” moniker and safeguard women from harassment and violence. One effective solution is making sure viral videos undergo thorough vetting by authorities before going public.
Another approach to dealing with the issue is by calling out those responsible for such behavior using hashtags and posting video clips online. Although these snippets of footage tend to be short, they can easily be edited or manipulated in order to distort the narrative and give false impressions about the situation.
The New York Karen
Karen has come to be seen as a symbol of white privilege and racism. Although it has been around for years, its image has recently gained notoriety due to the viral video depicting its removal in real life.
This term dates back to the 1990s, when an author used it to express her disdain for white women who often use their power and privilege to oppress black people. Since then, it has become commonly used to denote any white woman who acts entitledly or displays racist behaviors.
As Time reports, “This documentary confronts a violent history of white womanhood that builds on the racist stereotype that black people are weak and subservient.”
Recently, “Karen” incidents have seen a meteoric rise in popularity on social media, with videos going viral of white women calling the police on Black people, wearing masks in public and even pointing guns at protesters. This trend was especially evident during COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide demonstrations.
Many of these incidents have been recorded on video, prompting an uptick in hashtags such as #KarenSpotting to celebrate all the different types of “Karen” situations being documented and shared online.
Utilizing these hashtags has led to several successful social media campaigns against the Karen, from sharing what it means to be a “Karen” to using video to spread awareness of ways to prevent a “Karen” incident from occurring in the first place. Furthermore, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took notice of the Central Park Karen after she called police on a Black man asking her to put her dog on a leash.
Some of these videos have gone viral, prompting some to call for their removal from social media altogether. Some argue that video snippets present in such clips flatten people’s lives into one incident and leave them vulnerable to doxxing or harassment. Others have suggested it’s an effective way to draw attention to racist behavior without naming who committed it.
