Comment: Companies ditching Pride based on vibes, not facts

By Beth Kowitt / Bloomberg Opinion

In business as in politics, one of the worst things you can do is expose yourself as a flip-flopper. And this Pride Month is shaping up to reveal a record number of corporate wafflers.

A long list of companies, including Mastercard Inc., Citigroup Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Nissan Motor Co Ltd., Deloitte, Comcast Corp., Diageo Plc., Anheuser-Busch and Booz Allen Hamilton have all declined to renew or scaled back their corporate sponsorships of Pride events and marches this year. Some companies have even opted out of the relatively benign and inexpensive move of rainbow-ifying their corporate logos.

One of this year’s most egregious examples of Pride flip-flopping comes from dog product subscription service BarkBox, which has long cultivated an edgy and inclusive social media presence. The drama started when a leaked internal Slack message revealed the company would stop advertising its Pride merchandise because of the heated political environment, equating its LGBTQ-inspired collection with a MAGA-themed product.

BarkBox’s CEO apologized, saying the message does not reflect the company’s values. But the damage has already been done. The company has angered and alienated the LGBTQ community and its allies, while failing to convince anyone offended by its “Slay the Dragon Queen” or “Tina the Tubular Unicorn” plush dog toys that the company is suddenly reformed.

The ur-example of the corporate waffle is Target Corp. The retailer’s sales are down after facing boycotts from both the left and the right; first for having an extensive Pride collection, then for capitulating and scaling it back, and most recently for backtracking on its DEI policies. The organizers of Minneapolis and Philadelphia Pride celebrations have turned down its sponsorship. (You know it’s bad when people won’t even take your money.) The only thing both sides agree on is that the company lacks authenticity. It’s a case study on why abandoning your purported values isn’t just morally dubious, it’s also bad business.

The corporatization of Pride has always been a tricky thing. Most people are not under the illusion that a company jumping on the Pride bandwagon is a sign that it cares deeply about the rights of the LGBTQ community. Rather, it’s a business decision that marketing to and embracing LGBTQ people is more profitable than the alternative. Some view this as exploitative and pandering, others see it as normalizing the queer community by turning it into just another marketable demographic like everyone else.

With so many companies dialing back their support, that discussion seems all but moot this June. “You don’t see anyone complaining this year about the presence of corporatization,” says Fabrice Houdart, founder and executive director of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors. And regardless of how the queer community feels, the corporate world has made its choice: Management teams think it’s a better business decision to risk upsetting LGBTQ customers and employees than potentially anger the right and the Trump administration.

I’m not sure that’s so true in the long run, however. If companies jumped into Pride for good business reasons, it seems now they’re exiting based on vibes rather than data. Three-quarters of Americans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people. Consumers have said they are twice as likely to buy a brand’s products if it publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to the LGBTQ community. And nearly 10 percent of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ and it is closer to 30 percent for Gen Z; a demographic that has repeatedly shown it will shop its values.

Miami University business school marketing professor Gillian Oakenfull pointed me to data that showed that even before this year’s retreat, most LGBTQ consumers already viewed corporate involvement in Pride as performative and opportunistic. “It wasn’t a brave thing; it was a market opportunity. To be socially-minded was also growth-minded,” she told me.

But this year, Oakenfull says Pride has returned to its roots as protest rather than party. That actually makes it more meaningful and perhaps viewed less cynically when a company chooses to participate. A management team might risk a short-term backlash and the unwanted attention of the Trump administration. But in the long run, sticking to your values and standing your ground will be a competitive advantage.