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The inclusiveness that the pride colors stand for is now marketing currency for brands who simply want to check off a box. While this is arguably a good trend, in terms of wider representation for the community, there are several potholes along the way. Now cut to 2019, and everyone’s eager to slap a rainbow on their product, logo, or campaign. Not only was it the first popular ad featuring a gay couple, but it also continued to air even after a bomb threat at one of their stores. But it’s still relevant to every marketer, because the company made a conscious choice to stick with their brand philosophy, even in a hostile situation. The IKEA ad we mentioned earlier is a widely quoted one. The rainbow flag packs a long history of identity politics and struggle-so it raises the question if it’s okay for brands to use these colors to make money, to treat this community as a target audience, and to wrap their brand identity around the cause once a year. Considering how active the LGBTQ community is on social media, conscious branding can have measurable benefits for businesses-an opportunity to tap into this audience, and improve social media engagement and reach. However well-meaning this marketing might be, it’s geared toward putting the brand in a good light, and vanity points are easy to score, especially on social media. The ethics of branding using the #Pride hashtagĪlthough a good chunk of these businesses strive to honour the campaign by continuing to donate to LGBTQ aid and support organizations, it’s not clear if they truly understand the significance of #Pride month, or if this has just become a yearly marketing campaign that brands are eager to attach their names to. And it’s not just Macy’s-McDonald’s, US Bank, and hundreds of businesses across the board have been part of the Pride movement on social media in the last few years. Here’s Macy‘s Pride campaign content featured on their Instagram Stories. …to rainbow-themed makeup… Source: /Foodfitorfat Source: HashtagifyĪ simple search for #Pride2019 on Instagram will throw up everything from rainbow-themed art, accessories, and clothes… Source: Morphe brushes official Instagram Look at how the usage of the hashtag #Pride2019 spiked in the last 2 months (April-June 2019). Today, the word “pride” is on many a company’s drawing boards, and throughout June, brands on the internet are letting the world know what they’re doing to further the cause.įrom hitching the hashtag to their brand-wagon, to adding a dab of rainbow to their logos, there’s a lot of brands trying to be ‘woke’ and making their presence felt on social media.
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But the ad wasn’t pulled down, and IKEA went on to become one of the pioneers of inclusive marketing campaigns.
MCDONALDS GAY PRIDE LOGO SERIES
However, it was quickly followed by a series of public-backlashes, op-ed columns, and even a bomb threat. But that year, IKEA dropped a campaign that would change things forever-it was a series of television ads of which one of them featured a gay couple shopping for furniture for their house.
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It was also a time when advertisements expressing political views rarely touched on LGBTQ issues. It was 1993, long before hashtag campaigns and internet brand wars.