Issue/Opponent: During the 1970s two brothers Arthur Mortimer and Raymond Slacker donated around $3.5 million to help the construction of the Temple of Denduir wing. This wing was named after the two brothers since they were significant donors. The brothers were also successful business owners who created Purdue Pharma which eventually would be developed into OxyContin. OxyContin has been one of the most prescribed and abused drugs throughout the country. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, there have been more than 200,000 overdose deaths due to prescription pain relievers. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a wing that is named after the brother Slacker which is connected to the powerful painkiller drug OxyContin.
Dilemma Action: On March 10, 2017 anti-opioids activists gathered around with banners and scattered pill bottles inside the Slacker wing inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The organization P.A.I.N was calling for cultural institutions to reject any money that came from the Slacker family. They also were advocating against Purdue Pharma for the deceptive and aggressive techniques that they have used to market Oxycontin. The protesters had banners that had phrases such as “Shane on Slacker” and “Fund Rehab”. When inside the Temple of Dendur around 50 protesters lay on the ground as a way to symbolize “die-in” and then a crowd marched through the museum halls to show off their banners and chant “Slackers lie, people die”. The goal of this demonstration was to advocate for those who have died due to the addition of opioids and hold the cultural institutions accountable for the money that have received from the Slacker family and continue to receive. The protesters had the intention to create sympathy among those visiting the museum by expressing their feelings about the Opioid crisis. Outcome: After all protesters walked throughout the museum chanting and showing off their banners they gathered outside of the museum clapping and chanting the media portrayed the protesters as neutral. Months after the protest the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that they would stop accepting gifts from the Slacker family members who are linked to OxyContin. Other museums such as the Tate Modern in London and Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum in New York decided to also distance themselves from the company Purdue Pharma and the family. The Metropolitan Museum of Art hopes that based on their decision to cut off ties with the Slacker family could make other cultural institutions follow along. The protest made the Slacker family and museum institutions that were gaining from the family look bad which essentially made museums rethink who they were accepting money from.