The planner world on Instagram blew up this week. I wanted to take a moment to record my thoughts as someone who has been following the community for about a couple years now but has only recently started posting and participating.
I would say that trouble started brewing with the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. These powerful protests in response to the continued injustices of the treatment of African Americans and other people of colour, not just in the criminal justice systems but in society at large, have caused a lot of White people to start reckoning with the privileges and advantages that have been conferred to us by an unjust society. The planner community has a lot of white people in it, and people of colour have been struggling to have their voices heard. This reckoning in the planner community has taken several forms: posts in support of BLM, promotion of Black-owned channels and businesses, #blackouttuesday when many people posted a black square to avoid distracting from these essential protests, and different planner challenges, such as the #blmplannerchallenge. Here is my spread for the challenge:
Many of the responses by individual planners have been very positive. Speaking out and showing support for a movement is probably new to a lot of us. I have been trying to inform myself as much as possible. Systemic racism is not a new concept for me, but I’ve been able to live my life in a way that ignores it, because I am white. While I have taken tentative steps as a teacher to improve the diversity of our reading lists, I have most definitely not done enough. In this period I have been reading voraciously, seeking out content sources by black creators and other people of colour, in particular so that I can share them with students and discuss what has been going on. My next planner challenge that I am working on is the #happyforchangechallenge where I will create the list of actions that I will take to continue support for the Black Lives Matter movement past the flurry of action that everyone has been taking over the last two weeks.
Two of the major planner companies, Erin Condren and Happy Planner, received criticism for being late to express support for BLM. They said nothing at first, and in some quarters, their eventual response was also viewed as inadequate. Happy Planner apparently had a Facebook post in which the word “everyone” was emphasized, which reminded many of the “all lives matter” response to BLM that demonstrates how people really don’t understand what BLM even means.
However, things really hit the fan this week when the following article started circulating online: Mira Costa High Class of 2020 forges new tradition from pandemic. Go read it and come back. You should be able to deduce what kinds of objections a lot of people have:
- This event is a major violation of public health policies meant to stem the spread of COVID-19. The people involved are not socially distanced and hardly anyone is wearing a mask. This is the reason that the event was originally being blocked by county authorities and was not sanctioned by the school itself.
- The students apparently used a “loophole” which allowed a Black Lives Matter protest to take place earlier this month. There is a key disconnect that many associate with the privileged status of these families. BLM protesters are justified in gathering over the life-and-death situation facing people of colour in North America–and they are also predominantly respecting health guidelines to do it as safely as possible. A high school graduation is not a life-and-death matter that needs immediate action. It is a celebration that most kids have had to give up this year. These families weren’t able to accept being told no for the sake of the entire community.
- Many observers feel certain that if the students hadn’t been white, the event would not have been able to go forward and/or students might have been hurt or killed by the police.
- Erin Condren is quoted in the article suggesting (probably as a joke) how they would lie to the police to try to allow their event to continue. A rich white lady would be able to get away with that, while many other citizens would not, with possibly disastrous consequences.
In response, a number of highly prominent members of the planner community announced on Instagram that “We are taking a break.” They will no longer be promoting EC products until they get satisfactory answers from the company. Many other people have chosen to stop using their EC planners, to never give the company another dime, and in some cases even to destroy their products. This, too, has received its own backlash, from people outraged at “cancel culture” striking again and viewing this public calling out as a form of bullying and an unwillingness to forgive people for mistakes.
I am only peripherally involved with the planner community at this point. I will say that I’ve always noticed that some people seem to have created their social influencer businesses in a way that heavily depends on being affiliated with the Erin Condren brand (and the same can be said for the Happy Planner people). They get all kinds of free stuff whenever it releases and publish mostly gushing reviews on their channels. People follow their channels in order to get these “sneak peaks” of upcoming Erin Condren products or to see what new ways they are going to set up and use these products, which allows the viewers to justify ordering the products, which makes money for the company. They usually tell us that they give “honest” opinions, but I really don’t think that is fully possible when they are clearly so financially entangled, and increasing numbers give up their day jobs to produce content and physical products (stickers) based on the things Erin Condren makes. There is such a huge ecosystem of sticker creators who make everything to fit in an EC planner, and I’ve always wondered if that was a safe bet.
Erin Condren posted a lukewarm apology on her personal Instagram. The company CEO, Tonia Misvaer, responded yesterday to disown the actions that Erin Condren and her family had taken. They made a promise not to fail the community again. An hour before I sat down to write this, Erin Condren posted another apology and announced that she would be taking a leave of absence from the company. Some people in the comments thought this was the right step, other people thought it just sounds like a vacation and think she should be permanently stepping down, and others decried that she is being removed from the company she built from the ground up. It seems like these are major rifts that the community will struggle to get past.
For myself, I am disgusted and angered by the graduation party those parents sanctioned and Erin Condren apparently helped organize. I agree with all the objections people have to it. I’m not really sure why people are so surprised. I guess when we invest in something, we want to feel like we have a home there. I think she has made some beautiful products that I have spent money on. I’m definitely putting a pause on buying more of them, but I am going to continue using the ones I have. I bought my 2021 planner on the launch day, and I’m not budgeting to get another one. We’ll see how things look for 2022.
It is most frustrating that so much in the community has been invested in one person and the products she has made, because now that seems to be ruining things for everyone. I think the community needed her to look up to, and is wrestling with what her poor behaviour now says about them. I wonder if this utopian community will be capable of piecing itself back together. I’m sorry that this has happened just as I wanted to take my place among them. It feels like I’ve missed out on a golden age that may never return.
P.S. I have borrowed this post title from the podcast Planners and Wine who released an emergency bonus episode to talk about these controversies. If this issue concerns you, it’s worth a listen. I’m definitely going to stay tuned to their podcast.
Lemon Day Planning 