Pink digestives and LGBTQ+++

[WhatterySquash]

I was just in Sainsbury's and there was a staff member with one of those little stalls where they give you samples to try. It was limited-edition digestives with pink raspberry icing. But as it was in the chilled / deli aisle, at first glance I thought it was some kind of ham (don't like ham), until I looked again and realised it was a digestive and stopped to have one.

So I was chatting about this to the guy "I almost gave them a miss, thought it was ham" etc and he said oh that's nothing, I've been getting grief because people think they are LGBTQ/queer/pride digestives. Apparently customers have been telling him they're sick of everything being "prided" and digestives don't need to be LGBT.

In fact they have nothing to do with pride, it's some kind of anniversary celebration and totally unrelated. But it seemed like such an indication that the general public are so sick of LGBTQ being bigged up and forced onto everything all the time. I don't think most people are homophobic and they probably have no issue with LGBT rights existing. But I think most people have a natural sense of fairness and don't get why this one thing is constantly being pushed above all else.

But there must be people who are doing the pushing, in every organisation and institution that does do things like this (aside from the fact that they actually weren't in this case) - why don't these people realise it's actually counterproductive and is really starting to piss people off? Even if you are the most enthusiastic TRA in the world, turning LGBT (or just T in some cases) rights into something that is constantly in everyone's face and is treated preferentially compared to other groups, isn't helping your cause.

Just wondering how long it will take for them to grasp this – or if maybe they don't care.

How are gay digestives treating LGBT rights preferentially?

And while we're at it what rights do LGBT people have that no one else does due to their preferential treatment?

That's interesting, since I think Sainburys has been particularly OTT with the Pride Month signage over the past few years. It's always struck me as extremely odd that someone's sexuality would be remotely relevant to where they chose to buy their groceries.

I even passed a new housing development the other day near where I live (rural Sussex) which had Pride colours and Pride-inclusive language on the advertising boards outside. I often wonder how members of the LGBTQ+ community feel about their identities being used in such a blatantly commercial way.

You needn't wonder, KateBAnd3, it has often been expressed here that
[a] the term 'LGBT+ community' is a misnomer, as the T for Trans people do not share the same identity or issues as lesbian and gay people, who are same-sex attracted. There is a 'LGB✂T' campaign.
and
[b] yes commercialised 'Rainbow-washing' is despised. Where were all the rainbow flags when lesbians and gays were fighting for equality? and do companies do all the rainbow or Progress flag waving in countries where there is still the death sentence for being gay, or where lesbians are subjected to 'corrective rape' and murder?

Yep, I'm very aware of a), was just writing that for brevity and to avoid going down any rabbit holes.... either way it's got absolutely nothing to do with where people choose to do their shopping.

I think the whole cashing-in-on-pride thing is way overdue to be revisited - pride month, parades, articles, themes for film festivals etc - yep, ok with all of that. Major retailers cashing in - give me a fucking break.

Well if the digestives were gay, obviously they wouldn't be doing anything to help anyone, When this happens it's a load of shallow marketing and box-ticking meaninglessness, which is partly my point.

But the "preferential" part is that this particular issue is the one that gets a whole month of flag waving and gets stuck on NHS lanyards and gets made into special book displays in libraries and gets plastered all over products all the time, when comparable issues/rights for other protected groups don't. Disability rights, women's rights, people who grew up in care, religious minorities, people who suffer age discrimination, and so on and so on. Of course there are special days and campaigns for these but they pale in comparison to the LGBTQ juggernaut, even situations where it's almost totally irrelevant, like supermarket shopping.

I think Transactivists are seeking rights that other people don't have, like rights to another protected group's safe spaces, sports and language, and the right to compel other people to treat a person as the opposite sex from what they are or to use incorrect pronouns for their sex. No other group sees forcing other people to agree you are something you are not, or appropriating another group's rights, as a central aim. But that's another topic really and I wasn't focusing especially on the trans in this case.

derail:

The Sainsbury’s limited edition biscuits are amazing. The banoffee custard creams were lush.
Now I’m going to have to try the gay digestives.

It’s pretty funny that people thought these were ‘gay digestives’ 😁 I actually vaguely thought they were ‘breast cancer digestives’ but was unsure if it was a weird time of year for that.

were they tasty ?

Yes. Bought a pack!

To be fair, on reflection breast cancer is a thing that dos have a lot of campaigns and pinkification of products, and people don't seem to object to that - though I don't think it is quite as extreme. And it's something where raising awareness has a very immediate, positive effect and is about saving people from a dangerous disease, which I think people find it easier to see the point of.

TBF I’d turn lesbian for those digestives, they’re very nice.

I thought that they were about breast cancer too!

Although I had walked past a very pink breast cancer awareness stand on the way into Sainsbury’s, so maybe that was nearer the front of my mind when I wandered past the pink digestives?

I’ve always wanted to use the biscuit emoji

Not just ANY biscuit emoji, a JAMMY DODGER emoji - a biscuit I only discovered recently, and I wonder where it has been all my life ..💖

Supermarkets in particular, and probably FMCG companies generally are always looking for ways to get you to spend more than you would do on just a weekly shop- Christmas, Easter and Halloween are obvious ones but they need something all year round-Pride fills a nice niche in June- ooo best get a Pride sandwich or a rainbow cake. Ooo and it's Wimbledon, best get some strawberries and cream even though I don't like Tennis.
The ones around me definitely put out big displays for Eid too, and I'm sure they'd happily sell you a plastic gnome in a wheelchair if disabled people wanted them too.
I don't think it's some gay conspiracy, it's a much bigger but more mundane conspiracy to get us to buy things we don't need.

You are kidding, @MarieDeGournay, right?!? How can you only just have discovered jammy dodgers?!?

I've only seen these advertised as a limited edition flavour - nothing to do with Pride ?

Jammy dodgers are the best derails thread

Well a digestive was the first biscuit thrown at Stonewall….

I'm pretty pissed off by having to click past a trans-style LGBT Pride flag in order to get to the page where I can scan my tesco clubcard in order to get a self-scanning unit. It means that I clog up the space where other people are waiting to scan their own phones.

Does tesco not realise that this flag is no longer about diversity and has become a symbol of orthodoxy?

Is actually have no problem with LGBT biscuits. It’s pretty harmless all things considered.

Gay biscuits. How marvellous. I saw them in Sainsbury’s yesterday, but didn’t buy them. I’m gong to go back and get some on Sunday and serve them to my gay friends.

At least people aren’t thinking they’re white supremacist biscuits.

Yes, to be clear they are not gay biscuits at all. The thing that struck me was the poor pink biscuit guy being berated for his queer biscuits by people who are sick of having LGBT stuff stuck on everything,

The pink digestives themselves actually were not part of any pride or LGBT campaign (and even if they were I'd still eat them) - the point is the overkill with it all is getting on people's nerves.

It is interesting, my work (large well known company) did a “pride cake sale” and “pride crossword” competition (with words from the progress flag!). I wasn’t there on the day but would have probably bought a cake because a rainbow smartie cookie is harmless enough, but absolutely would not have been finding words such as “polyamory” in a crossword!
I did think it was interesting though that in a site of approx 400 employees only about 20 people entered the crossword competition. Also the only gay person in my team had not completed the crossword and was not one of the volunteers selling cakes. I don’t feel I know him quite well enough to ask if he’s CG!