Corporatization of Pride
It’s the 1st of June, you’re doing your weekly shop at your local Tesco – but something’s changed. The small display that initially held stationery is now filled with rainbow coloured party items in favour of Pride Month! It’s evident that during the month of June all your favourite stores and brands come out with catchy slogans and rainbow coloured merchandise in support of Pride Month – and that’s great! But what exactly are these big brands supporting? More importantly, what happens to the money we spend in these stores?
Lately, the general support for LGBTQ rights has grown significantly compared to previous years, and with this comes more corporate incentive for companies to align themselves with this growing sentiment. The commercialization of Pride has received a lot of criticism from within the LGBTQ+ community – especially when it is assumed that commercial visibility is a step in the right direction for the LGBTQ+ rights movement. From what I can tell, Pride only seems to extend to those who are financially stable enough to consume said commerce, leaving out the vulnerable queer population – the ones in need of protection, action and advocacy – who have been cropped out of this “big” picture entirely.
Whilst many companies make efforts to donate their proceeds to LGBTQ+ organizations, the fact remains that commerce begets commerce, hence widening the gap between those who can and can’t consume Pride in the first place. An example of this type of performative activism can be taken from an incident that took place on YouTube. The massive social media platform was highly criticized over its handling of homophobic content by Steven Crowder – who launched a campaign of harassment towards gay Latinx journalist Carlos Maza. Maza took to twitter and posted a compilation of insults that had been directed at him over the course of months.
YouTube has since begun removing content that don’t meet their updated terms and conditions, but it shouldn’t have come to a gay journalist’s home address and phone number being doxed by Crowder’s supporters for YouTube to intervene. The LGBTQ+ community exists all year round. The community requires funding, support and services every day, not just one parade that takes place once a year. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that companies are wanting to be allies – but simply putting a rainbow flag on social media and then acting against the interest of the community is nothing short of an insult.
