Pride Month marketing: How brands are still getting it wrong
“When brands do rainbow washing, which is the idea that we’ll just turn our logo rainbow and we’ll make a $10,000 donation to a queer organisation, it is pandering.”
As Pride Month comes to an end, Mumbrella’s Calum Jaspan looks into how brands have engaged with the LGBTQI+ community, and how some are continuing to miss the mark when it comes to community-based campaigns.
Pride Month has again brought up conversations about the all-too-easy act of corporate logos adopting a rainbow theme in some way. But as it turns out, brands doing this without any substance or alliance to the cause are still numerous. What’s more, with the depth of the LGBTQI+ community, simply slapping a rainbow on a logo or other branding without thought continues to do damage.
In a June episode of the Mumbrellacast, Mumbrella’s Damian Francis interviewed furniture retailer Koala’s chief marketing and technology officer, American-based Peter Sloterdyk, where he spoke about this issue directly.
“I never think it’s more prevalent than during an acknowledgement month, whether that is Pride Month, or Black History Month in the States, when brands do rainbow washing, which is the idea that we’ll just turn our logo rainbow and we’ll make a $10,000 donation to a queer organisation, it is pandering. And there is nothing authentic about it. Because if you don’t support that community the other 11 months of the year, there is nothing genuine about what you are doing in June.
