Bet with Pride……

[Womanofcustard]

with William Hill.
Is there no low that Stonewall won’t stoop to for corporate sponsorship.
Gambling ffs.
Anyone else seen inappropriate Pride posters?

I've not seen much pride stuff at all. I think many companies are being very careful this year, the highstreet is certainly not a wash with rainbow. Father's day is heavily marketed.
I would imagine that's why Stonewall had to resort to gambling sponship with William Hill... What type of message does that send to children who are already extremely vulnerable? Gambling is acceptable?!

I'm glad to say that there's been absolutely sod all in Sainsbury's this year.

There's a definite something in the air about this bullshit now.

Zilch at school, local town hall had a progress flag up, but only for one day.

They're still rainbow-washing themselves. Nectar website, and the handsets for self-scanning.

Bloody hell, i take it back!

There are 2 branches of Sainsbury's that i use regularly and i haven't heard a peep out of either of them, and they definitely did it last year.

Tiny wee A4 poster in my local supermarket 'happy pride to all who celebrate'. That's it. Past years hve had flags, events, allsorts.

Last time I went to my local Tesco they'd up it a little bit. A big cardboard pride sign near the entrance and a single section of shelving with pride themed crap, including a small drag garden gnome.

There's a Pride merch section on an aisle end in my local Sainsburys. I haven't really browsed it for obvious reasons, but at a glance it seemed to be the kind of stuff you might buy for a themed party - disposable plates, cups, rainbow bunting and assorted other landfill shit.

I'll have a closer look when the whole lot ends up marked down by 50% in a week or so.

Nearest branch of Schuh has a window poster, my Waitrose is selling pride carrier bags but they're hidden behind a big notice about lower prices - I'm choosing to believe that's deliberate on someone's part.😁

Apart from that, hardly anything.

I've only had one email and I unsubscribed as a direct result.

I love in rural France so very little pride stuff out here thankfully. Business as usual.

I'm in Ireland & it's actually very muted over here too. Yes Schuh has a window sticker but it's very small. Super valu seem to be trying but nothing in Dunnes stores. Pride month was huge the past couple of years in Ireland.

Duolingo's gone rainbow and put up a long screed about pronouns that I won't read. So T not LGB.

We're not just imaging it, although this Guardian article also has the lie about the Stonewall riots and the black tw.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/13/lgbtq-influencers-pride-brands-boycotts-laws?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

In fairness, I haven't seen anything around the store, so just metaphorically rolled my eyes when I went for the handset. If you don't self-serve you wouldn't have seen anything.

The Guardian, actively disseminating misinformation:

Like cops, corporations are not always welcome at Pride, which honors the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an uprising against police violence led by Black trans women.

Sorry, don't know why that article attached itself. My comment was from

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/13/lgbtq-influencers-pride-brands-boycotts-laws?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Oh I'm going to link this. I posted last week about how toned down pride was in my town. Many posters came in to say similar. Good to know it wasn't out imaginations! Thanks for posting @IcakethereforeIam

Have just got back from a walk into town, deliberately looked for virtue signals Pride mentions. M&S, Body Shop etc - nothing. Not a sign, not a product, nada.

One single solitary mention, and it wasn't even Pride, it was Stonewall. On the window of Ann Summers. A circle stuck to the window, maybe 50cm diameter, at about knee-to-thigh level. If I hadn't been looking, I wouldn't have noticed the swirly-purple thing at all.

Oh, and Bravissimo. Although this tiny (15cm max) window sticker has been there for years. It says something like 'Supporting the LGBT+ Community All Year Round' (must be old - no Q, no 2S).

Isn't it refreshing @WhereYouLeftIt in my area all the promotional activity & marketing is for Fathers Day which is nice to see... Fathers Day used get lost in the sea of rainbows in previous years. Nice to see it back in it's main prominent position this year as June's main event.

'“I’m disappointed to see brands caving to bullies,” Montoya said. “When it comes to Pride, I need to know if a company is doing good in the world and actually showing up for our community. I’m very selective of who I work with, and I need to know that a company is doing good in the world, not just profiting off of us.”'

From the Guardian article.

I sense some people may have fallen for the schtick that large corporations are moral arbiters, or a form of capitalist priesthood.

'These businesses are only doing it for money!'

Duh ...

My local Tesco branch has all the pride flags festooned around the checkouts, they've really gone all out with it. You can have a blast playing queer theory bingo as you hunt out the non binary, asexual, aromantic flags while you queue with your parsnips and milk.

Profit before pride😁 @ArabeIIaScott

Yes, distinctly more half arsed, smaller displays in my local supermarkets than in previous years.

From the (US-centric) Guardian article:

"The people behind the boycotts are in the minority: research from the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Glaad shows that 75% of straight people feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ+ representation in media. That fact has not stopped Pride 2023 from turning into a marketing minefield. Experts have noted a quieter Pride on the corporate front, in no small part due to the Bud Light and Target case studies."

Glaad playing fast and loose here. People 'feeling comfortable seeing LGBTQ+ representation in the media' is nothing to do with corporate entities splashing a lot of money on rainbow-ing themselves up. It's two different things.

And frankly, I doubt companies are running scared of 'backlash'. We're in an economic crisis, companies will not be willing to put money behind a marketing campaign that doesn't show returns. Are customers really going to spend money on Pride tat they don't need? No! Do they think it provides reputational returns? Doubtful. So they pass and move on to the next marketing idea.

And as for Bud Light, although there was a hoo-ha over Mulvaney, I think that marketing exec insulting the customer base was what really affected the sales. Calling them 'fratty' - not a great idea. Businesses exist to turn a profit. That's it. That's all.