It’s Pride
Month.
And as the world gears up for its annual remembrance of the seminal 1969
Stonewall riots
and recognition of ongoing efforts to achieve equal rights and opportunity for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+)
people, brands are keener than ever to be part of the conversation.
However, as US brands including
adidas,
Bud
Light,
Disney,
Kohl’s,
Nike,
The North
Face,
PetSmart
and
Target
— which have each faced very public backlash because of their support of the
queer community in the past year alone — can attest, remaining true to your
brand’s values in a polarized society is easier said than done. And part of
being an advocacy brand is understanding that you will never be able to please
everyone.
Target, for one, has pivoted slightly in its effort to continue supporting the
LGBTQ+ community —
deciding
this year to limit the number of stores selling LGBTQ-themed merchandise. Last
year, right-wing activists did their best to hit the company’s bottom
line
by boycotting stores that stocked rainbow-colored product lines — something the
chain has done at many of its stores for the last decade — and even threatening
the safety of
employees.
This year, Target will only sell Pride-themed products in "select stores, based
on historical sales
performance."
Despite its best efforts to communicate its ongoing commitment to the LGBTQIA+
community, pointing to its presence at local Pride events throughout the month,
Target remains embedded in a culture war.
Posting on
LinkedIn,
sustainability advisor/speaker and Net
Positive
co-author Andrew Winston called
the decision a “big mistake:” “Target’s stated values are: inclusivity;
connection and drive. Doesn’t avoiding the sales of legal, safe, useful
merchandise based on complaints from anti-LGBTQ+ activists hurt all these
values?” he said. “I feel for Target execs, honestly. It’s not easy. But in the
end, this isn’t about balancing some different, equally valid perceptions on a
complicated issue. It’s about the courage to protect human rights and the
dignity of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
In response, ESG strategist Sandy
Skees was equally sympathetic to
Target’s position: “The challenge they face, especially in states with both
anti-gay/trans legislation and open-carry laws, [is that] staff and customers
[are] at real risk.” The answer, she said, is for brands to “show up strong”
where it’s safe and be careful in places where it’s not. “Do I hate that these
are the choices facing Target now that they are literally a target for
homophobic violence? Yes. And I will give them grace with these difficult
decisions. They’ve earned my loyalty.”
A real economic opportunity
As similar
conversations
continue across social media, and brands grapple with their position on LGBTQIA+
issues and building inclusivity and diversity across their businesses, the
latest Outvertising Consumer
Report (OCR) offers plenty of
advice for being more effective.
“When representation goes wrong, it’s most likely due to a failure to connect
the representational politics of the brand communications with sustained
commitments,” Rodney Collins,
Outvertising’s Co-Director of Intelligence and one of the brains behind the OCR,
told Sustainable Brands®.
The organization’s research magnifies the economic importance of the LGBTQIA+
community. When brands advertise their products and services, the LGBTQIA+
community is more likely to be persuaded by advertising to guide purchase
behaviours than non-LGBTQIA+ people (40 percent vs 31 percent), and then
recommend items that they see in ads to their friends and family (31 percent vs
24 percent).
“If you want to know what to watch or listen to, speak to someone from the
LGBTQIA+ community — they are in practice as individuals who enjoy and take
pride in their cultural
acumen,”
Collins says. “For brands that get their voice, authenticity, values and message
right, LGBTQIA+ people are ready to be your champions.”
Don’t fear the politics
To really engage with this audience, however, brands must be open, honest and
willing to express their views on political and social issues, according to
Outvertising’s research — which was developed with the Market Research
Society and YouGov in the UK. Around 60 percent of LGBTQIA+ people in
the UK believe that brands should express their views on political and social
issues, compared to 41 percent of non-LGBTQIA+ people. The queer community also
believes that brands should take this further and get involved with social
issues (59 percent vs 37 percent). They are also more likely than non-LGBTQIA+
audiences to reject a brand if its views are not aligned with their own (64
percent vs 50 percent).
Collins says that representation and messaging are critical when it comes to
appealing to LGBTQIA+ people — more than half of which claim that advertising
affects how they perceive their body image, compared with just 1 in 3
non-LGBTQIA+. Young people are especially susceptible, with 68 percent of
LGBTQIA+ Gen Z consumers agreeing: “Brands have a responsibility to ensure
authentic and ‘real’ representation in
ads
is prioritized, even more so as the LGBTQIA+ consumer are more likely to favour
seeing ‘real-looking people’ in ads than their non-LGBTQIA+ counterparts — 70
percent compared to 64 percent.”
As an example, he points to when UK retailer Marks & Spencer launched its LGBT
(lettuce, guacamole, bacon and tomato)
sandwich
in 2019 to mark
Pride
and raise money for charity. While many lauded the rainbow-colored initiative,
the campaign garnered plenty of detractors — many from within the queer
community. “It was
unfortunate, because the sandwich was in fact a fundraiser for a long-term
charity partner for the brand,” Collins says. “Sadly, the public wasn't aware of
that fact and the criticism was out there. This is simply a reminder to live
your brand values in the world and in your
comms.”
The right thing to do
But there are plenty of brands that are ingratiating themselves with LGBTQIA+
shoppers, not least the home-improvement retailer
Wickes. Among the range of comments received to
support the Outvertising report, one highlighted the company’s recent ‘No LGB
without the T’ messaging, displayed at a recent Pride event in Brighton.
“They got massive
backlash.
And let’s face it, their market audience is builders. It’s not even that they’re
particularly marketing to a queer audience; they just did it because they said,
you know what, this is the right thing to do.”
The Outvertising team hopes its latest Consumer Report provides brands with
enough resources to more effectively stand by the queer community and their
values.
“Some sectors, like technology and entertainment, benefit from high interest and
engagement — yet not all brands in the category are keeping pace with the
dynamics of culture,” Collins adds. “Other sectors, like sport, are burdened
with a legacy of non-inclusive and, in some cases, harmful behaviors — and
brands in these sectors sometimes do not know where to get started.”
As Gil Friend, a sustainability expert
and former chief sustainability officer for Palo Alto, said in response to
Andrew Winston’s LinkedIn post, “we may be entering an era of cowardice ...
which presents great opportunities (and yes, risks) for the courageous.”
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Content creator extraordinaire.
Tom is founder of storytelling strategy firm Narrative Matters — which helps organizations develop content that truly engages audiences around issues of global social, environmental and economic importance. He also provides strategic editorial insight and support to help organisations – from large corporates, to NGOs – build content strategies that focus on editorial that is accessible, shareable, intelligent and conversation-driving.
Published Jun 4, 2024 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST