June is the month of Pride, a period in which most of the events are concentrated in support of inclusion and the LGBTQIA+community. For really inclusive companies it is an opportunity to show their policies. Others, on the other hand, implement simple practices of Rainbow Washing.
Because June is the month of Pride
It all began in June 1969 in New York, and to be precise at the bar Stonewall Inn In Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village district. The Stonewall Inn was a historic meeting place for the LGBTQIA+community. On June 27, 1969, the police made an irruption with arrests, which made the urban guerrillas broke out on the streets of the village.
In reality, the raid was only the drop that brought the vase overflow, since the managers and frequers of the bar had long been victims of police provocations.
For 6 days policemen and people LGBTQIA+ battle in those who went down in history as The Motes of Stonewall. Since then that trait of Christopher Street has become a symbol of the struggle for freedom, recognition and inclusion. And June has become the Pride Month.
Rainbow Washing
There are many companies that use Pride Month to devise marketing campaigns for the benefit of the LGBTQIA+community. But, it is appropriate to say it, also for the benefit of straight customers and society in general because being really and sincerely inclusive can only be considered a step forward towards civilization and justice.
June therefore becomes a flourishing of rainbow logos and commercials with homo -affective families. However, the risk is that some companies do with LGBTQIA rights+ what they are used to do with the environment (Greenwashing), that is, to exploit a trend for profit purposes only.
Finding out which companies are Rainbow Washing is extremely simple: if the LGBTQIA+ community is supported exclusively in June and then is ignored in the remaining 11 months of the year, we could find ourselves in the presence of a clue to Rainbow Washing.
Another clue, is the lack of corporate practices aimed at a real inclusion, both within the organization and as regards dialogue with representatives of the LGBTQIA+community.
Go Wake, Go Broke
In the United States, and beyond, one is underway battle ideological.
From progressive environments it is invited to embrace Woke policies, regaining a term that has become a derogatory in recent years (cry of Stay Woke, stay awake) while the cantilena is intoned by conservative environments Go Wake, Go Brokethat is to say It embraces the Wake culture and go bankrupt.
In general, companies that have a target composed of male or from conservative They learned about their skin that the inclusion not explained and proposed one step at a time, but on the contrary “imposed” from above as if it were inevitable leads only to commercial disasters.
Bud Light
An emblematic case is that of beer Bud Lightwhich after the involvement in the advertisement of the influencer Dylan Mulvaney, famous for showing its gender transition on YouTube, saw sales collapse in 2023 with losses above the billion dollars.
In addition to not meeting the favor of the public, the Bud Light was the subject of one boycott campaign by conservatives.
Target
In May 2023, Target He launched a collection for Pride Month, including articles for children and swimwear designed for transgender people. The initiative He unleashed the reaction of conservative groups, with protests, threats to employees and vandalism in some shops.
Under the guidance of CEO Brian Cornell, Target has focused everything on the gods (Diversity, equity and inclusion), in a particularly evident way in the celebrations of Pride, with a company marketing and sales initiative aimed at the LGBTQIA+community.
Target was forced to remove some products from the shelves. In the According to the quarter of 2023, he recorded a drop in sales of -5.4%, marking the first flexion in 6 years. Online sales decreased by -10.5% and shares took -15%.
Disney
In 2022, Disney was criticized for its initial lack of public opposition to the law Don’t Say Gay of Florida, which limits the teaching of gender identity in schools. After internal protests, the company took a position against the law.
Parallel, the film LightyearSpin-off Disney Pixar of the successful saga of Toy Storyincluded a scene of a kiss between two women, initially removed and subsequently reinstated after the protests of the employees.
Lightyear It was one of the worst disasters in the box office, collecting just under 220 million dollars, against a production cost of approximately 200 million.
