McDonald's Names Police Brutality Victims

McDonald's joined the rising number of brands speaking out against racial injustice in the past week with a bold spot from Wieden + Kennedy memorializing seven Black Americans who were killed by police or shot while unarmed. The simple, silent video lists the names of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, explaining that "They were all one of us" and concluding with "Black Lives Matter." The ad also announces that the brand will donate to the National Urban League and the NAACP.

Watch: The brand is new to this particular conversation, but Wieden + Kennedy has a history creating social justice-themed ads.

More on how brands are responding to racial injustice:

When the crisis hit, insurtech startup Next Insurance had been planning to drop some serious cash on a flashy TV spot from a big-name agency and invest in a rebrand. But when the pandemic began to impact the brand's clients, small business owners, Next pivoted its ad budget to help them out instead. Not only did the company lower premiums and extend discounts for clients, it also found about 50 out-of-work and struggling construction workers, bakers, photographers, builders, artists and creators, and then hired them. The effort turned into a new campaign, "Built by Business."

For Adweek Pro Members: The quick pivot built authenticity into its brand purpose, a strategy other startups can use to gain an advantage over bigger competitors.

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Netflix, which doesn't often reveal much of its performance data, has started showing users its 10 most popular programs every day. The new feature provides some interesting insights into user behavior and preferences:

But most hits don't stay that way: Even wildly popular programming aimed at adults in particular doesn't stay in the top 10 for long.

The ongoing war between Twitter and Donald Trump, which was initiated when the platform started flagging his tweets—and exacerbated by the president's executive order targeting all social platforms—has forced all social media companies to think about how they'll handle the president's posts going forward.

While Facebook declined to react to Trump's post threatening violence against protesters (much to the ire of its staff), Twitter will continue to flag world leaders' posts with "public interest notices" as needed, leaving them visible in most cases, but labeling them to note rule-breaking or misinformation. This sets a challenging precedent, requiring the platform to manage future tweets by public officials according to the same standards, and positioning it more as a publisher.

A new age for social media: No matter how they proceed, platforms including Snapchat, Reddit and TikTok will be measured against Twitter's decisions.

More of Today's Top News and Highlights

The latest episode of Adweek Radio focuses on parenting and what it’s like to teach in the time of Covid-19. Sandra Oh Lin, founder and CEO of KiwiCo, JM Herrmann, vp, strategy director at Giant Spoon, and Adweek's Lisa Lacy and Doug Zanger join us to talk about the joys and foibles of quarantine parenthood.

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