Woke is a term which was originally used to describe the awareness of racial prejudice, systematic injustices and discrimination. The term is a product of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and implies that one is metaphorically “awake” to these societal issues, speaking out and taking action against them.
One of the first recorded uses of the term was in 1938 by blues singer, Lead Belly. The singer urged black listeners to “stay woke” after describing how a group of nine black teenage males (the Scottsboro Boys) were falsely accused of raping two white women and were sentenced to death as a result.
More recently, the term gained traction alongside the high-profile deaths of African Americans as a result of police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement and the racially fuelled social unrest in America. As such, the term is now a part of popular vernacular and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017, defined as: “alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice.”
As the meaning of the term has evolved, it is also now often used pejoratively and mockingly to describe someone that is deemed too liberal or progressive; to refer to someone who is seen as being too sensitive to political issues, or to describe performative activism.
In relation to consumer brands, the derivative “woke-washing” has been used to describe brands which are seen as exploiting social justice movements as a marketing tool, for profit. For example, a 2017 Pepsi advertisement, which featured Kendall Jenner, alluded to the Black Lives Matter movement. It featured Kendall handing a police officer a can of Pepsi, which resulted in crowd cheers and immediate social resolution. The advertisement has been criticised for virtue signalling and trivialising the challenges of racial injustice, resulting in consumer backlash.
