The LGBTQ community exists all year round but, for years, America Inc. only seemed to think about them in June, the month designated to honor LGBTQ history.
As corporations mount massive LGBTQ-friendly product launches and displays in the lead up to Pride Month, a divided America is complicating the play for the so-called pink dollar, the spending capital of the LGBTQ community and its allies. But putting rainbows on some T-shirts and sponsoring a gay pride barge means little if companies don’t stand for LGBTQ rights.
Recent progress in attaining equal rights such as same-sex marriage and increased visibility in popular culture have been met with increasingly vocal, and at times violent, pushback. Conservatives are routinely calling for boycotts of products that seek to appeal to LGBTQ consumers, as in the case of Bud Light, which hired a trans influencer to promote its beer, or Target, which decided to remove some of the Pride collection items from its stores after employees were subject to “threats” from some shoppers. Companies that are used to trying to appeal to the widest possible consumer base now apparently face a lose-lose situation: continue to pursue LGBTQ consumers and face backlash from bigots, or submit to those complaints and face backlash for the volte-face.
The only way to steer marketing campaigns and sales in an increasingly polarized America is with sincerity, several experts told Quartz. “It astounds me how frequently corporations write checks to organizations or promote large public events to signal support only to fail to engage those same organizations and experts, in advance of shifting policy or planning an activation,” Todd Evans, president and CEO of Rivendell Media, an American LGBTQ media placement firm, told Quartz. “Engaging in authentic partnership with leaders who have demonstrated both a commitment to and ability to lead should be step one for corporations looking to get into the arena and stay in it.” Companies must put values over patronage—and the commercials will fall in line eventually.
Quotable: Companies must pick a side
“Companies need to understand what’s happening right now. You cannot mollify bigots whose primary desire is to be angry. You’ve already lost them. They’re gone. If you cave to them, you’re sacrificing the loyalty of other consumers for a sad, small group that will never like you.
On the other hand: if Target and other companies refuse to play this bullshit game with enraged bigots, they will solidify their loyalty with reasonable adults and their families. Don’t give in to these hateful people. You will never satisfy their craving for outrage.” —LGBT activist Charlotte Clymer, the first openly transgender person to serve on the D.C. Human Rights Commission
Social media adds fuel to fire
Much of the backlash starts and proliferates on Twitter. And often, it uses disinformation as a crutch. For instance, right-wing critics—spurred by a misleading May 10 post by Gays Against Groomers, which the Anti-Defamation League has labeled a group that “peddles dangerous and misleading narratives about the LGBTQ+ community,”—falsely claimed that Target’s “tuck-friendly” adult swimsuits, for trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations, were also available in the kids’ section.
“Instead of correcting these rumors, tech corporations have garnered millions of views, clicks, and impressions. Given that, their role here is quite clear,” Imara Jones, the CEO of media company TransLash, told Quartz.
Diminishing fact-checking efforts at social media platforms like Twitter means disinformation runs rampant. Companies have to make their decisions irrespective of the noise around them.
One big number: Anti-trans legislation is proliferating
79: Anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ laws passed in the US so far this year. “Now would be a powerful time for corporations who have expressed support for queer, trans, and gender non-binary people in the past to lead with action over words,” according to Jones of TransLash.
Being pro-LGBT is good for business
Those fueling backlash against companies promoting LGBTQ-friendly products rejoice in the economic impact their boycotts appear to achieve. “We’re the reason Target lost $10 billion in 10 days” a Twitter user wrote boastfully, while sharing a Kohl’s ad and adding “YOU’RE NEXT!” in reference to the department store’s own Pride collection. Target stock did in fact slide that much that quickly, but it wasn’t the result of the backlash. Rather, it was due to the company’s botched response to it.
“With regards to the possible Target stock ‘hit,’ if they had a plan before this happened, any downsides could have been mitigated. The same is true for Budweiser,” Jones, referring to the Bud Light controversy, told Quartz.
Jones, herself a Black trans woman and civil rights leader, says the answer isn’t to impulsively back down. The so-called pink dollars of the LGBTQ community “are not only relevant for today, but will be even more so as time goes on,” she said, adding that, “over the next five years it will cost more to not reach out to this demographic, than to do so.”
At times, companies’ bottom lines have benefitted as pro-LGBTQ and pro-equal rights groups and their allies have boosted their support to counter hate. For instance, Levi’s and Disney saw a surge in sales after facing boycotts in the past. Disney is now taking on Florida governor Ron DeSantis in a feud sparked by the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, and Levi’s is expanding its gender-neutral line. Even Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, sees some promise in the long-term given that it just renewed its partnership with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and donated $200,000 to the group for the second year in a row.
Companies that hold LGBTQ-friendly stances don’t just benefit from a revenue perspective, but also on the talent front. Data shows that companies that invest in social justice causes have better employee engagement and retention, social appeal, and increased bottom lines, according to David J. Johns from the National Black Justice Coalition.
“What we know is that it pays to be on the right side of supporting and celebrating humanity,” Johns told Quartz. “Companies who are afraid of challenges from bigots should avoid engaging in what then becomes performative pride pumping. Keep it.”
The outrage comes and goes overnight, but a loyal customer base develops over time.
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