“Sometimes it feels like a box-ticking PR exercise to make the company look good and win over LGBTQ+ consumers. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell described the rainbow capitalism row as damaging to LGBTQ+ communities. The way companies conceive Pride campaigns is such a failure of the imagination.” “They’ve been doing the same thing for decades. Understanding that, why have corporations not really changed their strategy at all when it comes to Pride?” he said. “All companies are doing it so much every June that now brands are called out when they don’t do something for Pride.
Writer and producer Fran Tirado, who has worked on LGBTQ+ strategy at Netflix, Out and Vice, says that while advocating for queer and trans communities has become a corporate norm, it’s often just lip service. Another wrote: “Don’t buy any Pride stuff from a big box store. It’s straight fashion rainbows on it, I’ll pass,” wrote one user, mocking rainbow-designed T-shirts featuring slogans “Come to the gay side, we have rainbows” and “I can’t even think straight” from Walmart. “All of the major corporations only care about us two months a year. Peter Tatchell says Pride merchandise should be made by LGBTQ+ creatives.
