The Black Lives Matter movement, originating in the USA and resonating globally, has permanently altered the landscape for brands and influencers. Previously, they largely aimed to maintain neutrality and avoid confrontation, but now their audience expects a clear stance, so the absence of one is itself a statement.

In 2020, the influencer marketing agency Klear studied the behavior of 100 brands, with 80% supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement, while 20% made no statements. This latter group faced a barrage of criticism from their audience. This indicates that pleasing everyone with mere silence is no longer feasible. Both brands and influencers need to demonstrate their values and perspectives in practice.

The war in Ukraine has become a pivotal issue for international companies. Most likely, you have observed brands deciding whether to exit or remain in the Russian market. The reluctance to lose profits and assets is understandable, but the long-term reputational risks may harm a brand more than losing Russian consumers.

While we’ve addressed the situation with brands, what about foreign influencers? Ukrainian and Russian audiences on their accounts represent only a small percentage. However, the war has quickly evolved from a regional conflict to a pressing issue for many countries.

Informational: Influencers in this subgroup regularly cover the war. They report on current events, refer to the conflict as a war, and portray Russia as the aggressor. However, there are differences in opinions regarding the role of Russians in the war: some blame Putin and the government, while others believe that the entire Russian population is responsible for the situation. Additionally, these opinion leaders often provide links to funds and fundraisers to financially support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Financial: Many influencers have their own businesses, such as clothing brands, accessories, and merchandise. Therefore, they have decided to donate a percentage of their sales to support Ukraine.

Other: I am impressed by the efforts made by opinion leaders for the sake of Ukrainians. Some are traveling to Ukraine to film current events, while others are collecting humanitarian aid and delivering it to the Polish-Ukrainian border or conducting interviews with eyewitnesses. It’s hard to imagine that people who are not directly affected by the war would dedicate a significant part of their lives to helping those suffering from military aggression. But such people exist. And their dedication only intensifies in contrast to influencers who continue to live their blogger lives and pretend that nothing is happening.

Le Grand JD (Switzerland) visited Donbas last year and shared the story of the war with a huge audience. Now he continues to provide updates on the situation.

Louisa Dellert (Germany) has created a lot of content about the war in Ukraine. Her blogging activity is generally dedicated to activism, support for women, and current global issues, ranging from environmental concerns to sexual violence. So it’s not surprising that the war in a European country has become an important topic for this opinion leader’s blog and podcast.

Aurel Mertz, a German comedian and actor, has an active civic position. Therefore, with the onset of full-scale war, everyone can receive something from him: both Putin, German politicians, and society. Sometimes even Ukrainians.

After reviewing a plethora of content, I feel a deep connection with Portuguese producer Ana Garcia Martins.

As for the Swede Therese Lindgren, she conducted an interview with Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and asked her subscribers’ questions about the war in Ukraine.

Polish influencer Martyna Wojciechowska is one of the most active volunteers supporting Ukrainians to this day.

Group 2. Humanitarian Support

This category of opinion leaders refrains from making final judgments and considers the war in Ukraine from the perspective of supporting the victims, urging donations to international organizations. Indeed, these influencers often serve as ambassadors for NGOs such as the Red Cross or UNICEF, and support for current projects is part of their commitments. However, they do not speak of Russia as an aggressor, maintain political neutrality, and only talk about helping those affected by the war.

One of the world’s most popular bloggers, Chiara Ferragni, urges people to donate money to the Italian Red Cross.

French TV presenter Élodie Gossuin held a charity concert for UNICEF.

German influencer Leonie Hanne, whose husband’s family is in Ukraine, urges donations to help Ukrainians. But finding this post among the rest of her stylish outfit publications was not easy.

Swedish resident Janni Olsson Delér raised donations for UNICEF Sweden.

Representatives of this group have left many posts, but they are all very similar to each other.

Group 3. “Doves of Peace”

This is my favorite cohort of influencers, reminiscent of the character Bruno from Sacha Baron Cohen’s film. His character was very eager for popularity, so for the sake of it, he decided to resolve the protracted political conflict between Israel and Palestine. Bruno gathered representatives of both sides at one table and tried to reconcile them with his own song. Of course, I am biased, but it seemed to me that opinion leaders felt the pressure to voice their position. However, it’s so difficult to understand the situation. Especially when Milan Fashion Week is underway and there are so many shows to attend. But you must say something, so “we are for everything good and against everything bad.” Is there even a shred of falsehood in this?

The most popular formats of expression were two: a picture with a peace dove and various interpretations of John Lennon’s song Imagine, from quotes to playing the ukulele.

German model Toni Garrn.

And here’s Imagine by German singer Lea.

Andy Torres from the Netherlands believes that love conquers all.

Group 4. “Cringe”

It’s quite difficult to characterize this group of influencers. Let’s say these are people who have chosen an unconventional way to highlight the topic of war. While viewing the content, I felt shock, confusion, a desire to cry, laugh, and be outraged. All at once.

Senegalese from Italy Khaby Lame is so cool that he has official collaborations with Instagram and even with Snoop Dogg. But this video bores me.

And this is German model Estephania. I can say that this photo organically fits into her account.

Instead of conclusions, I’ll note that in the past few months, there has been a significant decrease in posts about the war. For Ukrainians, security is paramount: we monitor air raid alerts and report to each other after each landing. For many European influencers, being safe means maintaining neutrality to avoid negative reactions from one group or another and ultimately not facing unwanted consequences. The problem with trends (not fashionable ones) is that despite declarations, they take root quite slowly. So bloggers with a large number of followers, who have something to lose, don’t have time to adapt to the new reality.

But we can accelerate this process and not let people forget about the war in Ukraine by creating even more striking creative projects capable of awakening empathy and highlighting the real state of affairs.

To avoid ending on a pessimistic note, let’s return to the posts of representatives of the first group. They exist, there are many of them, and that gives hope.