Going after the pot of gold: How to detect Rainbow-Washing vs. genuine commitment
Activism plays an important role in our current times. Whether people voice their opinions on climate change, war or social injustices—because these matters are very important to the public, companies are starting to advocate for political matters as well. One social movement in particular is Pride Month, celebrated in June of every year. Companies come up with special gestures to show their solidarity with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/Transgender, Queer, Intersexual and Asexual+ community (LGBTQIA+). They express this, for example, with using “#Pride”, or through eye-catching and colorful temporary packaging redesigns. Yet, many consumers have asked themselves the question: which companies are using activism as an opportunistic marketing ploy to increase profits and cash in on the pot of gold, and which companies are truly and sincerely behind the movement?
But let's have a look back in time—the origin of Pride Month
Christopher Street Day (CSD) and Pride Month began in America, in June 1969, a time when gay and transsexual people were overtly oppressed and often categorized as being mentally ill. Still, there was a defiant and growing community, and one of their places of refuge was a bar on Christopher Street in New York. Regular police raids on the bar, and the accompanying police violence, were part of everyday life until the gay community had had enough. On June 28th, 1969, the first big uprising (the Stonewall riots) against the prevailing police violence took place. This first revolt was the prelude to all future protests against discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community—and ultimately the birth of Pride as we know it.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
Regrettably, for the LGBTQIA+ community, these painful memories, and pivotal origin story, are being pushed into obscurity, while a surface-level representation of the rainbow flag is becoming a big seller. The slow capitalization of the rainbow flag and the LGBTQIA+ movement is ultimately due to new, contemporary customer behavior. Recent studies confirm that customers are more likely to buy from companies who embody their personal values, morals, and who are driven by purpose. Marketing departments have been aware of this for a long time. Of course, this inevitably attracts black sheep who seek to profit from important causes and movements. The LGBTQIA+ communities suffer most from fake activism, which trivializes the movement, and which promotes commercial superficiality. But unfortunately, even companies that actually truly support the LGBTQIA+ movement are also losing credibility—because consumers are throwing everyone in the same boat.
So what exactly is rainbow-washing, and how do we recognize it?
Rainbow-washing describes the exploitation of rainbow colors as part of a strategic marketing campaign. In most cases, companies pursue the goal of merely gaining new customers and improving their own bottom line. Often, those values, which are portrayed to the outside world, are not truly implemented and lived within the company—the LGBTQIA+ movement might not actually be supported internally. Most typically, rainbow-washing, also known as pink-washing, takes place during Pride Month. These profit-seeking campaigns are a slap in the face to people who really care about LGBTQIA+ issues. For companies, it's an embarrassing faux pas at best, and the source of reputational damage at worst.
But how to detect who is rainbow-washing and who isn’t? First and foremost, it usually starts with looking at who is suddenly flashing a showy, multicolored logo in June without having done anything the rest of the year to support the movement. In general, products that are simply baptized in rainbow colors, to then be sold more expensively, are a good indicator of rainbow-washing taking place. In this digital age of information, it has become easier to look behind the facade. A quick Google search might reveal all we need to know about a company and their actual motives. Many companies are guilty of rainbow-washing, some of these include, AT&T and Xfinity, for example. In this article from 2021, there are examples of25 other big corporations, who have been caught violet-to-red-handed, guilty of rainbow-washing.
Graphic source: HSLU Hochschule Luzern, logos from corporate websites
Are companies obliged to participate in Pride Month?
No one forces companies to do something for Pride Month—nor are they forced to participate in celebrating the LGBTQIA+ movement in June. Serious signs of support do not stem from a team getting together to push out some strategic marketing campaign, but are rather based on the inner conviction that something has to change, followed by meaningful actions. Only then, should the corresponding communication follow. If the meeting starts with “Okay, Team… what’s our brand’s strategy for Pride Month?” it’s probably already going in the wrong direction. This is not only alienating consumers (they’re not naive), but also the LGBTQIA+ employees, who can detect the discrepancy between what is said (pretense), and what is lived on a daily basis (reality). All that money and time spent on insincere campaigns would be better invested in real action.
How can companies actually engage in Pride activism?
Companies that consistently support LGBTQIA+ issues based on their values and culture—365 days a year, should of course talk about it. In doing so, they express solidarity with the community, they could be proud of their genuine support, and a positive reaction to the brand in that regard would be an added plus—not the main goal. For example, our client Skullcandy launched "Inequality Crusher" headphones, where proceeds from the limited “All Love” edition of the Inequality Crusher Evo are donated to LGBTQIA+ programs. Skullcandy isn't just championing this cause in June, but all year around.
On a side note: Laika and social activism
As a fairly small team and youngish agency, we don't particularly excel in terms of activism yet—apart from recently working full-heartedly on the Testament of Bucha project. This year, we invested nearly 10% of our time into pro bono work, while also donating to causes that are near and dear to us.
Focus, sincerity, and restraint guide us. We believe in living our values. Having integrity, is one of our core values. We focus our support on causes, where we can really add value and where there’s a personal connection, such as regular donations to animal shelters. During COVID we were proud to support small and medium-sized businesses through the crisis. We help with what we know and do best: PR strategy, media relations, and communications—raising awareness and visibility.
Be the rainbow
Exploiting a movement for profit is more than questionable and does not reflect positively on any company. In this digital age of information, it's becoming easier than ever to discern performative activism from genuine commitment. There are so many causes out there that truly need our support—such as the LGBTQIA+ movement, and we would be doing a service to our global community to genuinely support these causes through real actions, instead of wasting resources on empty campaigns. There are so many opportunities, as Maya Angelou put it, to “try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Instead of focusing on only going after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s more worthwhile, consequential and sustainable to just be the rainbow.