Clothing brand The Illuminati, which themes itself as a conspiracy theorist brand, has been tweeting bluntly about the controversial trial of George Zimmerman, the man recently found not-guilty of murdering Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
The clothing brand caused a stir last Tuesday when it tweeted, “The Only Justice for Trayvon Martin is to take the Life of George Zimmerman. #EyeForanEye #ZimmermanTrial.”
The Washington Times published a screen shot of the tweet, which seemed to have called for the death of the former neighborhood watch leader. The tweet has since been deleted, and a more controlled Illuminati tweet has since emerged, “We do not support any violence in reaction to the #ZimmermanVerdict however we do believe in #JusticeForTrayvon.”
Since the tail end of the trial, the brand, which has over one million followers on Twitter, has continued to tweet a stream of comments surrounding to the case.
The call for brands to be ‘more human’ could be what has recently seemed to spark the bolder social approach. For example, more and more brands are standing up for previously hands-off topics such as marriage equality (Ben & Jerry’s and Svedka) and peace between India and Pakistan (Coca Cola). But a controversial legal case that involves racial issues and murder That’s something most brands would avoid. Then again this is the same company that posted the article “14 Conspiracy Theory Locations You Must Visit,” and sells t-shirts with slogans like “F*** the police.”
Despite the controversial social strategy, The Illuminati clearly knows its audience. The tweet about Trayvon garnered 1,410 retweets and 492 favorites according to Topsy.
Source: Digiday
