Pride month is certainly a sensitive time for brands, with previous years marked by both good campaigns, those that connect empathically with the celebration, and other bad ones, those accused of “rainbow-washing” or taking advantage of the moment to generate click-bait or attraction by users, without being truly committed beyond the profile image with the LGBTQ+ flag.
From SAMY Alliance we have carried out a listening on social networks and digital media to evaluate how the celebration of Pride 2023 was lived on the internet. Network platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, news portals and similar in Latin America, were studied. with a focus on Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia. When making the comparison between 2022 and 2023, the surprise has been the results:
In 2022, the mentions made on the internet to the topic of “Pride Month” were, in total, 11.4 thousand
In 2023, mentions dropped 70%, with a total of 3.5 thousand mentions.
This discrepancy has been, to say the least, striking, and has led us to reflect on what has happened on this occasion at an international level, not only with the attention of brands but with the valuation of people; In fact, our research, also conducted in Spain (where one of the most famous Pride festivals in Europe is held), yielded similar results, with conversation and brand presence 50% lower than in 2022.
So what has happened during pride month 2023?
Although brands have carried out campaigns dedicated to pride, and some being highlighted for their execution, creativity and empathy, the results remain clear: the networks have been silent, and the question is why.
At this moment, two theories of abstention intersect: one due to normalization motivated by the community itself, and the other due to fear of media reaction.
The first is that in recent years brands or even certain people have been criticized for seeking to take advantage of this commemorative date; and that instead of fighting for the equality of LGTBQ+ rights, they only seek media attention, without seeking real changes. In these cases, the community talked about the fact that putting up the pride flag alone was not participating in coherence or real action, and that it was better to leave the space and platforms to those who act for the true protagonists: the queer community.
Some brands such as Amazon, Apple and even Google have done so, and have refrained from even changing the logo to the version with the pride flag, an action that It has been pointed out by online mediabut, in fact, it has not been reproached by users for not participating, which indicates that there may be a normalization of the event that has led brands to understand that they do not have to be present in every action and that they can afford not to get involved, without harming themselves or the community.
The other, somewhat more controversial theory is that the reason why brands are refraining from participating in any way in networks is out of fear of public ridicule if they don’t do it “good enough”. Just as there are versions of greenhushing, where companies seek to silence environmental efforts so as not to be exposed to aggression, it seems that there is a similar fear in taking part in this social cause, and perhaps it is the birth of pinkhushing or rainbowhushing.
In The New ConZumer Journey study, it is said that one of the most notable characteristics of Gen-Z, the one that currently dominates the market, is that brands become actively involved with the moral actions that are relevant to them, and this is evidence in data such as:
So it may seem strange that, if getting involved is something so important for the communities, it is decided not to participate in the festivity but, in the interest of respecting the wishes of the communities that prefer honesty and transparency over false empathy, this abstention can be even more conscious and less problematic.
With a predominantly positive sentiment, and the negative one associated solely with politics, the question remains as to what has happened this year on social networks that a milestone as relevant as MADO in Spain and Pride Month has gone almost unnoticed; even so, the other theories do not fully coordinate with the facts, and the results of the investigation yielded similar conclusions for other markets such as the Latin American one, so it seems that Pride was simply normalized; users will connect with brands that actually make efforts outside of marketing to meet their needs, it remains to be seen how affected those that do not join the celebration will be.