It wasn’t too long ago that if you wanted to buy Pride-themed merchandise, you had to seek out specialty shops that also sell fetish gear, sex toys, and porn on DVD. In 2019, the opposite is true; walk down most any street in New York City, where the largest turnout in Pride history is expected for this weekend’s 50th anniversary of Stonewall and World Pride, and try to avoid passing under the sweeping arches of rainbows everywhere, from banks to bodegas to straight bars.
Corporate America’s Pride mania has reached absurd new heights (healthy gums, anyone?), and been met in turn with no shortage of ambivalence and skepticism from the queer community. But even as we roll our eyes at Pride advertising campaigns everywhere, from cable and credit card companies to drug and clothing stores, many of us may pause to wonder if they have that rainbow-accented outfit in our size, or wonder how such ubiquitous visibility might have affected our own experience growing up and coming out.
Critiques from within the LGBTQ+ community of the commercialization of Pride are various, valid, and not exactly new. But as the corporatization of Pride reaches a fever pitch (and brands prepare to move on to new marketing strategies next month), the real danger lies in any assumption that commercial visibility equals victory in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, and in losing sight of who’s been excluded from that equation all along.
“What we're seeing in terms of corporatization and consumer influence is to a large degree a completely logical outcome of a gay rights movement that was predicated on a series of reforms — legal, judicial, and cultural — all [geared toward] acceptance,” says Michael Bronski, Professor of the Practice in Media and Activism in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. “Full citizenship in America has always been predicated on the ability to consume. So why would it be different for LGBTQ people?”
Recognition as a consumer base is a hallmark of minority progress in America. (Bronski cites the example of “lace curtain Irish” immigrants, who breached barriers to acceptance through buying power). The fact that the queer community and its allies have attained enough influence to warrant a flood of national campaigns is certainly a major milestone. Anti-LGBTQ+ opponents have been drowned out, and more significantly, their loss of business deemed worth it by companies touting rainbow promotions. Some brands have even shut down naysayers with value judgements that themselves have gone viral, as Axe did earlier this month.
Arguments against Pride marketing fall in line with our late capitalist expectation that brands reflect our values in “real” ways without seeming to shamelessly co-opt them. These include accusations of opportunism (why only express support for the community in June?), hypocrisy (how do these companies actually treat queer employees? Do they donate against our interests?), disingenuity (who’s to say which expressions of allyship are authentic and which are blatant cash grabs?) and of course, greed (how much, if any, of their profit goes to support the cause?). Parsing each brand’s intentions can be tricky but necessary work to hold each one accountable for these critiques. Popular Information recently released a report identifying no fewer than nine corporations who have expressed marketing support for the queer community after donating $1 million or more to anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in the last election cycle, including companies like AT&T, Home Depot, Pfizer, and more.
Broader arguments also verge on the philosophical. Many consider the co-opting of a political uprising for corporate gain antithetical to the spirit of resistance. That’s one of the motivating impulses behind this year’s Queer Liberation March, an alternative Pride event in New York City set to take place the morning of New York’s main Pride procession. Organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition, the event aims to renew focus on the political roots of Pride. “It became apparent to us that marginalized groups needed to be elevated,” says Terry Roethlein, a media volunteer for the Reclaim Pride Coalition. The Queer Liberation March will be free of the police presence and corporate floats that tend to dominate the city’s main march.
Roethlein chalks up the Pride presence of many major brands as an “advertising gimmick.” “They might be doing positive things, but they're using that chunk of time, street presence, and screen presence to advertise their brand,” he says. And he believes the celebrations fail to be fully inclusive on a number of levels as a result. “What kind of low income LGBT kid who’s having problems at home, or is maybe homeless, can [afford to] go see Grace Jones?” he asks, referring to New York City’s Pride Island event, where tickets start at $125.
“The LGBT movement has essentially been a white middle class movement for reform,” notes Bronski, who’s been working as a gay rights activist since 1969. Once it’s been co-opted as a commercial venture, Pride only extends to those who can consume that commerce, leaving the most vulnerable queer populations — those in need of real advocacy, protections, and action — out of the picture entirely. And while many corporate Pride campaigns make efforts to donate proceeds to LGBTQ+ organizations, the fact remains that commerce begets commerce, widening the gap between who can and can’t “consume” Pride in the first place, and distracting from the fact that donations are just one part of the equation of progress.
While there’s plenty to celebrate a half century into the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, there’s a lot of hard work yet to be done. That’s especially true for the most vulnerable among us, including trans folks (who face an ongoing epidemic of anti-trans violence and murder), people of color, and those without homes or means. “The danger is if you ever say, ‘50 years, World Pride, Stonewall 50: We've done it, the battle’s over.’ Obviously that’s not the case,” Bronski says. But conflicts within any social movement, like the very formation of a Reclaim Pride Coalition or the myriad disagreements over the effects of corporate influence, are what propel progress. “Movements move ahead because of discussion, and even conflicts within them,” Bronski says. “Movement happens because of tension.” So whatever your stance — proud, powerful, angry, and/or ready to party — take it to the streets and vow to keep pushing forward. We’ll meet you there.
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