The Dangers of Performative Activism in Social Media Marketing

Can we harmonize social and corporate interests?

Photo by Chris Sansbury on Unsplash

There are many problems in our world, and there are just as many social movements initiated to address them.

The thing is, while these movements have noble intentions, many of them are not done genuinely. There are some who use them for their own gains.

Many social movements are, sadly, only a form of performative activism.

What Is Performative Activism?

The term “performative activism” is used pejoratively to describe a type of social activism that’s done to increase one’s social capital, instead of advocating for the social cause itself.

Depending on the context, “performative wokeness” and “performative allyship” could be used interchangeably.

It’s closely related to other concepts such as, “slacktivism,” surface-level activism requiring little effort and devotion; and “virtue signaling,” an expression of moral viewpoint intended to communicate one’s self-perceived virtuousness, instead of embodying the virtue itself.

Simply put, performative activism is when someone uses a social cause as a guise to justify their self-interested actions.