To wonder how Pride became such a commercial thing?

[AngeloMysterioso]

Disclaimer- this is in absolutely no way a homophobic thread.

I’ve always been aware of Pride- I don’t know when it became a whole month but I have gone on parades with LGBetc friends and family, and any excuse to get colourful is fine by me!

But this year I’ve noticed there seems to be a massive commercial side to it. Converse have brought out a big range of Pride trainers, Primark had a whole section dedicated to it, the Starbucks near me was offering a Pride Frappuccino, even Ralph Lauren has jumped on the rainbow bandwagon. I don’t know whether or not the proceeds of all these things are going to relevant charities or anything (in the case of Primark I certainly doubt it!). Almost every shop I’ve gone in in the last few weeks has had some sort of rainbow something going on.

I think it’s fantastic that it’s getting so much support but the cynical side of me is just curious as to how’s it’s happened- even last year I don’t remember it being this much of a “thing”- is it just corporate virtue signalling?

I agree with you. There's definitely some corporate virtue signalling going on. I noticed this weekend that both IBM and Capgemini have incorporated rainbow colours into their logos. I used to work for one of these companies so I'm very aware that they still have issues with basic sexism in the workplace let alone being LGBT friendly. Seems very disingenuous to me.

I've noticed this trend too. I hope the money goes to good causes ,but I imagine a lot of it won't. I guess they have seen an untapped market and exploiting it!

Because capitalism is a vampire.

It's just companies looking to cash in on it. I don't think it's bad though, increasing awareness of pride is a good thing.

I guess because companies are always looking for ways to build their 'social currency'. It's a big part of 'brand building'.

How did it happen so quickly though? Pride has been around as long as I can remember but it’s just this year that it seems to have become such a massive deal. My DH’s company has even issued rainbow lanyards for their work passes!

Yup Boots and M&S logos have gone rainbow.

I'm queer and find it quite annoying really.

If it's generating revenue to donate to gay charities then fine but just slapping a rainbow on stuff is quite annoying. Just feels like a corporate gimick

It definitely is bad - companies who cash in on pride benefit from increased social capital from people who are pleased to see them ‘supporting’ the LGBT community, but often these companies aren’t actually doing anything to actively promote LGBT rights and welfare and in many cases are actively taking harmful action (for example, donating to political parties which have a poor record on LGBT rights because they are pro-business).

Commercialising pride is an easy way for companies to look like they’re doing good, and to financially benefit from that, while actually being neutral or even actively harmful in the real world.

It’s especially bad because the people who tend to engage with the commercial aspect of pride are, demographically, most likely to be white, able-bodied and financially secure, whereas the people most likely to suffer as a result of companies not actively taking steps to support the LGBT community are more likely to be non-white, poor and disabled. So there is a big element of more privileged members of the LGBT community benefitting at the expense of those whom pride should be prioritising most.

I also don’t think it is that new of a phenomenon - there have been complaints about the commercialisation of pride for at least a decade that I can remember.

Capitalism takes no prisoners I’m afraid, Pride is the latest victim.

money from these products goes to LGBT charities and Pride organisers so I have no objection to it. And many of the companies do it to show they are LGBT ‘friendly’ to help with recruitment. I’ve worked in several companies where staff were openly homophobic but nothing was done about it. These days companies do address it ( even if it’s only not to get sued).
If you don’t like the products - don’t buy them. I live in a city with a massive Pride parade and people complain about the ‘corporate’ sponsors but without them there would be no parade.

There was pride long before there were corporate sponsors!

My Barclays app icon is suddenly stripey and so is the entireity of my local branch. Pretty sure the money spent on wrapping the windows could've gone to an LGB charity or something instead 🤷

And given that two gay women were assaulted in London recently, we clearly still need Pride. My last homophobic verbal abuse was a couple of weeks ago because my wife and I were holding hands. We were with our children which apparently some random passerby objected to.

There was Pride before corporate sponsors but Brighton Pride for example got so big the police said it needed to be ticketed and managed properly for safety reasons - and the cost was over £1million to do that.

Money from these products goes to LGBT charities and Pride organisers so I have no objection to it.

Does it though? I mean from some companies maybe, but I didn’t think Primark and Starbucks had a great reputation regarding corporate social responsibility...

If there is anyway to make money from anything someone will do it.
With Prude becoming si big companies are seeing it as a brilliant marketing opportunity to raise their brand awareness. Even if they donate to ' the cayse' they are still doing it out of self interest and to raise their profile

Yes they do.

In 2007, we founded the Starbuck Pride Alliance to support and advocate for our LGBT partners. Today, our community is made up of thousands of partners around the world. Check out their Facebook page here.

We are actively involved in Pride festivals across the region. Learn more here.

Many big companies have been actively supporting LGBT staff for years, you straights didnt notice until someone added some stripes to an app here and there for Pride month.

-Primark -
The retailer has partnered with ILGA World, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, to create the “Feeling Proud” collection. mark will donate £150,000 to the organisation in support of their work towards LGBT+ rights.

And even if they didn’t donate money, I ‘d like to be able to buy a T-shirt with a rainbow on it anyway!

The ‘Pink Pound’. Big business realised that LBGetc people have significantly more disposable income than the general population, partly due to them being much less likely to have children.

Primark is a really good example - selling pride-themed t-shirts made in Turkey, a country with a terrible record on LGBT rights. It’s a perfect example of companies (and more privileged members of the LGBT community) benefiting at the expense of those most in need of the kind of radical protest and change that pride should be about.

On a similar note I was wondering if Pride had always been so 'kink' themed? I've seen lots of photos of people dressed up in leather dog masks, one guy dressed in a suit covered in dildos's etc. I know lots of people take their kids to pride marches etc, has it always been like this?

It has been building for years the commercial side.
Decades ago no company would ever have featured Pride because so much of the population was anti lesbian and gay. Now it has become a very cheap way to signal how right on and woke they are. It makes commercial sense, that is all.