Pull Up or Shut Up

Pull Up or Shut Up is a new campaign that calls on companies to release the total number of Black employees in their companies as well as their employment levels within 72 hours of posting a message of support for Black people. The campaign also asks beauty brands to employ at least 10% Black people at their corporate/executive level. 

The campaign began on June 3 by Sharon Chuter, a top executive in the beauty industry and founder and CEO of Uoma Beauty. She posted a video on her Instagram account a day after Blackout Tuesday challenging beauty brands to forego their “PR stunts” and get real in fighting pejorative corporate activism. She declared that it was time to either pull up or shut up! (PUSU) Dozens of companies, including Glossier, L'Oréal, Sephora, L’Oreal, Kylie Cosmetics, Revlon and Ulta Beauty responded. The movement is drawing in non-beauty brands (i.e., Netflix) as well and is fast-growing followers (over 130,000 now).

Her instagram account —@pullupforchange — calls out companies that are not responding to the challenge and asks consumers/customers to contact them through any means available (email, DM, tweet, phone). Brands such as H&M, Zara and Lululemon are called out for not responding. She also boldly displays the logos of companies that have released their diversity numbers and the information she seeks (such as Dell, Lyft, Yelp, CVS).

There is no doubt that consumers are interested in knowing which brands truly care about Black America and representation at the corporate level. Here is what Chuter said in an interview which hits home about consumers keeping track and how reputations get built and shaped in this unprecedented world that unfolds anew every day: “And now there’s a community telling me what to do next. They’re saying that in six months, we want an update. We want to know if they will do better. Some are asking for a plug-in for desktops so that when they’re browsing, they can see if brands support Black people. Others are asking for a sticker on the box — a symbol to show they are diverse, like they have for [the vegan product label] Leaping Bunny. It shows how much people want to know. You have to pull up. You have to do this. This was created to be a shopping guide, not a boycott guide.”

Again, another reputational reckoning in response to BLM that is keeping score. See my earlier post on corporate accountability.