How to Prevent Pinkwashing during Pride Month in June 2024

Watching organisations proudly deck their stores and social media channels in rainbow hues during Pride Month evokes a sense of joy and well… Pride! This global level of celebration and acceptance has been a long-time dream of the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a good thing, right? It’s almost impossible to say that it’s not. And yet, beneath this vibrant rainbow lurks a pervasive issue: pinkwashing. As we celebrate Pride in the month of June, we want to challenge you to check your Pride campaign for pinkwashing and discover how we can all celebrate Pride better in 2024.

What is pinkwashing, and why should we care?

Pinkwashing is the practice of using superficial gestures of support for the LGBTQ+ community, usually for the marketing, financial or reputational benefits that come with the perception of allyship. It’s a virtue-signalling trend without really embodying the values of inclusivity and equality that Pride is all about.

Although pinkwashing happens all year round, it becomes more evident during Pride Month, as companies eagerly seize the opportunity to capitalize on the LGBTQ+ community's visibility and celebration. 

Photo by Mercedes Mehling on Unsplash

Don't just paint it in rainbows 🌈 

You know what’s better than a regular sandwich? A rainbow sandwich 🥪

The most common manifestation of pinkwashing is the branding of products and marketing materials with rainbow colours, symbolic of LGBTQ+ pride. It happens across all types of industries; from fashion and beauty to tech and finance, to food and beverages, and even oil and gas. Fast-moving consumer goods are particularly susceptible because corporations can easily paint their packaging, advertising, and merchandise with a rainbow. This is often in the hope that the LGBTQ+ community and their allies will purchase these products as a sign of support.

Tony’s Chocolonely 🍫

To mark Pride Celebrations in 2017 and 2018, Dutch chocolate maker Tony’s Chocolonely released a “Gay bar.” They wrapped their most popular flavour in the rainbow, gave it a queer name and called it a day. 

When asked on Twitter what they did for the LGBT community, they responded matter-of-factly, “We make slave-free chocolate”. Needless to say, the LGBTQ+ community was not having it. 

The brand recognized the need to take a step back from a visual-only claim to Pride and look further into how they could offer genuine support for the community.  Today, the rainbow wrapper is available year-round upon request and the brand communicates that it continues to work on its commitment to equality and supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

Shell ⛽

In the same year, four Shell retail stations in the Netherlands were covered in the rainbow colours. Rainbow-branded gas station by Shell in the Netherlands. Photo Credits- Simon Lenskens.

This time, people were addressing a different type of pinkwashing— the kind that tries to cover a multitude of oil-stained sins in the colours of the rainbow. 

Rainbow-branded gas station by Shell in the Netherlands. Photo Credits- Simon Lenskens.

It’s no surprise that the LGBTQ+ community is made up of socially-conscious people. So despite their long-standing support, both financially and policy-wise, the community refuses to be the bandwagon that organisations such as Shell latch on to, to soften their image and avert people’s attention from the harm they cause to the environment. 

Going beyond the rainbow 🌈🫱🏽‍🫲🏽 

More people are becoming aware of and calling out pinkwashing because it carries negative consequences for the LGBTQ+ community. It trivialises their struggles and reduces their identity to a symbol that can be exploited for social and financial gain and turns the history and purpose of Pride into a trend. 

Absolut Vodka 🍸

Despite its iconic Pride-coloured bottle of vodka, which symbolises the brand's belief in a colourful, diverse, and equal world, the brand goes beyond the visual joyride of a rainbow-coloured product.

In 2022, Absolut partnered with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) for the 'Out & Open’ campaign. This initiative honours LGBTQ bars and restaurants, vital spaces that have historically served as safe havens and activism hubs. Unfortunately, recent studies show a 14% yearly decline in LGBTQ bar listings. The campaign is meant to support LGBTQ+ people preserve these queer-friendly spaces, by offering business education and succession planning to LGBTQ bar and restaurant owners.

Pride Amsterdam 🏳️‍🌈

As a widely successful LGBTQ+ brand, Pride Amsterdam is one of our favourite examples of strong brands for change to learn from. It's a great example to learn from for brands seeking to navigate and avoid pinkwashing during Pride Month.

Photo of Delta Air Lnes boat during the Amsterdam Pride Canal Parade. Photo credits Delta News Hub

The brand has many businesses and corporations looking to sponsor the brand’s events and activities during Pride month and hopefully, also land a spot in the coveted canal parade. 

To prevent pinkwashing and tokenised sponsorship, they formed the Pride Business Club. The club mandates year-round membership for companies participating in the Canal Parade, ensuring sustained involvement and support that goes beyond riding a boat covered in logos down the canals of Amsterdam during pride celebrations. 

Membership to the club also requires that businesses demonstrate authentic LGBTQIA+ networks and inclusive policies, financial backing and engagement throughout the year. In return, these organizations get exclusive access to Pride events organized by the brand and opportunities for collaborative initiatives that support the community and its causes. 

Pride Amsterdam’s strategy not only prioritises inclusivity and financial sustainability in corporate partnerships but also cultivates meaningful connections within the LGBTQIA+ community. By reinforcing genuine support and proactive engagement, this approach ensures that corporate participation in Pride is aligned with enduring values and contributes positively to broader societal inclusivity efforts.

How can you check your brand for Pinkwashing?

As awareness and demands for meaningful corporate allyship grow, companies engaging in pinkwashing risk backlash from both the LGBTQ+ community and the general public, leading to reputational damage and loss of trust. Consumers increasingly expect authenticity and accountability from the brands they support, making pinkwashing a no-no. Whether intentional or unintentional, the harmful outcome of pinkwashing is the same.

To avoid falling into the trap of pinkwashing, it's essential to scrutinise your brand's actions during Pride Month and beyond. While the celebration and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people is the goal of Pride, representation by brands outside the community significantly advances the push for equality. The purpose of speaking up against pinkwashing is not to deter brands from celebrating Pride but to encourage them to do it well and genuinely support the community, preventing bad actors from benefiting financially or socially from the movement.

How can you ensure that your brand strategy for Pride 2024 does not reduce the history and purpose of the month, the advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms, to a fleeting trend or checkbox to be ticked off?

Start at the core. What are your brand values?

Your brand's core values should resonate throughout all your messaging, communication, and campaigns. Participating in social or political conversations, such as Pride, is no different. If diversity and inclusion aren't part of your everyday ethos, displaying a rainbow on your logo in June won't convince anyone.

For long-established brands, this might not have been a consideration 20 years ago, but the second-best time to address it is now. By revisiting your brand values, you can discover how to support Pride while remaining true to your identity and principles.

Answering tough questions about your brand values is a great starting point. For fair brands, what do Pride and support for the LGBTQ+ community mean for your recruitment and HR policies, or your team culture? 

Align yourself with the purpose of Pride

Unless you manage an expressly LGBTQ+ brand, Pride is not about you or your business. Viewing it otherwise often lands brands and custodians in hot soup. Pride Month is not an opportunity to grow brand awareness or increase revenue.

Although it's fun to paint our towns and shelves with the rainbow, your brand's participation in Pride should extend beyond visual identity. If you choose to brand products or merchandise with Pride colours, consider collaborating with LGBTQ+ organisations, engaging in conversations about the purpose of Pride, or donating a portion of the profits from Pride-branded products to an appropriate LGBTQ+ cause. 

Be proud of pride

The truth is, that more individuals and brands are now openly opposing Pride, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This resistance highlights the importance of genuine support towards the LGBTQ+ community and standing by your beliefs, even in the face of criticism and cancel culture.

Taking part in Pride and supporting the LGBTQ+ community means transparently communicating your stance and not backing down from bullies. Clearly articulate why these values matter to your brand and how they align with your core principles. Pride’s greatest supporters are not afraid of a little heat and open honest conversations are what will allow us to get more people on board.

nothing about us without us!

The best resource for your Pride campaign and messaging is… LGBTQ+ people. There’s no pride without LGBTQ+ people, and so no celebrations or representation would be authentic without their inclusion. 

Seeking out genuine feedback from your LGBTQ+ employees and customers might be just what you need to nail your pride month celebrations. It can help you understand how your brand is perceived and where improvements can be made. The best way to celebrate Pride is to practice what you preach. Inclusivity is the name of the game, so bring LGBTQ+ people to the table to have conversations about what pride means to them and understand what authentic representation looks like. 

Go beyond Pride Month

Support for the LGBTQ+ community should extend throughout the year, not just be limited to the month of June. Focusing support on a single month can convey an insincere message about your brand’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Brands such as Converse demonstrate effective support by consistently acknowledging and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community year-round.

Learn from the people doing it right

We often find that it’s easy to recall all the people who tried something and failed. But that’s not the best way to learn how to navigate challenging situations for ourselves. Instead, look at all the people who got it right and found success. 

Pride Amsterdam is an example we love, so we developed a full case study on the brand. If you're interested in understanding how Pride Amsterdam prevents its corporate partners from using the event for pinkwashing, examine their comprehensive approach across the entire brand, get your hands on the case study. 

From the renowned Canal Pride event to their brand ambassadors and the Pride Business Club, Pride Amsterdam integrates their brand purpose seamlessly into all experiences, thus safeguarding against superficial or exploitative corporate involvement.

Pride Amsterdam Brand Case Study

€15.00