In an era in which consumers are increasingly making purchase decisions based on brand ethics, Pride has turned into a convenient opportunity to showcase your organization’s left-leaning stance. As soon as June 1 hits, our feeds are flooded with pride-related event announcements, product launches, influencer takeovers and rainbow gifs. But with the commercialization of Pride, comes the need to do more. The LGBTQIA+ community has a collective spending power of $1.7 billion and you’re fooling yourself if you think they can’t tell the difference between opportunism and ongoing corporate activism.
Head of Partnerships, Paul Dien, broke down inclusive marketing for Adweek based on his industry expertise and personal experience as an out and proud gay man.
“The strategy to engage with the LGBTQ consumer should be a long-view approach. More critically, it needs to evolve and address an increasingly diverse fabric of the community. The cultural zeitgeist continues to evolve. The LGBTQ community doesn’t fit into one nice, neat box. We’re a snapshot of the larger mainstream society: people of color, immigrants, athletes, folks who live in red states and Gen Z influencers. We’re Janelle Monáe. We’re Patrick Starrr. We’re Janet Mock. We’re Gus Kenworthy. We’re Emma Gonzalez. We’re the cast of FX’s new show Pose.”